Passing by Nella Larsen – 4 Stars

[Hannah]

Clare and Irene were friends as children, both light-skinned enough to pass as white, who went different ways as Clare married a white man who was unaware that she was black, and Irene lived in Harlem with her black husband and sons. Written in the 1920s, I really liked the writing style and how the writer brought us in to this world and showed us the heavy personal cost to those who had to make a choice based on their race in order to get ahead. Unfortunately I did read the introduction before the book, which gave some of the plot away, so I wish it had been included as an afterword rather than an introduction.

[Hilde]

This was a surprise read for me, so good. A little book that packed a punch! Hadn’t heard much about it when I picked it up 4-5 years ago, but it seems many more are reading it now.

[Joy D]

Nice review, Hannah! I really liked this one too. Good point about introductions. I've been skipping them and reading after I finish the book.

[Amy]

I appreciated this one as well.

[Hannah]

Hilde wrote: "This was a surprise read for me, so good. A little book that packed a punch! Hadn’t heard much about it when I picked it up 4-5 years ago, but it seems many more are reading it now."

I think it's been made into a film or adapted for TV recently. I also heard about it being compared to The Vanishing Half, so that might be why more people are reading it recently.

[Robin P]

This was fascinating as a book, especially the ending. There was a TV version in the last year or so, but I felt the actresses were too obviously Black for the parts. I understand that it was a chance for these actresses to have good roles, but a big point of the book is that the women look white enough to fool the general public and even a husband. It shows how arbitrary our view of race is.

During the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter moment, many blogs, magazines, etc. came out with recommended reading, including things like How to Be an Antiracist but also classic fiction like this. Another little known classic I read then is Black No More. I think it was available free in public domain. It's a dark (pun intended) satire of both black and white society, where a scientist discovers a way to make Black people white.