Scan barcode
Reviews
We Wear the Mask: 15 Stories of Passing in America by Sergio Troncoso, Brando Skyhorse, Lisa Page
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
4.0
If you had me if I understood what passing is, I'd have said yes. But now, having read these 15 essays, I realize what I had was a very shallow understanding of the concept of passing. The essays skew toward older, well-educated, well-traveled authors but they still cover a pretty broad array of peoples and types of passing. It certainly broadened my understanding of the phenomenon.
ryner's review against another edition
4.0
Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page have assembled, as well as themselves contributed to, this engaging collection of personal narratives on “passing,” whether concerning ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, wealth, or any number of other potential human identifiers. Unlike a number of other reviewers, I found nearly all of the accounts interesting and compelling, particularly those involving family history mysteries as I have a personal fascination with genealogy. It was eye-opening to consider the idea of “passing” not only with respect to more dominant identities such as race or religion, whose advantages or disadvantages may carry a more considerable weight, but also the minor ways in which we all pass for one thing or another in our daily lives.
rastles's review
4.0
This collection of stories does a good job of illustrating the experience of passing, or at least the kind of passing Skyhorse and Page wish to define. The stories are timely, using America's past and present to demonstrate how prevalent passing can be in our society. It mainly focuses on racial and ethnic passing, but also touches on passing in the realms of culture, religion, and social status. My only critique is that the scope of what can be considered passing was not fully explored, and, as important as race is in our country's dialog, I would have appreciated more stories exploring passing in other contexts.
tonstantweader's review
4.0
We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America offers readers different lenses on the phenomenon of passing which editor Brando Skyhorse defines in his essay as “when someone tries to get something tangible to improve their daily quality of life by occupying a space meant for someone else.”
This book goes far beyond the idea of passing between racial identities. Passing happens across gender, ethnic, religious, educational, and class lines, too. Sometimes people don’t even know they are passing, discovering an ancestor passed and they inherited that identity. Marc Fitten discovers his grandfather passed. For him, passing is “a person forging a new identity based on the fact that some identities have more unearned advantages than others, and the effects of that change on subsequent generations.” For Achy Abejas, passing is unwanted, but it happens anyway and feels like erasure. Clarence Page argues that America practices what he calls “historical passing” by erasing our history, claiming postracial comity, and honoring the traitors of the Confederacy. Passing, he says, “is the American way.”
Passing imposes a cost on many people. There is shame for many, in rejecting their history, their community, to pass for better opportunities. For some, there is freedom and fear, a woman who is trans may feel freedom when mistaken for a cisgender woman while also fearing reprisal if discovered. There is also loss of family and friends. One woman is so ashamed of her biracial children she makes them hide from the neighbors. There is a lot of pain there.
This collection of essays ranges from race to class and educational passing, from mistaken identity to denying identity. The writers dug deep to think about what it means to pass, what is gained and lost, and what burdens are imposed by passing. I appreciated the authenticity and honesty of these authors, their willingness to expose their history and their pain. It is a small book, but one worth reading slowly to give yourself time to reflect on these different experiences and how they add to our understanding of our county.
I received a copy of We Wear the Mask from the publisher through a drawing at LibraryThing.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/9780807078983/
This book goes far beyond the idea of passing between racial identities. Passing happens across gender, ethnic, religious, educational, and class lines, too. Sometimes people don’t even know they are passing, discovering an ancestor passed and they inherited that identity. Marc Fitten discovers his grandfather passed. For him, passing is “a person forging a new identity based on the fact that some identities have more unearned advantages than others, and the effects of that change on subsequent generations.” For Achy Abejas, passing is unwanted, but it happens anyway and feels like erasure. Clarence Page argues that America practices what he calls “historical passing” by erasing our history, claiming postracial comity, and honoring the traitors of the Confederacy. Passing, he says, “is the American way.”
Passing imposes a cost on many people. There is shame for many, in rejecting their history, their community, to pass for better opportunities. For some, there is freedom and fear, a woman who is trans may feel freedom when mistaken for a cisgender woman while also fearing reprisal if discovered. There is also loss of family and friends. One woman is so ashamed of her biracial children she makes them hide from the neighbors. There is a lot of pain there.
This collection of essays ranges from race to class and educational passing, from mistaken identity to denying identity. The writers dug deep to think about what it means to pass, what is gained and lost, and what burdens are imposed by passing. I appreciated the authenticity and honesty of these authors, their willingness to expose their history and their pain. It is a small book, but one worth reading slowly to give yourself time to reflect on these different experiences and how they add to our understanding of our county.
I received a copy of We Wear the Mask from the publisher through a drawing at LibraryThing.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/9780807078983/
More...