Scan barcode
dexkit10's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Death and Toxic friendship
utopiaandmelancholy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A short exploration of identity and racism at a pivotal moment in the 20th century. The introduction in this edition provided some great background on Larsen's life, which also put this somewhat auto-biographical story into context.
The prose was very good, and Irene's inner monologue and anxieties provide the tension that keeps the book thrumming. Her complex feelings about Clare's choices were presented in the confusing way that she experiences them. The ending shocked me despite already knowing the events that would occur.
A really thought-provoking book, discussing identity in a way I had not really considered previously.
The prose was very good, and Irene's inner monologue and anxieties provide the tension that keeps the book thrumming. Her complex feelings about Clare's choices were presented in the confusing way that she experiences them. The ending shocked me despite already knowing the events that would occur.
A really thought-provoking book, discussing identity in a way I had not really considered previously.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
kerrence30's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really interesting insight into the idea of “passing” that I’d never have considered before. Very of it’s time, so extreme levels of bigotry and blatant racism throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
bertabuecher's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
whataliciaisreading's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Irene Redfield is a Black woman living an affluent, comfortable life with her husband and children in the thriving neighborhood of Harlem in the 1920s. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Clare Kendry, who is similarly light-skinned, Irene discovers that Clare has been passing for a white woman after severing ties to her past — even hiding the truth from her racist husband.
The contrast, parallels, and interplay between these two women is what makes Passing so wonderfully constructed. Every choice is finely calculated. Their interactions are polite, but Larsen has a way of making the simplest observation feel like a prelude to some great catastrophe.
From the novel’s opening, race is slippery and unstable. Though Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel is understood to be a tragedy, it also exposes race to be something of a farce. But the moments of humour don't release the novella’s tension; rather, they only increase it. It is race’s instability that threatens the women at the centre of this novel.
The contrast, parallels, and interplay between these two women is what makes Passing so wonderfully constructed. Every choice is finely calculated. Their interactions are polite, but Larsen has a way of making the simplest observation feel like a prelude to some great catastrophe.
From the novel’s opening, race is slippery and unstable. Though Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel is understood to be a tragedy, it also exposes race to be something of a farce. But the moments of humour don't release the novella’s tension; rather, they only increase it. It is race’s instability that threatens the women at the centre of this novel.
Larsen enters into fiction the psychological dilemma of Du Bois’ double consciousness, 'two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body’. (Du Bois) Clare, in her frustration towards Irene, finds herself ‘caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same. Herself. Her race. Race! The thing that bound and suffocated her.’
Nella Larsen’s Passing is an incredibly underrated novel, and belongs on everyone’s reading lists.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
justcallmeemily's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have really mixed feelings about this book. And I can't really explain why. 😕
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Infidelity
ankbert's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I didn't get very engaged in the story in the story but I still found it interesting and reflective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Death and Murder
booksillremember's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Masterful, loved the complex layering of emotions, themes and social identities.
It's a gripping story with sapphic undertones, an unreliable narrator and an ambiguous ending. Would love to read the novel from Clare's point of view.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Hate crime and Infidelity
lpeterson's review against another edition
emotional
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
hjb_128's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide
Moderate: Infidelity