I decided to read Passing before the movie came out. I enjoyed Passing, it was very interesting thinking about passing from 2 perspectives. Well, really only Irene's perspective, which is to think poorly of Clare's choice. But to me Irene's judgment of Clare wasn't justified because she basically thinks she's sacrificing for the race, but still above it. And then the factor she's jealous and suspicious. Must say though, I enjoyed the book better than the movie.

As for quicksand, what a perpetually escalating story. Another dissatisfied "negro" woman, this time with a black father and white mother. She doesn't feel at total ease in either world. Always searching for something... i was with the story until the crazy leap into religious fanaticism and then a denial of God??? It ended very strangely. But still an interesting story about belonging and contentment, is what i concluded with.

Extremely disappointing: the literary value of these novellas seems just about nil. Maybe the fact that Larsen’s only two full length novels are now routinely published in one volume is already a pointer: are the publishers perhaps afraid that anyone buying either one of these will not be particularly motivated to buy the second anyway?

To be sure, they are closely related in terms of themes and subject matter, and in that respect these are very important works and the coupling makes sense. The whole subject of that weird and convoluted (and more or less strictly US) concept of ‘passing’ and the nefarious and subtle influences of racism on black society are important themes. But exactly because of that, they deserve a better treatment (in literary terms) than they get here. Larsen really is a far cry from a literary powerhouse like Tony Morrison.

In fact, reading these novels I couldn't help but think: it’s amateur hour. Initially excited to be able to read two novellas about these themes in prose that seemed (at first) to be faintly reminiscent of Edith Wharton, I was soon disabused. The dialogue is dull, clunky and often both essayistically explanatory and simplistic at the same time, as is the prose style. There's little or no subtlety in plot handling. There are even (in the first novel, Quicksand) some clumsy breaches of perspective. I really can't understand any of the praise I've seen lavished on this book by the blurb texts.

I have thus far only read Passing, but it was really a great read. This is a highly underappreciated writer of the Harlem Renaissance who, in Passing, has provided a compelling story of race, friendship, and femininity. In addition, it's incredibly engrossing.

I'm not a fan of Larsen's writing--I find it both incredibly introspective without being self-aware, or at least that's how she writes her heroines in both Quicksand and Passing.

Passing features two (former?) friends, one of whom is passing for white in her marriage and her life, and the juxtaposition of how it seems neither of them have the life they want, despite what they claim. The ending seems abrupt and surprising for such a weak character, perhaps she finally took things into her own hands?

In Quicksand, the main character is far worse, she's flippant and lacks all self-awareness until forced into positions where she's miserable and then she just leaves to try something new. I'm sure it's indicative of how limited the options were for black women at the time Larsen wrote this, but I still found the book both dull and frustrating.

I also felt like these didn't necessarily hold their own 100 years later. I felt like I was missing a lot of context--what did some of these side characters, references, and other themes mean to black women reading this in Harlem in the 1920s? Surely there was so much depth that I missed that made this notable when it came out.

I look forward to seeing the movie version of Passing to see if it helps illuminate anything that I missed in the novella.

Quicksand

Helga Crane is a biracial young woman in the 1920s. Though she has some financial help along her way, she needs to work. All options open to her become successively disappointing, and depressing after her initial enthusiasm: a teacher in a school that models Anglo-Saxon values; employment in Chicago with a wealthy woman who introduces her to New York and friendship with another wealthy woman who disdains romantic biracial relationships; two years in Copenhagen being pampered and displayed by her mother’s sister; back to Harlem where she feels both more comfortable and uncomfortable; then to the South for the arguably abrupt denouement. Three men, only one of whom she loves, are unsuitable for marriage for various reasons; a fourth comes into her life at a vulnerable period. The short novel is psychologically astute and extremely well-written, especially for a first work.
3 stars (October 17)

Passing

Now that I know the ending, I should reread Passing. It certainly deserves to be. The close third-person POV is Irene’s and, once I got to the final section, it dawned on me how close of a perspective it is and how important it is to remember that when thinking of Clare, Irene’s biracial friend from childhood who’s ‘passing’ as white. Irene is as light-skinned as Clare and is married to a darker-skinned black man who’s a doctor; they have two young sons. (Skin color is important to the story and is described in various ways.) Irene has an extreme want/need/desire for security, which determines all her actions, but both women are constrained by lack of choices in not only a racialized world but a man’s world. This masterpiece of less than a hundred pages deserves to stand with other works I was reminded of while reading, works we consider genius: [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494]; [b:The Good Soldier|7628|The Good Soldier|Ford Madox Ford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389213508l/7628._SY75_.jpg|1881188]; [b:Mrs. Dalloway|14942|Mrs. Dalloway|Virginia Woolf|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479336522l/14942._SY75_.jpg|841320].
5 stars (October 23)

*

I told myself I didn’t need to reread Passing right away, but I had no say-so in the matter. I couldn’t move on until I did and I reread it last night. I still haven’t moved on: To explain any further would be to discuss spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that. (October 24)

Honestly, I wish I hadn't read the introduction. As I rated this edition as a whole, I would have rated higher if not for the introduction.

While I can understand Helga Crane's habit of indecision in "Quicksand," it was entirely frustrating to experience as a reader. However, this may well have been the goal that Larsen was trying to achieve.

Of the two stories, I was more captivated by "Passing." Irene's torn emotions between admiration, jealousy, and loathing are genuine and true to many female relationships.

Though Larsen's phrasing occasionally threw me off, requiring me to read a sentence several times, her writing on the whole is fluid and purposeful. She tells her stories concisely, and with just enough detail in the right places.