She had to Clare Kendry a duty. She was bound to her by those very ties of race, which, for all her repudiation of them, Clare had been unable to completely sever.

short and intense. that tea scene with clare, irene, gertrude, and jack—oh boy.

i loved the way things would go unspoken and even unthought, the way the characters and the narrative both circled around the obvious. until it all came crashing down.

the basic question of the story is, what do we owe other people, and why, and what do we owe ourselves. the themes of race and motherhood intertwine closely: as a member of the black middle class, irene is supposed to prioritize the well-being of "the race"; as a mother, she is supposed to protect her children above all else. where is she meant to rank herself in her own life?

'passing' seems to allow financial security and freedom from one's ties to other black people. but 'passing' is always a temporary condition, and the ties that can be restrictive or dangerous—irene is at one point read as black because of her friendship with an obviously black woman—are obviously crucial to a sustaining or even bearable life.

"I think," she said at last, "that being a mother is the cruellest thing in the world."

gah. i liked this a lot.

4.5 stars.