Passing is about Irene and Clare, two light-skinned Black women who are both capable of passing as White. Irene only does so when it’s convenient, like getting into a fancy hotel, but Clare is fully immersed in her life as the wife of a racist White man who does not know that Clare is biracial. The two women were childhood friends, but in her late teens, Clare disappears from the neighborhood, and the novel begins when the two incidentally cross paths 12 years later.
It’s a little hard to know what to say about this novella because while it’s well-written and well-plotted, it drew me in to only a limited degree. I was interested in seeing what was going to happen but not very emotionally invested. We are kept at arm’s length from the characters, especially Clare given that the story is from Irene’s perspective. Clare’s behavior tends to be somewhat performative, and we never really know what she’s feeling. Even when she tells Irene how much she misses being amongst Black people, and even knowing from how the book plays out that she means it, I didn’t feel what she felt.
We get much more about Irene’s emotional state, but still with some distance because she tends towards avoidance. She doesn’t want to fully confront her feelings or other people, and the way she hides from this makes her an occasionally unreliable narrator, including at the unexpected and ambiguous ending.
I appreciated what I learned from the book about how some Black individuals view the concept of passing, and I liked getting a small feel for what Harlem felt like in the 1920s for an upper-class woman. I also respect Larsen as a writer, but I do wish I had felt more connected to the characters. I’m not likely at this point to check out Larsen’s other book because the emotional distance, while effective, isn’t a fit for me. 3.75 stars rounded up.
