Fabian's Reviews > Passing

Unfortunately I've not read many Harlem Renaissance greats. I've only previously read the novels "Native Son," "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "Invisible Man," &, well, pretty much. The simplicity of the way this story is told, with a heavy and interesting overuse of commas and a well-rounded anecdote which deals with self-proclamation and self-deception, makes this my favorite one in the canon. It speaks of the race problem with the use of melodrama, a very tricky device which feels snuggly & at home here.

Irene is a woman who has bought into her class, she is very much involved in her social circle and is motherly. But when her very opposite comes into her life, a question surges forward & it is this: how much of your race constitutes you as a person? Race is an issue, it is bravely brought out to the forefront with minimal embellishment, & all this occurs at a swift & elegant, even speed.