Quicksand and Passing (American Women Writers Series)

Rating:
Summary: Passing
Review: I haven't read Quicksand so I can't review it, but, as one other reviewer noted, it is really a shame Larsen isn't taught more often. Even uprooting the story (I hesitate to call it a novel) from its African-American/Feminist/Harlem Renaissance context, Passing is simply an important piece of American literature. In the span of 100 pages it competently grapples with some hefty themes - repression, oppression, homosexuality, hybridity, the 'technique' of racism (in the sense that it's a mutual act between the discrimator and the discriminated) and domesticity to name a few. 'Discovering' stories like this, you can't help becoming critical of the literary canon. In a course that deals with class issues or cultural studies (I'm thinking of Bordieu's 'distinction' as well) this would be a very complementary choice.

Rating:
Summary: Passing
Review: I haven't read Quicksand so I can't review it, but, as one other reviewer noted, it is really a shame Larsen isn't taught more often. Even uprooting the story (I hesitate to call it a novel) from its African-American/Feminist/Harlem Renaissance context, Passing is simply an important piece of American literature. In the span of 100 pages it competently grapples with some hefty themes - repression, oppression, homosexuality, hybridity, the 'technique' of racism (in the sense that it's a mutual act between the discrimator and the discriminated) and domesticity to name a few. 'Discovering' stories like this, you can't help becoming critical of the literary canon. In a course that deals with class issues or cultural studies (I'm thinking of Bordieu's 'distinction' as well) this would be a very complementary choice.

Rating:
Summary: Only read Quicksand--wonderful book
Review: I read this book years ago, in college. It made me much more sympathetic to the struggles of biracial (black and white) women, of the past and today -- I am an Asian-American female. The book is a beautifully written, but painful story of how the protagonist moves through her life in societies where she is kept down on many levels (socially, economically, psychologically, physically) -- basically her journey through the "quicksand" of classism, racism, and sexism. The book deserves a wide audience.

Rating:
Summary: brilliant
Review: It may seem fantastical that a Black woman is involved with Scandanavia but that is her heritage. Reading Passing made me wish that I had lived in Harlem in that era so I went back to the library and read as much as I could on Black America in that area at that time. It made me do research on the Dunbar Hotel here in Los Angeles. The scene on the rooftop restaurant was riveting and even I grew uncomfortable with the staring scene. Quicksand was a totally different tragedy and just as compelling. Imagine having that much uncertainty in your life, educated or not. I can see that if the time period had been different and the book was turned into a movie by Tarentino, the main character would have surely turned to hard drugs and some form of retaliation by murder.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: Quicksand was an overlooked treasure during Renaissance. Pay close attention to the detail, the surroundings, and the inner thoughts of the main character.... simply marvelous.