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readingrinbow's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A searing glimpse into the impossible choices society presents to a young Black woman and the impossibility of choosing any authentic choice. Helga Crane is dissatisfied and Larsen paints her dissatisfaction in rich and vibrant colors and textures but at the end asks us the question - in order to be truly happy, what delusions must we take to heart? The prose is beautiful, and I especially loved the evocative descriptions of the wrappings of high society, all the more affecting when it becomes clear that all the seductive trappings of success for a woman, especially a woman of color, can only be that - a trap. Helga’s innate need to break free sets her apart from her compatriots and tragically, unable to attain happiness.
rebeccamadsn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
weejman33's review against another edition
4.0
While not as magnetic as “Passing,” the final realization of the central character hit home nearly just as hard.
joanna_blemont's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
5.0
Helga Crane is a woman who doesn’t know what she wants, only what she doesn’t and only when she’s already in the thick of it. In the end she is doomed to a life of quiet suffering all because there’s something deeply unwell at her core that she can’t fully explain and is terrified of examining.
I'm not biracial, but as someone who has spent my entire life feeling kind of off and out of place no matter how hard I try, this spoke to me tremendously. My heart aches for the disquiet that Nella Larsen must have felt.
I cried like a baby when it was all over.
I'm not biracial, but as someone who has spent my entire life feeling kind of off and out of place no matter how hard I try, this spoke to me tremendously. My heart aches for the disquiet that Nella Larsen must have felt.
I cried like a baby when it was all over.
rileyblundellwriter's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
Larsen writes the life of Helga Crane, a young black woman in the 1920s, with the kind of psychological nuance that Henry James brought to the lives of white aristocracy. It's a beautiful and brave book (for instance: delving into pleasure is Helga's high point, while her moral fall consists of finding God and a husband). Sometimes the sentence structure irritated me - such beautiful, lush settings made me want beautiful sentences too. The narrative arc felt like it also had structural flaws that jostles the reader around a bit -- but a fascinating book (that passes the Bechdel test in chapter one and keeps on going!).