Customer Reviews

Passing for Black

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Passing for Black by Linda Villarosa gives us a clear view of how confusing it can be for an African-American, trying to be a `Real Black,' whatever that means, and struggling with her sexuality at the same time. Angela Wright, a journalist is not sure who she is, sometimes feels she is not the right kind of black and other times feels she does not know how she identifies. She has chosen journalism because her mother, Janet, is a very successful reporter. Angela is engaged to successful professor, Dr. Keith Redfield, because he is a good man, and the right man for her, according to everyone, but her. As much as Angela has she feels out of sorts and is lacking something in her life. Secretly, she feels her longing for female love might be the problem. However, she has tamped those feelings for years, because she knows it is the right thing to do. Or is it? When she meets one of Keith's colleagues, Professor Cait Getty, she is immediately attracted and cannot get the woman out of her mind.

Angela finds a way to talk to Cait, she goes on an undercover assignment to a lesbian convention and immediately she and Cait connect. Once Cait discovers Angela is a journalist, she is angered by her duplicity and decides not to see her. Of course, Angela pursues her and a tryst unfolds. Immediately, the reader is pulled into the complications surrounding this love affair, including Keith's discovery and how Angela's parents feel about her choices.

Ms. Villarosa wrote a provocative, sometimes funny and very human account of a woman's sexual identity unveiling. The only stumbling block for me was Keith's one dimensional, almost stereotypical, bumbling maleness. I would have loved for him to be more dynamic, thus proving Angela's desires were more due to natural desires than to his inadequacies. Having said this, I truly enjoyed Passing for Black and recommend it to all readers who enjoy a well-written novel that will make them think.

Angelia Menchan

APOOO BookClub

Angela Wright, the daughter of a doctor and television newscaster, is a successful journalist for Desire` magazine. She is engaged to Keith Redfield, a professor of African Studies, with whom she has been in a relationship for six years. She never felt comfortable in her skin because she was always teased about not being "black" enough. She is also uncomfortable with her feelings for other women, which she has suppressed for years. But meeting Cait, a white lesbian, invokes feelings in Angela so strong she can't ignore them. Her obsession with Cait leads her down a path she is not sure she wants to take.

PASSING FOR BLACK carries a two-fold message of being black in a racist society and being gay in a heterosexual world. It is hard to fathom what is more profound in the novel: racial intolerance or discrimination due to sexual preference. Just as there is discrimination within the race, there is also intolerance within the gay community against other gays. Angela's struggles with her sexuality is no different than the tale of others. Her character came off as rather selfish at times, which didn't allow me to empathize with her, nor agree with her decisions. It also took some time for me to get into the rhythm of the book. Although Villarosa is an established author, this is her first novel.

Reviewed by Paula Henderson

of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

First novel by Linda Villarosa. Quick read that was refreshingly different from usual lesfic novels, mostly in a good way.

I came across it because it was mentioned/reviewed by afterellen.com. And seriously? You can't guess the lesbian content from the blurb or the cover. I'm all for lesbian authors/novels being published by non-queer publishing houses, but how on earth am I supposed to find them when they don't tell me that that is what's in the book. But that's another story.

The novel is the story of Angela, writer for a hip magazine in her 20s, who falls in love with Cait, her fiancee's nemesis at the university at which they are both professors. It is, in its core, a coming out story, but so much more. Angela is looking for her place in the world and doesn't seem to be able to be herself or express her opinions to those who are closest to her.

The title "Passing for Black" alludes to Angela's dilemma that she doesn't feel black enough, feels like she's pretending to be someone she's not. Breaking out of her pattern of trying to please everyone around her sends her on a journey of self-discovery and also discovering that everyone harbors prejudice.

I enjoyed reading this book, it's fast paced and funny, even though at its core it's a serious book.

One drawback is that the characters at times felt stereotypical, clearly designed to fulfill a function.

In PASSING FOR BLACK, the first foray into fiction by renowned journalist Linda Villarosa, her heroine Angela Wright is a buppie struggling with both her sexual and racial identities.

By outside appearances, Angela's life is seamless in her middle-class world, where she's an editor at Désire magazine, engaged to a history professor at a prominent university and mingles with a Black elite inner circle. Yet it's simply a facade. Angela has never felt secure with herself, and "passing" is simply her coping mechanism to deal with never feeling "black enough." With her mother, Janice, considered a local heroine in the black female community, she always felt tragically compelled to live up to her mother's roots. And at 29, she should be ready to be married after a six-year relationship with Keith, but something always holds her back. Namely, her attraction to women, a temptation she forbade herself from having for so many years.

But it's one she can't resist with Cait Getty, one of Keith's colleagues at Amsterdam University. After spying the woman hanging posters for a lesbian sex conference, all pretenses of a white picket fence life fade away. Instead, she finds herself drawn to the androgynous vibe of this white woman, an activist whose fervor for women's issues is only matched by her passion for Angela. With sandy brown hair, boyish good looks and British accent, Cait is nothing Angela expected to be infatuated with. In fact, she's everything opposite of what her family and friends would see her with.

It leaves Angela, who's normally indecisive and non-confrontational, torn as to whom she should be with. Her head tells her to do the right thing and stay with her "good black man," while her heart demands she face her fears and be with the one person who makes her feel true to herself. It's a hard decision, with consequences that will manage to hurt anyone involved.

When Angela decides her future much later, she satisfies her craving to be true to herself, and passing just isn't good enough anymore. Because of Cait, everything she never thought she wanted turns out to be everything she needs.

Passing for Black makes for a challenging read. Villarosa tackles the subject of racial and sexual identity with class and a sense of humor. It's down-to-earth enough for the casual reader, and speak to any black lesbian feeling out of step with their two worlds. Passing conveys that every woman's journey to herself is never easy, but one she shouldn't spend passing by.

SISTAHS ON THE SHELF PICK OF THE MONTH

Angela Wright's coming out story sounds so much like many of ours; painful

scary and confusing. "Passing for Black" could have easily been titled

"Passing". Several characters were not only passing for black but also

passing as an ally, passing as straight and passing as royalty.

Coming out is one tidal wave to successfully swim through without drowning, but when you add race, sex, love & identity to the mix drowning seems more like a reality than a successful swim. Ms. Villarosa carefully weaved a tale of what happens when you free yourself totally and walk into a new world.

As I read "Passing for Black" I felt proud and excited to be able to read a book which blended the reality and some stereotypes of "Same Gender Loving" relationships. Dance with Angela as Caitlyn takes her on a roller coaster ride of emotional freedom.

Missy

Readers Paradise

This book is suppose to be about a confused black woman dealing with stereotypes of being black and what that really means. Although the book does make some references to black stereotyes, the book is actually about a confused homosexual female who is trying to come to grips with the fact that she is gay and engaged to a man, and how to break the news to her black panther type mother. The back cover is completely misleading and does not describe the book accurately.

The writer fails to explore the socio-political ideas she introduces in the novel, which leads the reader to form shallow ideas about race and sexuality, or leads the reader to believe that the author has shallow ideas about race and sexuality. The pacing of the novel is great, until the end, where the plot seems to fall apart. The characters are not memorable or well developed, and the main character's boyfriend is portrayed in a way that comes off as downright offensive. The author is an excellent writer and her words make the book readable, despite the problems with the characters, plot and socio-political ideas.

I feel torn about recommending Passing for Black by Linda Villarosa. This lesbian romance uses the sexual awakening of the protagonist, Angela Wright, to discuss socially relevant issues including racism and heterosexism within a minority race. This story offers glimpses of Villarosa's lyrical storytelling with sentences such as, "I watched his eyes dart around the room, and knew ego was having a shouting match with disgrace in his head." I wanted to like Angela and find her charming and elegant but she wasn't. She spoke her thoughts and worries which left me flat and disengaged. I was looking for the story's movement to reveal her emotional anguish and create tension for me by summoning my own experiences. I think this was worthwhile but not a great story.

PRODUCT WAS WORN TATTERED & TORN WITH LIBRARY STRIPS & TAP ALL OVER THE IT. WAS THIS ITEM STOLEN THEN SOLD? HECK WHO KNOWS...

Now, while I respect every author for putting thier sweat and tears into their work, I just simply couldn't get into this book.I brought this book a week ago, and i'm still on page 75.Usually for me,I finish a book in one night.I figured since this was a lesbian themed book I would check it out, but I simply can't get into this book at all.