How long does it take to read Passing?
Nella Larsen, Matthew Hodgson, Tamar Mishmar
Passing by Nella Larsen, Matthew Hodgson, Tamar Mishmar takes about 3 hours 17 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 17 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1929. 179 pages, about 49,225 words.
7 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 28 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 17 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 3 minutes |
The page count is the median across 74 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
First published to critical acclaim in 1929, Passing firmly established Nella Larsen's prominence among women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Irene Redfield, the novel's protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem town house with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem's elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch. Clare—light-skinned, beautiful, and charming—tells Irene how, after her father's death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene's life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare's dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception.
Subjects: Fiction, Passing (Identity), African American women, Human skin color, Female friendship, Married women
