Cover Image: The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half

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Member Reviews

While I don’t typically read multigenerational novels, I thoroughly enjoyed this one! Brit Bennett’s writing style flows smoothly and she is amazing at character development. Highly recommend!

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Gorgeous prose, spans generations and geography. The kind of epic, family saga I'm a sucker for. Thoughtful commentary on colorism in American culture.

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I am not sure I have the words to sufficiently express the expanse of this book, and how much it left behind in my mind and heart. I don't think I was fully prepared for it really. We have a small small town in Louisiana with twin sisters that are black, but can pass for white. One of them chooses white, the other chooses black and their lives could not be more different.
This book examines race, family, society, culture, identities, love, gender....and does it so so well.
I had not known anything about all the hype surrounding this book prior to reading, but now? Believe the hype.
An amazing 5 stars. One of the top of the year so far.

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3.5 stars! Unique, emotional, bittersweet.

Spanning from the 1950s to the 1990s, this is a multi-generational family drama. The Vignes twins are identical, yet they couldn’t be more different in personality. One sister lives with her black daughter, the other secretly passes for white, and her husband knows nothing of her past. Separated by many miles, and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. The point of view alternates between Desiree and Stella, and their daughters as they all search for meaning in life, race, and identity.

This was such an interesting story, its very character driven. I didn’t care for the timeline jumping around, and I felt the ending was cut short. But lots to discuss, this would be a great pick for book clubs!

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If you’ve been hesitant to read this because of the hype, let me tell you, it’s worth EVERY OUNCE of hype it’s receiving... and maybe even more! It’s god a 4.49 rating on @goodreads guys... that’s maybe the highest rating I’ve ever seen.
The Vanishing Half is beautifully written, poignant, heartbreaking, and engaging. I was invested in every single character. Britt Bennet @britrbennett beautifully tackles race, gender, and sexuality — all of that in a book that takes place decades ago. Relevant, right?! Anyway, I’m here to tell you, thus far, this book is tied with Valentine for my favorite book of 2020. It’s *that good* and I suspect would make an *excellent* book club read. Order this one, immediately!

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I was a huge fan of The Mothers, so it wasn’t a surprise to me that The Vanishing Half was just as engaging and wonderful. I couldn’t put it down, finished it in one day which is high praise indeed from a mom of a high needs toddler!! I am white so it was fully an outsiders perspective I brought to the idea of crossing over from Black to white, but it was heartbreaking to read from pretty much everyone’s perspective. I have seen some negative reviews of her books on the idea that “nothing happens” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s not a traditional satisfying end point, but that just underlined the richness of the human experience and how our loves weave in and out of one another’s with no solid answers or satisfaction sometimes.

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This book is fascinating on so many levels. I always knew there was racism within the black community, but Vanishing Half is a full and blistering exploration of the animosity between light and dark skinned blacks. The idea that an identical twin would sacrifice everything, including the intense bond with her sister, in order to pass as white is both heartbreaking and telling. I also loved how the issue of gender identity was included, but more as just a matter of fact as opposed to being the source of great drama or trauma. I loved how Jude and Reese just WERE, and that the stumbling blocks in their relationship were unrelated to Reese’s gender. Even though it might have been nice for Desiree and Stella to have a happier ending, I actually appreciated that everything was not neatly tied up. Perhaps we’ll hear more about these characters?
In any even, there is A LOT to chew on and ruminate over, so I look forward to recommending this to many patrons and book groups.

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Desiree and Stella are twins who are born in small-town Mallard. Mallard is a town that contains only black people, but they are light-skinned black people. One night, the girls see their father getting hanged in their own home by a group of white men. He survives, but has to be taken to the hospital, where the same group shows up and shoots him in the head. This is the moment the girls know they must get away from the town. As older teenagers, they decide to leave in the middle of the night. Once they are on their own, they try to make a life working and doing what is needed--until Stella realizes that she can easily pass for a white woman and falls in love with her boss. She leaves Desiree and moves to California, never speaking to her family again. As an adult, Desiree must come back to Mallard after escaping an severely abusive situation. Both women must live with the choices they have made, until one day they are reunited for a short period of time. This book was heartbreaking and upsetting, but also had the element of hope. I loved it!

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Here is a touching story of the two very different lives experienced by twins sisters, and yet another facet of racism's harmful effects.
If you enjoyed this, you may like Nella Larsen's two short novels Quicksand and Passing, often found together in one book.

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This was so well written, it’s not fair. Brit Bennett is a master at her craft. Period. Full stop. I loved every aspect of this book, the relationships, the trauma, the time jumps are all done masterfully. She is quickly becoming my favorite author, and I can’t wait for her next book!!

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Stella and Desiree are identical twins growing up in the Jim Crow south. Their town, Mallard, was founded by light skinned blacks, who looked down those with darker skin. The twins run away from home at age 16; Desiree eventually returns to Mallard, while Stella chooses a a very different path. These characters really come alive: the twins, their partners, and their children all make choices which change the course of their lives. The themes of lies and honesty are also examined in Bennett's thought-provoking novel--I just couldn't put it down. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This is a fascinating read about colorism, class, and authenticity. What I was most struck by was how nearly each character's self-perception was marred in some way - and the tension between hiding parts of you away from others as much as you hide them from yourself. The book is immensely readable, and Bennett does a great job of whirling the reader through time in a way that unfurls information at just the right point in the narrative. I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and I can't wait to see what the TV adaptation turns out like.

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This family drama follows the stories of identical twin sisters who were born in the small, black town of Mallard, Louisiana. At sixteen, the twins run away and eventually lead two very different lives. One of the twins passes as white and hides her past from her family while her sister lives as a black woman and always feels a pull to her twin.

The story spans from the 1950s to the 1990s and from Louisiana to California and is told from multiple viewpoints. This immersive novel will draw you in and illuminate the reasons why someone might want abandon their roots to live as someone else.

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This is a poignant story about a set of twins that are so “light” that they can “pass” as white. It follows the life choices of the two sisters where one chooses to liver her life as a black woman and the other who chooses to live in white society. An additional layer of the story is brought in by the daughters of the sisters. The sisters are raised in a small black community in Louisiana where people believe the lighter they are, the better life will be. They run away at sixteen seeking to escape in search of a better future. That is until Stella disappears from their shared apartment, choosing a life separated from her twin and as a white woman. The second half of this book focuses on the daughter of Desiree, who chooses to leave home in search for her own identity.

While racial identity and unconscious bias are the core of the story, I feel the LGBTQ story gets easily glossed over. It’s truly a story of identity in general. The struggles as a black person. The struggles of a black person living as a white person but being friends with a black person. The struggles of loving someone of the same gender. The struggles of learning your family isn’t who you thought they were. The struggles with coming home to confront a life you put behind you. This book covers so much. The author does a good job showing the pain, confusion, “ah-ha” moments, love, and hate that each of the characters deal within the book.

This is a book I would highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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The following review was added to goodreads on 7/06/2020 and the @dc_booknerd Instagram account on July 8th. URL: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYsLRopESB/
Stella and Desiree are identical twins who couldn’t be more different. Stella is neat and clean, while Desiree always leaves a bit of a mess everywhere she goes. Stella is a studious and nervous girl, while Desiree is a dreamer who cannot wait to leave Mallard. Mallard was a idea of their great-great-great grandfather that became reality: a town for people “who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like Negroes” because of the lightness of their skin. This fictional small town became a racially homogeneous and snobbish “coloured” town in Louisiana that hated the sight of dark skin. Desiree and Stella decide to leave on Founders Day. They run off in the middle of the night to New Orleans, where they found work at Dixie Laundry. Although it was Desiree’s idea to leave Mallard, Stella is the one who insists they stay in New Orleans even after Desiree starts to regret her decision. Then Stella finds a job as a secretary, a job that she has to be “white” in order to get and keep. She starts dating her white boss Blake and then moves to Boston with him, leaving Desiree with just a note. At this point, the twins lives to in completely different directions. With Blake, Stella becomes white and is free to do what she wants—go to school, own a dream home or just relax all day with a maid to take care of all her household duties. Still, Stella lives in fear that her careful story and life will unravel if the truth is ever found out. After Stella departs, Desiree moves to DC and marries the blackest man she can find, has a daughter and then returns to Mallard after her husband become increasingly more violent. Back in Mallard, Desiree says they will leave but makes a life for herself and her daughter but still looks for her lost twin.

This book tackles many issues with our society from racial tensions, sexuality and gender norms to skin tone preferences that bring to mind the doll test and the racial self-hate that was perpetuated for centuries by slavery, segregation and Jim Crow. One of the most interesting story lines within this novel was Stella’s interaction with her black neighbor, Loretta, and how Stella takes tentative steps towards establishing a friendship but ultimately chooses to mirror the white mothers that she saw growing up instead of reflecting how those mothers made her feel. Overall, a great read that artfully weaves together various accounts and narratives over the course of decades and shows the falseness of the American Dream.

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I actually got aoproved for The Vanishing Half after I'd already purchased and read the hardcover, but I'm thrilled to have been approved to read the ARC if only to say thank you to Brit Bennett and Penguin/Riverhead books for this brilliant novel. There are undoubtedly a gazillion reviews of the plot, two Black sisters and their very different journeys as the navigate America from the 1950s to the 1990s, but I have to say that rarely have I been so moved by a novel.

The Vanishing Half asks a lot of questions that are incredibly relevant right now but it also has a lot to say (and say exquisitely) about how we craft ourselves; how we shift and shape the identities we’re born with and those we create.

The Vanishing Half is one of the best novels I've read in 2020 and is very highly recommended.

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Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is an incredible read! I absolutely loved her novel, The Mothers, and The Vanishing Half did not disappoint. She does an incredible job painting vivid characters that feel like friends. Her craft of writing is beautiful and well establishef and I enjoy her style of storytelling. This story shares the idea of how environment can change human behavior as well as how one looks. Highly recommend!

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I don't know why I waited so long to read this. My heart broke and soared so many time. This was absolutely spectacular.

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It's an excellent, heartbreaking story of twins whose lives diverge after running away from their small town to the big city. I loved how Desiree and Stella's linked and individual lives were examined, expressed, and enriched over the years.

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This is the story of twins girls growing up in rural Louisiana that rebel against the structure of their family and town. Each rebels in her own way. One passes herself as white and marries a white man, the other marries a Black man and has a dark-skinned daughter. Their back stories will keep you turning the pages. As well as the stories of each of their daughters. The novel really makes you think about the choices people make and the consequences. These are complex characters that haven’t been portrayed before.

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