Like everyone else who read this book I thought it was wonderful. Yes, there are a lot of plot "twists" but they were in the service of character development, ideas, and lent both a gothic and playful feel to a book that dealt with complex issues and themes

THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett is an #OwnVoices work that explores the idea of colorism while telling the story of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella Vignes, and their children, Jude and Kennedy, across the decades since the mid-twentieth century. This coming of age story is set in a rural area of Louisiana called Mallard, originally founded in 1848 on the sugarcane fields a former slave had inherited from his white father. Bennett describes it as a town for those "who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like Negroes." She does an excellent job of conveying the oppressive small town atmosphere and "everyone's obsession with lightness."

As sixteen year-olds, the twins (one practical, one impulsive) run away in 1954, moving to New Orleans where one eventually deserts the other, later musing, "Why wouldn't you be white if you could be? Remaining what you were or becoming something new, it was all a choice, any way you looked at it." That decision leads to estrangement, anger, and loneliness. Secrets and lies abound, especially after the cousins Jude and Kennedy meet by chance while college students themselves. Yet, there are also elements of acceptance (both in the mother-daughter pairs and in various romantic relationships) and hard lessons to be learned: "There are many ways to be alienated from someone, few to actually belong." Like Bennett's debut novel (The Mothers), THE VANISHING HALF is likely to be an award-winner; it received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus and is a LibraryReads selection for June. For interested book groups, Penguin has published a Reader's Guide. Definitely recommended.

Links in live post:
https://libraryreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/June-2020-Flyer-final-1.pdf https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576782/the-vanishing-half-by-brit-bennett/9780525536291/readers-guide/

I think maybe my reading machine is broken. The Vanishing Half had every element I usually find attractive: It was by turns thought provoking, funny, poignant, timely, and broad. Yet. I had to force myself to read it, rewarding myself with chapters from other books when I finished one here.

This was a beautiful multigenerational story. I appreciated the array of narrators and how the story came together

I absolutely loved Brit Bennett's writing in The Mothers, but I actually think I enjoyed this title more, which I didn't think was even possible. Bennett creates a deeply stunning, heartbreaking, and tender portrait of a Black American family and the events that fracture its structure and cast its members far across the country. Despite the overwhelming sense of loss based on various different events, from death to abandonment to fleeing an abusive spouse, the novel is not overwhelmed by grief, rather it is infused with love. I felt for all of the characters and rooted for the majority of them to find love, happiness, acceptance, and community. (To my glee, many of them did.) I often find books told from different perspectives to be difficult to read, since I become so attached to one perspective that I don't want to leave, but I felt myself equally invested in all of the characters. The novel also offers searing insights on Blackness (and whiteness) in America and the consequences that being racialized as either Black or white can bring. Witty and genuine, this is a book I'll be recommending for ages.

Twins, Desire and Stella grew up inseparable. One evening they leave their small southern black community and their lives change forever. Stella moves forward by passing as a white woman while constantly looking over her shoulder to outrun her past. Years later, Desire returns home never forgetting the sister who moved on without her. A stunning, unforgettable story about family, identity and how the choices we make can shape future generations. Truly engrossing this book left me in awe and will stay with me for a long time!

What a novel... the writing is so beautiful and the story is refreshingly unpredictable. Desiree and Stella Vignes are twins born in Jim Crow- era Louisiana, identical in appearance only. They live in the town of Mallard, really more a settlement of light skinned African Americans, where the residents look down at blacks with darker skin. Yet, the girls' own father is brutally murdered by white men, a crime they in part witness as young children. Longing to escape her claustrophobic hometown, bold and impetuous Desiree convinces quiet, studious Stella to run away to New Orleans with her. From here, their lives will take radically different paths. One sister decides to secretly "pass" for white, marrying into wealth and privilege, while the other returns to her mother's home after escaping an abusive marriage. They both carry the burden of these decisions, passing on their guilt to their daughters.
The novel also follows the daughters, brilliant, black Jude and spoiled, white Kennedy from childhood into adulthood. While ambitious, I didn't enjoy these story arcs nearly as much as the first part of the novel...but I was still happy to go along on the journey.
Britt Bennett is amazingly gifted, writing such eloquent words that you want to keep rereading a passage, while at the same time wanting to race ahead to see what will happen next.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

I devoured The Vanishing Half. It was thoughtful, engaging, and beautifully written. Brit Bennett is an excellent writer and I can't wait to read The Mothers and anything else she writes.

If you’re from Louisiana, you may have heard the term “passe blanc” thrown around before - a French phrase used to indicate that a black person was “passing” as white. Such is the topic behind Brit Bennett’s sophomore book, The Vanishing Half, a stunningly evocative novel set in a racially charged Louisiana that tells the story of black twin sisters and what happens when one of them decides to live her life as white.

Desiree and Stella Vignes have grown up in Mallard, Louisiana, a black community so small it doesn’t appear on any map; however, that’s not the only thing that makes Mallard special. Founded by the Vignes sisters’ great-great-great grandfather, Mallard is a town made for people who are not quite black, yet not quite white. The light-skinned citizens of Mallard refuse to be treated with disdain like their darker peers, but also would never be accepted as members of the white community, thus they have congregated in Mallard, living in isolation, yet acceptance of each other.

When Desiree and Stella are forced to quit school at the age of sixteen to help their mother by cleaning houses for wealthy white families, they know they need to get out of town and build a life of their own. One night, the sisters light out of Mallard and never look back. They are headed for New Orleans, where their lives will diverge in ways no one can imagine. For it is in New Orleans that Stella decides to “pass” as white, leaving behind her history, heritage, and family. Without a backwards glance, Stella constructs a new life as a white woman, and no one has seen or heard from her since.

The Vanishing Half begins with Desiree returning to the town of Mallard after a decade long absence with a daughter black as night in tow. Eyebrows raise not only because no one has ever seen in Mallard anyone as blue-black as Desiree’s daughter Jude, but also because no one has heard a lick about the Vignes sisters in 10 years. Yet Desiree can’t answer the many questions asked about her twin because Stella has vanished without a trace. Desiree can only speculate about what has happened to her sister, never imagining that Stella has built a new life around hiding in plain sight.

The Vanishing Half is an utterly compelling tale spanning multiple generations of a family coming to terms with who they are and what they mean to each other. There’s Desiree, who accepts but doesn’t understand why her twin has decided to live a life without her. Jude, Desiree’s daughter, who has taken up with a partner who is running from a past of his own. Kennedy, Stella’s daughter, who wishes her mom would just open up to her about her childhood, not knowing she is harboring a devastating secret that would change all of their lives forever. And then there is Stella, hiding from who she really is just for a chance to be treated like everyone else.

I absolutely fell in love with this emotionally-intense book, and quite frankly, I didn’t want it to end. I reveled in Bennett’s beautiful writing and imaginative storytelling, and felt completely invested in this tragic tale. The Vanishing Half paints a convincing portrait of life in a racially segregated America not so far in our past, and shows the lengths people will go to just to gain equal footing. Especially resonant with the current state of affairs in America, The Vanishing Half is a thought-provoking pursuit into personal identity and how it shapes a person’s life. One of the standout novels of 2020, The Vanishing Half is not to be missed.

I really enjoyed Brit Bennett's first book and this one is even better. I love books featuring complicated families and multiple points of view and this one has both. Desiree and Stella Vignes are light skinned black twins who grow up in Mallard, Louisiana. After they watch their father get beaten and killed by white men, their lives take different turns. Stella decides to pass as white, while Desiree embraces her heritage and marries a dark-skinned black man. Years later, their daughters, Stella's fair Kennedy, and Desiree's blueblack Jude find each other and try to make sense of their mothers' upbringing and history. This book conquers so many themes: racism, family connection, parenthood, identity and so much more. I relished every single word of the gorgeous writing and I empathized with each and every character. This is bound to be one of the most highly praised books of the year.

The Vanishing Half is an absolutely fantastic read with a cast of vibrant, empathetic characters. I loved getting to know them and wanted to spend even more time with each of them. Standout characters include June, Reece, and Early. Bennett especially writes gentle masculinity so deftly. I imagine that's difficult to do.
The issues around race and what constitutes Blackness in America is so salient for our current moment. The Vanishing Half really hammers home the fact that race is socially constructed and means nothing until we ascribed meaning to it. Definitely will continue to recommend.

Wow. One of the best books I've read in recent memory. The characters were beautifully written, their stories both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's an important book to read any time, but especially poignant in light of recent events. A must-read.

This book is currently #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers fiction list! The novel spans over several decades, starting in the 1960s with twin teenage girls Desiree and Stella. They live in the town of Mallard, populated by very light-skinned African Americans, who are still considered “negros” based on their blood and not their skin tone. When they run away and make lives for themselves, Stella decides to “pass” as a white person and abandons her family to marry a white man, who is never the wiser about her origins. Desiree goes the opposite way and marries a very dark-skinned black man. It took me a long time to get through the first 30% of it, which is mostly Desiree’s story, but it picked up once Jude (Desiree’s daughter) and Stella started narrating. It is an original concept that examines privilege in a thought-provoking way: Two women who look exactly the same but have very different lives, largely based on what race they are identified as.

Wow. This blew me away. Gorgeous and epic and beautifully drawn characters. I'll be thinking about Desiree, Stella, Early, Jude, and Kennedy for a very long time.

Wow! I'm not even sure how to review this book, it was that good. I really enjoyed The Mothers -- it stuck with me and was one I appreciated the more I thought about it. But I think I liked The Vanishing Half even more. Every single one of the characters was well-constructed, empathetic, and rich with nuance. The story was absorbing, the writing was beautiful, and I didn't want it to end. It tackles so much: whiteness, colorism, passing, queer relationships, trans identity, matriarchal families, marriage, motherhood, and more. Brit Bennett is a stunning writer who I cannot wait to read more from. This will most definitely be one of my favorite books of the year.

This book definitely captured my attention. I think it is a very important read in this current climate we are living in. The characters really came alive. I feel the ending needed something... felt like something was missing.

I loved this book and will be including it in my summer book recommendations on Mashable.com, scheduled to publish July 4th weekend.

The Vanishing Half grapples with the question - Can we change the direction of our lives and hide from ourselves as well as others? I applaud Brit Bennett for an amazing and timely novel about twin black sisters who were so light that they could pass for white. One sister chooses one path and the other sister chooses another path. We follow these sisters and their daughters in their very different lives. I will highly recommend this stunning book to my book clubs.

This book was amazing and I hope it gets the readership it deserves. Rich characters, beautifully drawn plot with expected turns.

The Vignes twins were born in the small Louisiana town of Mallard, direct descendants of the town’s creator. The story goes that Alphonse, their great great great grandfather, founded the town for people like him, not accepted by white communities but wanting the avoid the treatment Black people faced. Overtime, upon this foundation, the residents of Mallard built the ideal that light skin should be prized above all else. The Vignes twins Desiree and Stella are Alphonse’s dream realized with their fair skin but after the twins leave Mallard, their lives split in life-changing ways. Desiree marries a man with dark skin and has a baby that looks like the father before escaping back to Mallard. Stella disappears one day and lives her life passing as a white woman with her white family in her white neighborhood.

I feel like I was write the phrase “race, class, gender” into so many book reviews to the point that it has lost its impact. It is a lazy way to write about a book this meaningful. Brit Bennett has truly created a masterpiece with her sophomore novel. She explores the construct of race as it relates to the identities of communities, nations, and of individuals. She ties in the similarities of gender and the assumptions that we make around this concept. She asks her readers of consider what it means to be Black, what it means to be white, to be a father, to be a woman, how these are understood, and how they can be performed. The Vanishing Half is an extraordinary multi-generational saga that will capture your attention while you’re reading and long after you’re done.