Cover Image: The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half

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Member Reviews

Sorry not for me. I just couldn’t connect to the story, didn’t enjoy it and gave up. Others will love but not me.

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This book was amazing, and kept me gripped throughout. The author moved seamlessly between the different characters' stories (the characterisation was incredible) which helped you sympathise more deeply with each of them. The setting, the plot, the complex themes were described and discussed in vivid and engaging detail - couldn't recommend this book enough!

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Over Christmas I read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett after it appeared in so many of my fellow bloggers best books of the year and also on Waterstone’s list. This is the story of identical twins Stella and Desiree, who at sixteen run away from their small town to start a new life in the city. Ten years later one twin returns to her old home with her young black daughter whilst the other twin is married an living as a white woman. From the 1950’s to the 1990’s, this is a story of two young women, their life choices, their children and how race effects them.

After reading The Vanishing Half I understand why this book was one of the top reads of 2020. Brit Bennett writes an intricate and emotional story of two young women, once so close, who find their lives suddenly on very different paths. Both Desiree and Stella had a troubled childhood, seeing their father lynched at a young age. Both want to escape their hometown of Mallard where the only life opportunities for them are as cleaners for the rich white families. Running away to New Orleans gives them their freedom, and for Stella a job as a secretary, a job that is a catalyst for her to runaway a second time, this time leaving her sister behind. After this point they have no contact, and Stella never even said goodbye. Her employer seeing her as a white women gives her the chance to live a very different life, a life of privilege, of being like the women whose houses she had cleaned. However, this is a life where their is the element of fear, of being found out. Desiree has the opposite life, back in her hometown, living as a black woman with her daughter, working at a diner and having little money. Their daughters Jude and Reese, very different in looks and status, one privileged but not appreciating it the other poor but like her mother wanting a new life. It is fascinating seeing them together, and how the decisons their mothers made effects their lives.

Obviously this book had race, and how we perceive it at it’s centre. The many different shades of skin colour, how people perceive themselves, how others perceive them is an important discussion in this book. The town of Mallard, where Desiree and Stella are from, is a town founded by the son of a white plantation owner and black slave mother. The town over the years has worked to breed out darker skin tones towards a lighter population, literally trying to erase the past. This is the reason the town is uncomfortable and prejudice towards Desiree’s daughter Jude, her dark skin colour a reminder of the past they are trying to forget. Brit Bennett also looks at how the past influences the future, how experiences of childhood and the lives of their parents can set the expectations of the children. Brit Bennett’s writing is an articulate discussion of many subjects that are at the centre of today’s society including sexuality, diversity, equality and class.

The Vanishing Half is a beautifully written, emotive and fascinating read. The intricate relationships between the twins and eventually their daughters weaves a complex and emotional web that draws you in and doesn’t let go. This really is a stunning and engaging read and one I highly recommend. Since reading this book I have bought Mothers also by Brit Bennett.

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This book is both timely and timeless, touching on issues that are very "current" as well as some that are historical. The characters are relatable and although certain aspects of the story are far-fetched, the writing makes you want to believe in the situation.

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One of the best books of 2020. I absolutely adore this book - so visceral and moving and important. I’ll be recommending this novel far and wide this Christmas.

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such a beautiful, complex and ultimately timely book. How Brit Bennett manage to weave all the complex characters together so seamlessly made it such an enjoyable read - i felt invested in everyone. Off to read The Mothers now!

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I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group, and the author Brit Bennett.
I really enjoyed this book. The story was engrossing and the characters incredibly well written, developed, and involving.
It was beautifully written, and manages to cover a huge range of topical issues and the consequences of racism on different communities and individual lives. In this sense there are many parallels with 'Little Fires Everywhere', and reminded me a lot of that novel.
Very excited to hear that it has been optioned by HBO to be turned into a series. I was thinking of it's potential for TV as I was reading it. Very deserving of the hype, highly recommended, 5 stars.

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Desiree and Stella are twins, growing up In the 1950’s in Mallard, a town in Louisiana inhabited only by light skinned Black people. When they are teenagers, they run away to New Orleans, and there, their twin lives separate. This is a compulsively readable story of race, colourism, class and identity with compelling characters and a beautifully written narrative.

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This is an outstanding novel.

The tale of twin sisters who are Black, but so light skinned that one ends up living a life as a White woman really made me think.

Desiree and Stella are very different in their attitudes to life and I think this is part of what drives their individual decisions to live very different lives. The story crosses many decades as we follow the twins growing up and forging their way in the world. Along the way we encounter themes of domestic abuse, privilege, identity, gender, ambition, family dynamics and many more.

I loved that the novel moved on a little from Desiree's life and focused on the life of her darker skinned daughter, Jude. The way that Brit Bennett then managed to weave the long estranged twins' lives back together through Jude and Stella's daughter Kennedy, was incredibly well plotted and engaging. The relationships between the characters are all varied and authentic. There is a very tender relationships between Jude and Reece, a tumultuous relationship between Stella and Kennedy and the understandably complex relationship between Desiree and Stella.

The multiple perspectives narrative style really helps you to 'get into the head' of so many of the characters.
This is a character driven novel but it does not do so at the expense of plot.

Icould go on and on about why this book is good and how fantastic the writing is but I think the best way to find this out is for everyone to read it for themselves.

Thanks so much to Dialogue Books (Little Brown) for this ARC. I am off to buy all of Brit Bennett's other books now!

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I struggled to get into this novel - but once the story picked up the pace and the daughters grew up and older - and headed for their eventual meeting, I was holding my breath at almost every page.

The depth and power of Bennett's writing and her ability to encompass decades of change at an individual and societal level is immense and skillful.

I bought The Mothers as a result of this novel and I would read anything else written by this author.

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This was an absolute delight to read. I feel ashamed to review this, as it would be impossible to do justice to Bennett’s work.
I will remember the stories of the amazing array of characters forever and be inspired by them. Fantastic, timely, educational and highly entertaining!

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I thank Little Brown Book, UK for providing me an ARC copy of this novel in the first place, although later I also purchased my own copy which I review here.
This is the first novel by Brit Bennett I read, although I’m aware that her first novel, The Mothers, was very well received, and this one has been highly praised and regarded as well. And, in my opinion, it deserves it.
The description of the book provides a fairly accurate summary of the main points of the plot, and I won’t try to be too inclusive when I mention the many topics the author touches on: race is paramount (is race only skin-deep?, different types of racism, the changing attitudes over the years, the burden of internalising other people’s values and what that does to the characters’ sense of self…), identity (while one of the characters lives a lie, a trans man abandons his birth biological gender to truly become himself), domestic violence, family, LGTB, rural versus city life, the importance of education, mothers and daughters, Alzheimer’s disease, love… It is a family saga, a story of two twin sisters and their daughters and how their lives split up at some point, sending them into completely different directions.
I’ve mentioned the issue of race, and that is the main focus of the book. The little place, somewhere in Louisiana, where the sisters are born is peculiar already when it comes to race. Although all the inhabitants are African-American, they are all so light that an outsider would not be able to tell they are not white. They are proud of it and consider anybody who is a shade darker than they are their inferior. But, of course, the local white people know, and that has terrible consequences for the girls, who lose their father due to a lynching (for an imagined crime the man had not committed). It’s not surprising that they leave the place as soon as they can, but once in New Orleans things are quite difficult, and one of the sisters, Stella, ends up passing for white to get a job. That changes everything, and the sisters’ lives end up going in totally different directions. Although from the reviews I read I realised that many readers might be unfamiliar with the concept of ‘passing’, it has appeared in novels and even movies over the years. I recommend Nella Larssen, a female author from the Harlem Renaissance, whose novels Passing and Quicksand are fascinating and deserve to be better known, but both movie versions of Imitation of Life, although in a far more melodramatic fashion, deal with the topic as well, and in the musical Showboat we have similar concerns (and talk of miscegenation and the ‘one drop of blood’ dictum), and concepts that might appear bizarre now (like quadroon, octoroon, [Alexandre Dumas Jr was an octoroon if we apply that classification, and Alexandre Dumas father a quadroon], or high yellow) but made a big difference in the past, when it came to the treatment somebody received. Some of the readers don’t feel the book goes into these issues deeply enough, but this is a novel, and realistically, it would be impossible to discuss all the aspects of it and create a fictional story readers cared for as well.
The main characters of the novel are the two sisters, Stella and Desiree, and their two daughters, Kennedy and Jude. While the two sisters are identical twins, Kennedy and Jude could not look and be more different —Kennedy is blonde, has blue eyes, has lived a life of privilege, and has always been self-centred. Jude is dark skinned, suffered prejudice and abuse as a child and grew up without a father, is hard-working and determined, and has always cared for her family and for others— but their lives still converge and collide at times, bringing some momentous changes to their lives. There are many more characters in the story, some more important than others (Early plays an essential role in Desiree’s life, and Reese complements Jude), and there are many people they come across: friends (I particularly liked Barry, who becomes a drag queen on the weekends and is a great agony aunt), neighbours, work colleagues… The first two parts of the novel centre mostly on Desiree and her daughter, while we only get to know more about Stella and Kennedy later in the book. While the central characters are well drawn, that is not the case for some of the others, and they are not all sympathetic, not even the protagonists, but I felt the author manages to make their actions and their emotions understandable, even if we don’t like them that much. I wasn’t totally sure about the way Reese’s experiences are dealt with in the book. We hear about his difficulties and his process as a trans man, but this at times feels like an afterthought, and some readers have questioned how his story might appear to be linked to the concept of ‘passing’, although I don’t think that was the author’s intention (he sheds his previous identity and is happy to leave it behind, with no regrets, no matter how hard the practicalities are, while Stella struggles and feels she is living a lie).
The story is narrated in the third person, mostly from the point of view of the four female protagonists, although we are also given a brief insight into some of the other characters that come into the sisters’ lives, and we hear a bit more about Early and Reese’s thoughts and experiences. The way the story is told might be problematic for many readers, as the point of view often changes within a chapter, and although the changes are not excessively difficult to follow, keeping the story straight does require a degree of attention, especially because the chronology is not linear either. We go forwards and backwards in time, from the 1950s to the 1990s, although the story moves forward overall.
The writing is lyrical and precious at times, harsh at others, and the rhythm flows and ebbs, being quite contemplative in parts (as it befits a book about memory and identity). This is not a page-turner, but I felt the pace suited the novel perfectly. I had to share a few highlights with you, although I recommend that people interested in the book check a sample to make first, to ensure it works for them.
In New Orleans, Stella split in two. She didn’t notice it at first because she’d been two people her whole life: she was herself, and she was Desiree. The twins, beautiful and rare, were never called the girls, only the twins, as if it were a formal title. She’d always thought of herself as part of this pair, but in New Orleans, she splintered into a new woman altogether after she got fired from Dixie Laundry.
The hardest part about becoming someone else was deciding to. The rest was only logistics.
Sometimes you could understand why Stella passed over. Who didn’t dream of leaving herself behind and starting over as someone new? But how could she kill the people who’d loved her? How could she leave the people who still longed for her, years later, and never even look back?
The ending is perhaps a bit rushed, considering the length and depth of the novel, but it suits it and I enjoyed it. If you want to know if it’s a happy ending… Well, this is not that kind of book, but I’ll say it isn’t unhappy.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy literary fiction and novels that deal in complex and diverse topics, with a focus on female protagonists and their lives, who don’t mind a somewhat demanding and challenging writing style, and who are eager to discover talented female writers. Great story, memorable characters, and a subject that will make readers think. What else could anybody want?

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An excellent read that covers current race and LGBT issues. A difficult read at time but compelling nevertheless. I enjoyed it very much.

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The Vanishing Half is a stunning second novel, which will make me look out for anything that Brit Bennett writes in the future. It's one of those books which gives you a book hangover even before you have got to the end, causing you to stop and think about the characters and their lives.

Twin sisters grow up in a black community in the American South. They run away together aged 16, but soon their lives will become polar opposites in so many different ways. One comes back to the town she was raised in to look after her black daughter, the other marries a white man and spends the rest of her life secretly passing for white. The story follows both sisters at different times in their lives, as well as members of their families, to sew together a rich tapestry of racial identity, racial politics and familial disagreements with characters you feel you know intrinsically by the end.

Bennett's writing is phenomenally seamless, and the result is a compulsive novel which it is hard not to read all in one sitting.

If you enjoyed Homegoing, An American Marriage or What Red Was, you'll love this book.

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This one has been all over Instagram and has been very much an anticipated read for a lot of people, and rightly so.

This book is perfectly written, covering the lives of the Vignes twin sisters and the struggles they face in daily life. As they leave the small, southern black town at age sixteen, we see the characters grow and develop with one sister returning to the town with her black daughter, and the other living her life being ‘white’ and keeping her past a secret from her white husband.

The book is written over many years, with both Desiree and Stella being the main focus as well as their daughters. The Vanishing Half covers all sorts of issues, the main one being identify. It is not just race that is highlighted, but class, gender and cultural aspects too.

This is such a thought provoking book and you really become submerged in the characters’ lives. The various points of view intermingle and mix perfectly, emphasising the emotions and feelings of the main characters. This is an emotional book, one that moves you from the deepest anger and frustration on how different races are treated, to the emotional highs of love and acceptance. I became invested in the characters and through reading about their lives, I learnt so much.

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The thin line

"Her father had been so light that, on a cold morning, she could turn his arm over to see the blue of his veins. But none of that mattered when the white men came for him, so how could she care about lightness after that?"

The Vignes twins, Stella and Desiree, grow up in Mallard, Louisiana. A small town that can hardly be found on a map. All the people living in this town are very light black people. Proud of their lightness, they try to keep to themselves. The twins' dad dies early, killed by white men. At 16, their mother takes them out of school, crushing Stella's dream of one day becoming a teacher. The two decide to run away to New Orleans and make a new life for themselves there. It is there that Stella discovers how easy it is to pass for white with her light skin...

I loved reading this thought-provoking book. It follows the twins lifes all through adulthood, losing touch with each other and living very different lifes, one passing as white, the other living as black, until they finally meet again in their hometown decades later. I really enjoyed Bennett's writing and didn't want to put down the book. This book covers racism, loneliness, family, motherhood and could not be more complex or timely. I truly enjoyed this one and can't wait to read Bennett's debut novel, 'The Mothers'.

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Such an original voice - I read The Mothers and loved it, and this completely satisfied my expectations. A wonderful, multi-generational novel that allows insight into every character it features.

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The Vanishing Half raises a few subjects such as colour, class, identity, racism, family, LGBTQ+, domestic violence etc. Sadly the story only scratches the surface and often the characters lacked real depth and their actions are not really understandable. Likewise real conflicts are only implied.
Nevertheless the style of narration is fairly engaging. If you like stories about family and siblings over a decade of life, just give the book a try and see for yourself.

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I was late to this book, having requested early, as often happens other things got in the way, but that made it all the more sweeter when I was finally able to dive in here. Bennet weaves such a compelling tale of two sisters and the life choices we make knowingly, and unknowingly, and how they can weave their way to affect other generations of family. I simply wanted to get back to the story each night, reading more than intended each time, such is Bennet's talent for pulling you into her story. It's also full of surprises, with characters not behaving as you might expect, and as such you find yourself rooting for those you hadn't expected to love from the first few chapters (my favourite character was Jude for what it's worth). Her writing is so smart and this is definitely a book to recommend and be read widely.

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This much-reviewed novel is epic in scale and time, where it spans from the late 1960s through to the 1980s, from rural Louisiana to Los Angeles, to New York. Brit Bennett's 'The Vanishing Half' is an ambitious, well-written novel about race, essentially, but also, about decisions that people make and how these can be forgotten, and moved on from - or not.

Desiree and Stella Vignes grow up in Mallard, a town people haven't heard of, in Louisiana. The twins run away and then their lives take very different pathways: Desiree has her daughter, Jude, and eventually ends up back in Mallard, living with her mother, having escaped an abusive relationship; but Stella, who fakes being white, lives in Los Angeles with Blake, her husband, and daughter Kennedy. The issue of black versus white plays a significant role in this book and Bennett particularly highlights how people's opinions were - and perhaps, sadly, still are, to an extent - firmly rooted in the colour of someone's skin.

Jude eventually ends up in LA and befriends Kennedy before realising the link. It causes much aggravation and upset, even more so when Stella denies any link with Desiree - their lives have diverged so much that she doesn't want anything to do with her long-lost older twin sister. She does, eventually, return to Mallard, albeit briefly, before hot-footing it away again, to a live she has made for herself in a place so different to her home town.

For me, even though this is heartfelt and timely given the Black Lives Matter issues which affect people the world over, there were some issues with 'The Vanishing Half' - namely that black twins can grow up to look entirely different, with one having a white appearance. Forgive me if I am wrong but I find it hard to believe that this would have been feasible in the 1970s and 1980s. And furthermore, it seems quite serendipitous, and very unlikely, that Jude and Kennedy would have met in the first place - but then, coincidences do happen in life and who's to say it's impossible?

I enjoyed this novel and it has given me, a white, middle-class, middle-aged (ick!) male, something to think long and hard about. It's set in a place very different to where I am from, with very different issues and concerns. Parts of it are a little implausible but having said this, as the novel progresses, so did my enjoyment. 'The Vanishing Half' is a grower and I am really pleased that I finished it.

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