This is a book that has been discussed online a lot given the recent (and very delayed) focus on the lives of Black people in America. This book is a straightforward conversation of four different women, each with their own priorities and colours of skin as well as how they define themselves.

This tale is, in the simplest terms, a saga. It begins with the reentry of one of the ‘missing’ twins. They left home a long time ago and the one who vocally denied wanting ever to come back, ends up coming home to stay. The twins are born in a town that prides itself in being the lighter-skinned of the ‘coloured’, it is the 1960s, and it is reminiscent of some similar sentiments in India (still commercially propagated), so I can imagine the scene quite vividly. The twins differ in temperament and how they deal with hurdles. The second half of the book is about the daughters, cousins by blood and have no knowledge of each other. The turns their lives take is simple and almost mundane. The almost is where the catch is. The supporting cast has a varied and rich tapestry of people. We see the times shift marginally, but fears and certain situations hold fast. It was not hard for me to actively dislike one of the twins, despite mildly sympathising with her. There will be no prizes for guessing which one.

There are some very harsh situational truths highlighted in the narrative. In its entirety, it was a great book to read. All four women have distinct voices throughout, not least because of all the factors that make them who they are.

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is completely based on my own reading experience.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Wow. This book is perfect for the times we're living in right now. Bennett's delicate discussion of the issues of race and racism in America doesn't dwell on riots or police brutality but instead how these issues affect everyday life for people across the country. The concept of passing has been around for centuries but I've never read a book fully exploring what this would mean for a family through generations. Bennett also retains judgement and plays with our expectations by portraying the lives of Jude and Kennedy as strikingly normal and forcing the reader to decide which might be 'better'. The inclusion of a trans storyline is also welcome and timely. A must-read book.

Wow, what a read. This book couldn’t be better timed with the #blacklivesmatter movement. No one gets to chose the colour of our skin, we are either born black or white... not so for twins Stella and Desiree Vignes. Although they are born negro they have very fair skin, so much so that Stella chooses to live her life as a white person.

A thought provoking, poignant read that makes you question the choices we make and how those choices can eventually make us feel lonely and trapped. I fell for all the characters especially Jude, I throughly enjoyed how we got to witness the characters grow and change over their lifetimes. The ending was really blunt, I was so involved in the story, I could have read another decade. Maybe there will be a follow up (hint to author).

In the 1950s twins Stella and Desiree run away from their hometown, Mallard, a place which prides itself on its 'light skinned' black community. But when they reach New Orleans, one sister realises she can shed her past, and pass for white. What ensues has repercussions down the generations and raises fascinating questions about race and identity.

Brit Bennet's second novel was tipped to be one of the hottest releases of the year and it does not disappoint. This inventive and exquisitely written novel has come at an an incredibly relevant moment, when all over the world people are considering their own complicity in the system that Bennet expertly exposes in this book.

Of course the very simple premise is that the boundaries the characters follow are fabricated social constructs - Stella herself wonders why if passing as white is so easy, they didn't do it long ago. The novel doesn't stop there, digging deep into how these structures and predjudices become internalised, how colourism is present even in black communities, and questioning what race really means. Bennet raises these questions without ever negating the importance of culture or heritage, exposing the readers own internalised assumptions about what race means.

If you thought that was all, then you'll be pleasantly surprised because Bennet also seamlessly weaves in a well-represented trans character giving the book fantastic representation and an endearing relationship to follow. As a multi generational saga this book is so well plotted and paced, the characters all so unique and true to life. While the story deftly explores big issues, it never feels forced or contrived, but is layered with a wonderful poetic symmetry which is a testament to Bennet's elegant and evocative writing style. This book is one of the standout books of 2020 and you'd do well to pick it up immediately!

It took me some time to get into this book but so glad I persevered and in the end I loved it. It gave me a character perspective that as a white woman living now I wouldn’t of had.
Stella and Desiree live in Mallard a town in US south so small it’s not on a map. They are identical twins who are so pale they are mistaken for white. One day they run away to a Orleans where the twins lose contact. Years later Desiree returns to Mallard with a black daughter who is so dark people can’t believe she is Desiree’s. Stella decides to become ‘white’ and has a completely different life.
The book tells the twins story and later their children’s stories.
This book not only covers racism but inter race racism and LGBT issues. It was mesmerising and I glued to the last page. I learnt something as well as enjoyed the tale.
I will definitely read Brie Bennett again and can’t wait for her next novel.
Thanks to Little, Brown book group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#TheVanishingHalf #NetGalley

The Vanishing Half is an absolutely captivating novel that explores themes of identity, race, family and belonging, The characters are beautifully drawn - complex, flawed, and yet always sympathetic. The narrative is cleverly constructed and draws you in until you find you can not bear to put it down. It's powerful, moving thought provoking and I can't recommend it enough.

Mallard: a small town in Louisiana that doesn't even exist on the map. The Vignes twins grow up here, Desiree and Stella, where the colour of your skin is the most important thing about you, and each generation is celebrated as being lighter than the last. When they run away to New Orleans aged 16, Stella realises that she can pass as white. Ten years on, and the twins lives have split: Desiree moves back to Mallard with her Black daughter; Stella's white husband knows nothing of her past.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I always say my favourite books are about family relationships, and so this ticked all of my boxes before I even started, but it's just a gorgeous book. There are prominent themes of identity and choice, and desire, and the impact of family relationships on a life that is no longer tied to them. I loved Jude and Reese, particularly, and how much of the novel was about Jude even when the blurb is all about her mother.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Gorgeous. I can't wait to read The Mothers, Bennett's debut.

This book was absolutely fantastic. The characterization was so vivid and the depictions of different historical periods always felt authentic. Other than what are arguably the main four characters (the Vignes twins and their children) there were also some truly spectacular supporting characters from Early to the swoon-worthy Reese.

While discussing what was undoubtedly a difficult historical period for Black Americans (when is it not?!) Brit Bennett was also so skilful at bringing to the book so many heartwarming moments of joy and tenderness, especially in the central love story.

Believe all the hype and be sure to read this as soon as you can. It is a modern classic!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for giving me an ARC of this book

(Review also posted on my blog, The Writing Finch)

Honestly, what an incredible book this was.

This has been on most reading lists recently to encourage reading Black authors, and now I can see why it comes so highly recommended. It had actually caught my eye on Netgalley much before when I originally requested and, to tell you the truth, I don't even really remember doing so. Then, like most books I've requested, I downloaded it and it sat untouched for so long until those reminders.

Desiree and Stella watched their father get killed by a group of white men when they were just young girls living in a black community specifically designed for those with lighter skin. These people will never be accepted as white, but they also 'refuse to be treated as negroes. A third place.' At sixteen, the twins leave Mallard without a backward glance. They don't want to spend the rest of their lives cleaning white houses and working in the local diner. But, as they grow older and further apart, Stella realises she can pass as a white person when it suits her. She can get a job as a white person, she can enter through the front door of a building, and she can get a white boyfriend who believes she is of the same coin. And with that, she disappears to live the life she wasn't born into. Meanwhile, years later, Desiree returns to Mallard with her dark-skinned daughter.

Seamlessly spanning across several decades, I am in awe at Bennett's ability to switch between the perspectives of Stella, Desiree, and their daughters with ease and without confusion. There was no chapter headings saying this bit was Stella like you would normally expect to see, instead casting an all-knowing eye across the United States at all the different lives at once. It is hard to pinpoint exactly who I liked reading about most, each interesting in their own right. Desiree, as she wonders what happened to her sister who left her behind. Stella, as she struggles to carry on the pretence of living as a white woman and attempts to befriend a Black neighbour. Jude, so dark-skinned that she stands out against her mother. Kennedy, the daughter who knows nothing about her mother's reality. Each decision the twins make affect the lives of those around them and we see the ripple effect of these decisions as the years pass. I had to keep reminding myself to slow down and take it all in, as I kept skipping over lines desperate to drink it all in. It is one of those books that I wish could have gone on forever, and I am quite jealous of those who are yet to dive into it for the first time.

I like that nothing was ever simple in this book. I like that you can see where each of the choices stemmed from, even Stella's to pass as white, even if you don't agree with them. I like that nothing is tied up in a neat little bundle, everything subject to opinions and questions and a hint of longing for more. It's life - nothing ever works out perfectly or the way you want or expect it to, no matter how hard you try. People do and say things you don't expect, they pop up in unexpected places with unexpected connections to you, they become a central part of your life when you don't realise you want them to. You simply cannot control the actions of others.

This is quite unlike any book about race I have ever come across. I am reading this from a place of white privilege, so it really struck me the way that Stella was so desperate to become this white woman that she so desperately wanted to be. Not only is this about race, but about family, identity, grief, desire, class, and so much more. This will stick with me for a long time and I have yet to see someone speak a bad word about it.

Britt Bennett explores prejudice in many forms in this moving novel. Twins Desiree and Stella grow up in Mallard, a ‘light skinned’ Louisiana town. Aged fifteen they run away together, eventually following very different paths in adulthood. Starting in the 1960s, changing times are shown through different characters eyes until the late 1980s. This is one of those books that feels like reading a story on the outside, but is much deeper than that, and challenges perceptions of colour, class and gender. The main protagonists have fascinating story arcs, but are supported by a great cast of more minor characters that really enhance the plot. I found The Vanishing Half offered genuine insights into identity and how it is defined: by self; by others; by history, and would recommend it.

Like some lost mid-career gem from Toni Morrison, this novel is meaty with questions of racial and sexual identity and seems sure to follow in the footsteps of Ruby and An American Marriage with a spot in Oprah’s book club and on Barack Obama’s summer reading list.

It’s the story of light-skinned African-American twins Stella and Desiree Vignes, and how their paths divide in 1954. Both are desperate to escape from Mallard, Louisiana, where their father was lynched and their mother cleans white people’s houses. Desiree works in fingerprinting for the FBI in Washington, D.C., but in 1968 leaves an abusive marriage to return to Mallard with her dark-skinned daughter, Jude Winston. Stella, on the other hand, has been passing as white for over a decade. She was a secretary for the man who became her husband, Blake Sanders, and now lives a life of comfort in a Los Angeles subdivision.

The twins’ decisions affect the next generation, too. Both have one daughter. Jude goes to college in L.A., where she meets and falls in love with photographer Reese (born Therese), who is, in a different sense, “passing” until he can afford the surgery that will align his body with his gender. In a coincidence that slightly strains belief, Jude runs into Stella’s daughter, Kennedy, and over the next seven years the cousins – one a medical student; the other an actress – continue to meet occasionally, marvelling at how two family lines that started in Mallard, a tiny town that doesn’t even exist anymore, could have diverged so dramatically.

This is Bennett’s second novel, after The Mothers, which I’m keen to read. It’s perceptive and beautifully written, with characters whose struggles feel genuine and pertinent. Though its story line ends in the late 1980s, it doesn’t feel passé at all. The themes of self-reinvention and running from one’s past resonate. I expected certain characters to be forced into moments of reckoning, but the plot is a little messier than that – and that’s more like real life. A shoo-in for next year’s Women’s Prize list.

The Vanishing Half is a beautifully written examination of human dynamics, race, loneliness, and identity.

The story follows the Vignes twins, Desiree and Stella, who run away from their small town home of Mallard, Louisiana. The thing about Mallard is that it's a town in which the founder was a little obsessed with colour, and as a result, each generation is lighter skinned than the previous. As such, Desiree and Stella are black, but are white passing. After running away, Desiree rejects this, and out of a kind of rebellion marries the darkest skinned man she can find, having an equally dark skinned daughter, Jude. Meanwhile, Stella disappears, abandoning Desiree and living her life as a white woman.

The novel follows a collection of characters with Bennett deftly weaving the separate narratives together, forming an emotional core that binds together the generational mysteries and tensions between them. The novel explores so much - how racism is learned and develops, the dynamics between mothers and daughters, abuse, freedom, and the crushing loneliness that comes with committing to living a different life. Bennett is skilled at really sinking into the minds of the characters, ensuring that we can understand and empathise with even their greyest of choices, so complex are the characters and so talented she is in her writing.

My goodness, this has made me stop and think 🤔 it’s not just about Black Lives Matter, it’s about all lives matter and it’s really about difference, acceptance of and embracing difference. Equality for all.

This is about two sisters, black twins who go their separate way in life, one as black the other as white.

Their community was obsessed with lightness.

‘She’d walked in a colored girl and left a white one. She had become white only because everyone thought she was.’

As Barack Obama said “We don’t have to look far to see that racism and bigotry, hate and intolerance are still all too alive in our world.” Bennett quite smoothly and sympathetically gets this across in The Vanishing Half. She brings into this novel all aspects of racism, bullying, LGBTQ and the way she does it is compelling.

My goodness, I would be writing an essay to review everything that she covers in this book. It is thought provoking; in parts uncomfortable and horrific the way in which some of the characters behave. Some of what Bennett shares is abhorrent. It’s shocking. Some parts are romantic and heart warming.

Murder, racism, domestic violence, discrimination for being different, romance, bullying, exclusion, diversity, tyranny, sexual abuse, women’s lib and LGBTQ are all covered in this very hard hitting book.

It’s all about survival, belonging, separation and living a big fat lie as far as Stella is concerned, and having to manage that lie daily and all the deceit it entails.

In some cases staying silent is safe and easy.

‘“Not for him,” she said. “I just liked who I was with him.” “White.” “No,” Stella said. “Free.”

‘Desiree laughed. “Same thing, baby.”’

I was 40% through the book before Stella came on the scene and I assume it’s difficult to end any book, I thought the ending of the Vanishing Half was too abrupt, I wanted a little more.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Club UK for this eARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

There are not enough adequate words in the English language to describe the brilliance of this book. It was such a fascinating theme, never more so than now with all the race protests all around the world. Brit' characters were beautifully drawn and I found sympathy with them all, even Stella who I think was a fairly selfish, cold character in the book. It was so interesting to think about how different their lives were because of the choices they made, and the scenes of segregation and casual racism were so beautifully drawn. Totally and utterly incredible, one of my favourite books of the year so far.

I was sent an advance uncorrected proof of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett to read and review by NetGalley. This is a really interesting take on a very topical subject – one of colour, race and identity. I really liked the author’s style of writing right from the start and I soon got engrossed in the story and with its characters. The writing flows quite easily between the main players - Desiree, Stella and Jude - as we follow them through their different courses in life. The only thing that made me give this novel 4 stars rather than 5 was the fact that I found in places it was overly long. I felt that a couple of chapters could have been shortened or left out completely, however, as I read a proof-copy things may have been tightened up before going to print. Whatever the outcome I still recommend this as a really good engrossing read.

One of my favourite books this year. I loved it so much I then purchased a physical copy as soon as it was published.
Twins Stella and Desiree grow up in the deep south and at 16 both decide to run away and go there own separate ways.
This novel tells the story of their lives both through their eyes and those of their daughters.
The narrative alters between 1950 - 1990 and covers such a wealth of topics including racism, community, sexual identity and abuse. It details how our past can shape our future and how different our lives can be, regardless of we started the same.
A beautifully written book, one I will treasure.

I loved this book.It's a fascinating plot dealing with both race and gender issues, very relevant to the times in which we're living . The characters were believable - twin sisters Stella and Desiree,and their daughters,Jude and Kennedy,whose lives take them in very different directions.
It's beautifully written and carefully plotted,and deserves all the attention it's getting.Highly recommended.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinions.

Desiree and Stella Vignes are teenage twins who run away from a small town in Louisiana called Mallard in 1954 leaving their mother Adele to mourn their disappearance. Mallard is a strange town because the population is fair skinned or, perhaps, light coffee in colour although black in origin.

They escape to New Orleans and live together initially but then drift apart. Desiree has a relationship with a black partner and has a black child while Stella chooses to adopt whiteness both as a skin colour and a social characteristic. In 1968, Desiree returns to Mallard with her child and, unsurprisingly, to a good deal of gossip and scandal. Stella remains disappeared.

The story shifts forward to 1978 when Desiree's child Jude goes away to college and meets a transsexual called Reese who becomes her partner and then back to 1968 where Stella is married and living in a white neighbourhood threatened by the intrusion of a black family. She has married her boss and now fully acts the part of a reasonably prosperous white woman. She has a daughter called Kennedy.

Now, there's another shift forward in time to 1982 and a chance encounter between Kennedy and Jude and then another one in 1988 and, slowly, the two girls begin to understand their relationship as cousins and the gaps in their personal histories. The story ends well.

What the story is really about is the damage that secrets do, not just to those who keep them but also in the way they impact on others around them and on their children. The characters are never quite certain of exactly who they really are and where they came from, and that leads them into seeking answers.

It's a likeable story. At times, it requires something of a stretch to join the leads together and it's one of those stories where you think that if somebody just rang somebody up and had a five minute conversation everything would be sorted out but if you can put up with that the characters and the back stories are interesting.

It's possible that some people would find the portrayal of Desiree's black husband and their relationship a tricky contrast with Stella's apparent white suburban contentment while the story unfolds through the 1960s with only passing reference to civil rights, wars and the other preoccupations of the time. Although a quick summary of the story might suggest that it was hugely symbolic with the coffee coloured town, the emphatically black child and Stella's adoption of whiteness there is little sign of that theme being explored in depth.

And, finally, Mallard, although it changes its name and disappears from most of the maps is the same kind of place at the end as at the beginning as if social and economic change has passed it by but maybe we have to accept that, in both these areas, the emphasis is on the story.

The start was confusing for me, I think for some reason I end up misunderstanding the book description and I thought the twins were one black and one white.
But actually they're from a fictional town, Mallard, where black people "whiten" themselves by marrying lighter and lighter in colour, and they become less black and more white looking. Then the twins, Desiree and Stella run away from Mallard then one ends up marrying with a black man, and the other lives as a white person.
This was so beautifully written and it made me think so much about how it may feel to be black, in a world that's designed and run by white people. Definitely must read, an eye-opener. I would be really surprised if this is not on Booker Longlist this year.

I loved Brit Bennett's first novel The Mothers for its accessible authentic voice, characters and storytelling. The Vanishing Half is no different. Portraying a family through its similarities and differences, this is a heavy-hitting novel about the way our skin colour affects our way of living and the opportunities we're given, and questions whether these associations can be performed. Brit Bennett is a pure talent.