Title: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Genre: Historical (60s, 70s, 80s), Fiction
Length: 350 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise
Review:
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is a thought-provoking novel that is quite engrossing.
Stella and Desiree Vignes are twins who live in a close-knit African American town which was founded by a freed slave. The girls live with their mother who is supporting her small family following the tragic murder of her husband. During the ’50s, the teenagers run away to New Orleans where their lives eventually go in completely different directions. In 1968, Desiree returns to her hometown with her young daughter Jude. Desiree plans to stay in town temporarily but deep down, she knows she has won’t leave again.
Jude grows up enduring terrible bullying due to her very dark skin tone. She eventually leaves for college in California where she finally finds a group of supportive friends and possibly love with Reese Carter. By complete accident, she believes she has found her mother’s long missing twin, Stella. But Jude is uncertain of the woman’s identity since she is a white woman who is married to a wealthy businessman. However, she and Stella’s spoiled daughter Kennedy cross paths again. Jude is then certain of Stella’s identity, but it is clear there will be no warm and loving family reunion. Although close with her mother, Jude keeps this discovery to herself, but will she ever tell Desiree the truth about Stella?
In New Orleans, with Desiree, Stella uncomfortably passes herself as white to secure a better paying job. She essentially comes into her new life as a blank slate and continually deflects questions about her family. Even after she is married and firmly entrenched in her new life, Stella always feels like someone will unmask her as a fraud. Her relationship with Bennett is complicated by her high expectations for her daughter.
Kennedy is spoiled but she knows her own mind and she goes after what she wants. She is self-centered and demanding but she finally achieves a modicum of success in her chosen career. It is initially through her career that she Jade finds Kennedy again and Jude is hopeful she will find answers about Stella. However, their relationship remains tenuous and during an angry argument, Jude angrily spills the secrets she has been keeping. Despite her mother’s denials, Kennedy cannot help but wonder if Jude’s revelations are true.
Alternating between the mothers’ and daughters’ points of view, The Vanishing Half is a well-written novel that deftly explores colorism, racisim and identity. All of the characters are superbly developed with enviable strengths and relatable flaws. While some of the women are more likable than others, their individual stories are fascinating. Brit Bennett brings this powerful and introspective novel to a moving conclusion. I highly recommend this incredible novel.
