The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – 343 pages

Book Blurb:

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. Ten 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.

My Review: 5 stars

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The Vanishing Half had me rapt from the moment I began reading. I initially held back from reading this one as I had a hard time with her debut novel, The Mothers. I’m wondering if it’s because I listened to The Mothers, rather than read it. I’m so glad that I followed my gut and read this one. This is a powerful book that at its heart is about identity, and our acceptance of it.

The story was set in a remarkably small Louisiana town that is populated by a significantly light skinned black community. Two identical twin sisters runaway to New Orleans and while one embraces her inherent blackness, the other does the same with her whiteness. The twins share an innate connection and enter foreign territory as they become lost to one another.

This book’s thought-provoking premise unleashed a powerful and moving story. The writing was eloquent and compelling. The use of four different POVs worked so well for the telling of this story. Each sister and each of their daughters shared their truths. The minor characters like Reese and Early were so important to character growth and development.

Although racial identity is the crux, themes touching on the arts, mother/daughter relationships, feminism, small town life, abuse, LGBTQ, marriage, lies and honesty are present. I found myself highlighting quote after quote as there were so many meaningful thoughts I wanted to hold on to. This is an example of both excellent writing and a strong, original storyline. I highly recommend this book. Well done.

Quotes I liked:

Memory works that way—like seeing forward and backward at the same time.”

“A town was jelly, forever molding around your memories.”

“That was the problem: you could never love two people the exact same way.”
“People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else.”

“In the dark, you could never be too black. In the dark, everyone was the same color.”

“As they grew, they no longer seemed like one body split in two, but two bodies poured into one, each pulling it her own way.”

“Maybe pretending to be white eventually made it so.”

“How real was a person if you could shed her in a thousand miles.”

“But sometimes, lying was an act of love.”