Book Review: The Vanishing Half

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An important 5 star read. 

Book Description:

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 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.

Review:

The Vanishing Half is one of my favorite books of the year. Brit Bennet writes like a flow of memories, things that might not seem connected but deep down it all is. Obviously race is a main theme in this story but it goes beyond that into other ways people have to change themselves to “pass” in our society. Which should never have to happen. There is only one thing I wish was different about the ending, I wish a character had shown up to redeem themselves. Life isn’t like that sometimes though, people often don’t redeem themselves and we have to accept that, learn to live with it and let it go. 

I highly recommend The Vanishing Half as a thought provoking read. Especially if you are trying to be an inclusive reader, going beyond highly popularized novels. Rumor has it The Vanishing Half will soon be a series on HBO and you catch me reading more from Brit Bennett.