The Vanishing Half: A Novel

“The hardest part about becoming someone else was deciding to. The rest was only logistics.” THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett is one of the most buzzed about bestsellers of 2020 and let me just say it lived up to the hype! Without a doubt this is one of my most entertaining, unputdownable books I’ve read in a long time! Brilliant, thought provoking, heartbreaking; THE VANISHING HALF has it all! This multigenerational family saga takes place from the 1940s to the 1990s and centers on identical twin sisters Stella and Desiree Vignes. Though inseparable growing up, the Vignes twin’s lives sharply diverged after they ran away from their small, Southern Black community as teenagers. Estranged from each other, one twin returns home as an adult while the other secretly lives her life as a white woman. Though living completely separate and different lives, fate forces the twins and their families together. THE VANISHING HALF asks the question: what happens to those who choose to vanish and to those who are left behind? THE VANISHING HALF examines racial identity, colorism, trauma, reinvention, and above all the concept of “passing.” Bennett mainly explores the effects of racial passing and how a black woman passing as white simultaneously overcomes the barriers of race and reinforces them. Not only is racial passing discussed but we also see how passing can occur with gender and socioeconomic class. With masterful storytelling and exceptional character development, Bennett skillfully manages time jumps, shifts in narrative perspective, and multiple complex plot threads. Though there is a reliance on coincidence, I found the story totally engrossing and an overall fantastic read! If for some reason you have not read THE VANISHING HALF, what are you doing? Trust me, you will not regret reading this one! Plus, HBO is adapting it into a limited series… need I say more?! Without a doubt THE VANISHING HALF is a must-read book that I think every person would not only benefit from reading but highly enjoy! Follow my Instagram for more book reviews and fun book content: @BookyNooky

After reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet, I was overall impressed with the coverage the author showed of everyone’s life. The story is told in the third person perspective and switches between times in multiple characters’ lives. At first, I was a bit confused but as I continued to read, things started to come together. The author included a background for most characters so it was less challenging to understand their perspective. These insights into their lives have a massive contribution to the plot of the story. They add dramatic and suspenseful effects. The literary devices like diction, syntax, and detail further added to these effects. Though I felt that the story moved very slowly and that the author spent too much time switching between characters before getting to the peak, the long-awaited climax helped build up suspense and the urge to continue reading. The story starts out with Desiree returning to her hometown, giving some information about the twins' past and why they left. The story then continues to switch between the lives of Desiree, Stella, and their daughters, Jude and Kennedy. When the author introduces a new character, I think they did a good job giving them a brief background and their importance to the story, for example, Early and Reese. These are two love interests in the story and are there as a companion to Desiree and Jude in their separate lives. I felt that the transition between the characters and the change in time happened too inconsistently and I sometimes found myself lost. For instance, when the author shifted perspectives between Jude and Kennedy. The story being told in a third-person perspective gave readers a chance to acknowledge each character’s thoughts and feelings. From a very young age, The twins experienced something very traumatic that had a major impact on their lives. The literary devices used create an obvious difference between the twins’ lives and add to the theme of the story. Desiree chooses to return to her censorious hometown and embrace the darker shade of her daughter’s skin while Stella pretends to be something she’s not and lives her life as a lie. I enjoyed reading the parallel storylines the author included and thought they added to the dramatic effect of the overall story. In conclusion, I found the book interesting. Everyone in the story had their own struggles and it made me acknowledge more all the things I am grateful for. Though both of the twins experienced trauma and loss, they were both able to overcome it and find love.

The Vanishing Half starts off in the fictional town of Mallard, which was built in 1848 by a person with mixed parentage for “men like him, who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated as blacks”. Even as his black mother keeps him in the sun to darken his skin, he eventually marries a woman with lighter skin than even his own, hoping that future generations get lighter and lighter, “like a cup of coffee being steadily diluted with cream”, as Bennett puts it. This – the tussle between wanting to pass as white, for that meant to pass as free, and the fierce need to own and protect one’s racial identity – then forms the core of this novel. Desiree and Stella are twin sisters and descendants of Mallard’s founder, physically identical but as different as chalk and cheese. Desiree is the more adventurous and rebellious of the two while Stella is the staider, and they run away from home at the age of sixteen – Desiree because she hates the pretentious town where people are “colorstruck” and Stella simply because she wants a better life. And as fate would have it, and due to individual choices that the sisters make, Desiree returns home while Stella passes as white and leads a life filled with lies. The story spans about 40 years and touches upon three generations, with intertwining stories, and is filled with an interesting and well-fleshed out supporting cast – Early Jones, who had a childhood crush on Desiree but could not express it due to his color and who eventually becomes her main pillar of support, Desiree’s dark-skinned daughter Jude, who like her mother, is unforgiving of people who refuse to recognize their heritage, her boyfriend Reese who has been grappling with issues related to his sexuality and Stella’s daughter Kennedy, a Californian blonde, with a chequered relationship with her mother. The contrast between Desiree and Stella is one of the most interesting aspects of the book, and also likely to be one of the most debated topics for any reading club. Ostensibly, the portrayal of Desiree seems more sympathetic and that of Stella seems somewhat cruel. But the story gradually reveals several layers to their characters. For example, it is unclear whether Desiree’s marriage to dark-skinned Sam is driven purely by love or to an extent by her hatred of what Mallard stood for and Stella’s behavior is partly explained by the racial and sexual violence witness by her during her childhood and teen years. Finally, Bennett’s writing is top-notch – simple yet evocative. At one point, Stella, who spends nearly her entire life hiding things from everyone around her, notices her husband’s arousal and feels embarrassed for him as “she could think of nothing more horrifying than not being able to hide what she wanted” and metaphors such as these add to the reading pleasure! Pros: Interesting plot, well-defined characters, beautiful writing Cons: None really, unless this genre does not appeal to one

El libro espectatular. The Vanishing Half es una novela escrita por Brit Bennett que explora temas de identidad, raza, familia y secretos. La historia sigue a dos hermanas gemelas afroamericanas que eligen caminos de vida radicalmente diferentes. Una hermana pasa como blanca, mientras que la otra vive como una mujer negra. A lo largo de las décadas, las vidas entrelazadas de las hermanas y sus respectivas familias revelan las complejidades del racismo, la identidad y la búsqueda de pertenencia en la sociedad estadounidense. La novela ha recibido elogios por su narrativa poderosa y sus temas conmovedores. Fue nominada para el Premio de Mujeres en 2021.

A brilliantly written novel, füll of intrigue, admirable characters, and a fascinating tale. In a small village near New Orleans, not marked on any map, the residents are proud to notice that the population is becoming paler with each generation. The twins, Stellar and Dolores, the colour of barely wet sand, decide to run away, a recurring theme throughout. Even Dolores' daughter is an athlete, a runner, and runs off, but not to escape, rather to find out who she wants to be - another recurring them. The author writes beautifully, moving through time, from one memory to another and back to the original starting off point, on no occasion confusing the alert reader. Three generations are touched upon, the problems of being Black lined up carefully with the problem of deciding who you want to be, and reflecting on the effect you may have on those you love. A tender and thoughtful study of growing up as a Black person, and how to reach your decision on how to become who you want to be.

I loved this book, I read it while on holiday and it is highly recommended.

アメリカのルイジアナ州に Mallard という地図にもない小さな町がある。先祖代々比較的色の白い(light) 黒人だけが住む町で、darkな黒人たちとは一線を画している。 本書はこの町に住む Vignes 一家、Addele の一生を縦軸に、双子の娘、Stella と Desiree、そしてそれぞれの娘、Kennedy と Jude 物語である。19５0年代から19９0年代にわたっている。 Addele は夫が突然白人たちに襲われて目の前で殺害されて以来、Stella と Desiree を、掃除婦などをして働きながら育てる。2人は一見白人と見まがうほど肌の色は白く、美しく育つ。しかし貧しさと未来への展望が持てないままの暮らしに悩み、16歳のときに、母親を残して出奔する。ニューオーリンズの都会の片隅で、仕事をみつけ、肩を寄せ合って暮らすが、ある日 Stella は、Sorry, honey, but I've got to go my own way. というメモを残して、Desiree のもとからいなくなる。 その後の2人の人生、Stella はひたすら白人として通し、秘書の仕事をみつけ、そのオフィスのボスと結婚し、娘 Kennedy が生まれ、一見裕福な白人家庭の暮らしとなる。しかし常に Stella の心の奥底で脅かしているのは、自分のアイデンティティが発覚するのではないかという恐れである。 一方、Desiree は黒人の男と愛し合うようになり、彼と結婚し、生まれた Jude は、black そのものだった。やがて夫のDVに耐えかねて、Desiree はJudeを連れて、Mallard の母親のもとへ帰る。14年ぶりの娘を母 Adelle は暖かく迎える。Stella のことも母の心には残っていて、晩年アルツハイマーにかかった彼女は、Desiree を Stella と混同したりするのだ。 Desiree を遠くから見守り、時々現れて助けてくれる、幼なじみの黒人、Early Jones の存在は、貴重だ。 Mallard で唯一の「黒人」として辛い思いもしながら育った Jude は、その類まれな駿足を見い出されてカリフォルニア大学の奨学生として、新しい生活に旅立っていく。一方「白人」のkennedy は、母の苦悩も知らず、女優としての道を追い求め、自由奔放に暮らし、ステージに立つようになる。 この従姉妹どうしである２人はどこかで出会うことはあるのだろうか。そして５人の女たちの行末には何が待ち受けているのだろうか。読み進めていくうちに興味は増していく。 Adelle を始めとして、3世代、5人の女たちの人生、彼女たちと関わる男たちとの愛や友情、あれこれのできごとが、当時の社会状況を背景に描かれ、読み応えのある物語となっている。そして、その物語の根底にあるのは、アメリカ社会のなかに根深く存在している黒人に対する人種差別意識である。少しでも黒人の血が混じっていれば（mulatto, quadroon など）、外観は白人と変わらなくても、あくまで「黒人」なのである。 Philip Ross の The Human Stain （映画の邦題「白いカラス」）を思い起こす。当事者にもアメリカ社会全体にも、その意識が奥深くに存在し続けて消えないのは、驚くばかりである。 最近では、イギリスのハリー王子とメーガン妃の間に子どもが生まれるとわかったとき、英王室でとりざたされたという会話も、同質の意識から生じている。