Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half is a book that I’ve had on my TBR list for a long time. Earlier in the year, before the book became one of the “must-read” books of the year, I had actually received an advance reader’s copy and had every intention to read it before publication, but those plans unfortunately fell apart due how chaotic those early months were for me. Now that things have settled a little bit, I was hoping to utilize these last 2 weeks of the year to catch up on a few of the books that I wasn’t able to get to earlier -- of course, this one was at the top of the list (I ended up reading a finished copy of the book that I bought later rather than the ARC copy). I’m definitely glad that I was able to squeeze this one in, as it turned out to be a 5 star read for me (and pretty sure it will be on my year end “2020 favorites” list as well).
Through a narrative about the twin Vignes sisters and how their lives turn out so differently after one of them decides to “pass” as white, Bennett weaves a compelling and well-written story that not only spans generations, but also explores aspects of our country’s history as it pertains to racism and social acceptance (among other things). The story alternates between the perspectives of the two sisters, Desiree and Stella, as well as their daughters Jude and Kennedy, and through their struggles with identity and belonging, we are given keen insight into our society’s contentious attitudes toward people of color. Even though majority of the story took place before my time, the characters and what they went through felt so real to me. On an emotional level, I resonated most with Desiree and Jude and the challenges they had to face that impacted all the choices they ended up making. On the other hand, it was harder for me to accept Stella’s choices – while I understand her motivation for “passing” as white to make her life easier, and even lying about her family and her past to corroborate her story, the part that I couldn’t come to terms with was her adopting a racist attitude (specifically in relation to her interactions with the Walker family), especially given what had happened to her own father. As much as I wanted to sympathize with Stella, I found her very difficult to like – in contrast, I did feel for her daughter Kennedy and the impact that Stella’s decisions had on how her life turned out.
This brilliantly written novel is on so many “best of” lists this year and deservedly so! More than an exploration of racism and identity though, there is actually quite a bit to unpack with this one that goes beyond what anyone would be able to cover in a review, which is why I don’t want to say too much here. I definitely suggest experiencing this one for yourself, as Bennett’s storytelling is engaging and immersive, but more importantly, the story itself is timely and relevant to a lot of what has been going on in society this past year. For me personally, one of the things that made this an even more interesting read was the familiarity of the setting, as more than half the story takes place in Los Angeles, where I grew up and currently still reside. When I read, I love being able to make connections with aspects of the story, characters, setting, culture, etc., as it makes the experience more immersive for me – with this book, the experience was extra special because, in addition to all of the places in and around LA that I recognized, my alma mater (the college I graduated from) was also mentioned, which I almost never see in novels I read, so I definitely got a kick out of that! I haven’t read Bennett’s debut The Mothers yet, but seeing how much I enjoyed this novel (her second book), I may end up moving that one further up my TBR list as a priority read for next year.
Received ARC from Riverhead Books via Edelweiss.
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