The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Brit Bennett’s second and newest novel is a stunning story — beautifully written, at turns tragic and frustrating, mesmerizing from beginning to end as it deals deftly with issues of race, bigotry, identity, loyalty and betrayal.
Desiree and Stella are twins growing up in an unincorporated Louisiana community known for an oddity: unilaterally, it’s black residents are all of a lighter black skin-tone. At a young age, after the girls have witnessed the brutal slaying of their father by a white mob, it’s the quieter, stoic Stella who realizes she could pass as white. It’s the one thing she never says aloud to her sister, her twin, as they share all their secrets and truths. At age 16, they run away together to New Orleans, and it’s from there that their lives take two very different paths: Stella disappears, leaving only a note, and goes on to live her life as a white woman; Desiree ultimately falls in love and has a daughter but, fleeing the abusive marriage, returns to their hometown.
This is where the story really begins: how did these choices made as young women impact not only their own lives, but the lives of others? What tragedies and traumas of their own pasts fuel their futures? The book spans decades and has some incredibly drawn characters; one standout is Reese, a black transexual who shares the themes of running away from home and cutting off family ties to start anew, but is different in his forthright embracing of his true self. It stands in stark contrast to Stella, whom the reader will see lives in constant paranoia at her unimaginably large lie being revealed.
My favorite book of 2020 so far.
View all my reviews