The Vanishing Half is a novel that shows just how human emotion, uncertainty and longing can be captured and put on paper." But she'd pressed against the railing, transfixed, imagining herself gliding above the clouds to some far-off place like Paris or Rome. I hope there are many more books to follow. Sun-drunk from the long barbecue in the town square, where Willie Lee, the butcher, smoked racks of ribs and brisket and hot links. The Vanishing Half tells the multi-generational story of the Vignes sisters, Desiree and Stella, two very pretty identical twins who grow up in the small town of Mallard, La. The Vanishing Half is sweeping generational novel that follows identical twins Stella and Desiree, who grew up in a Louisiana town so small it isn’t even on the map. Adele Vignes would have heard the floorboards creak. Mar 29th, 2021 0 Comments 1 View by Brit Bennett. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. And yet, if Alphonse Decuir could have strolled through the town he'd once imagined, he would have been thrilled by the sight of his great-great-great-granddaughters. And the school was in the same building it'd always been, all the grades together, so that even moving up to Mallard High hadn't felt like a progression at all, just a step across the hallway. Brit Bennett has a fun and thought-provoking conversation with Elizabeth Day at Waterstones. The Vanishing Half manages this, it feels, with ease. Now Desiree and that dark child. But it wasn't, not really. We’d love your help. my only wish is that her characters would jump off the page a bit more rather than just remain vessels/outlines for her stories to play out through. "I never seen a child that black before.". In Lou's Egg House, the crowd dissolved, the line cook snapping on his hairnet, the waitress counting nickels on the table, men in coveralls gulping coffee before heading out to the refinery. She was hurrying, her head bent, and-Lou paused here, a bit of a showman-she was holding the hand of a girl, eight or so, and black as tar. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Add to Wish List. They are distrustful of dark skinned people, considering themselves better because of the… Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2020. Her hipless body reminding him of a branch caught in a strong breeze. From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. Intricate prose. Finally, a follow-up to Bennett’s smashing debut, "She was black. It starts out a slow tale, expertly told. From the acclaimed author of The Mothers, The Vanishing Half is a story that asks pertinent and, at times, overwhelming questions about who we are and where we’re headed as a society. I can’t hardly wait to read it. But as the twins started dinner, Stella remained silent and glum, rinsing carrots under the sink. Which should not have been surprising, perhaps. Although inseparable as young girls, they part ways and their chosen lives take very different paths. For the child to be a little more perfect than the parents. Stella looked like she'd been socked in the gut. Highly recommend. This book is about choices and circumstance. There are some gorgeous passages that make you see the touch of Desiree's hand on Early's neck or the pool where Stella sips gin in the morning. This book is deceptive in its calming voice. His mother, rest her soul, had hated his lightness; when he was a boy, she'd shoved him under the sun, begging him to darken. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2020, Mallard is a strange town 'more idea than place'. She didn't hate Mallard as much as she felt trapped by its smallness. She was an adult now. Their shedding of clothes and enjoying the water and sunshine serves to show how they have grown comfortable in their own skin. I don't think that the five star reviewers read all the way through to get enough insight. One of the best of the year and well deserving of the praise it has received. ", So well written and so interesting! Maybe grief was the same.”, “She hadn't realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.”, https://britbennett.com/the-vanishing-half, Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2021), Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction (2020), Reading Women Award Nominee for Fiction (2020), See all 55 questions about The Vanishing Half…, Forthcoming Books for 2020 by African-Americans, Meredith ( on Semi-Hiatus until February), https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html, https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html, https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/, The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett - 4 stars, 2021 April - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, 33 Sweeping Multigenerational Family Dramas. The diners, abandoning grits and eggs on the counter, didn't care about that Vignes foolishness-who on earth was the dark child? Desiree imagined herself escaping into the city and becoming an actress. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett is a multigenerational story of a black family. Bennett’s writing is lovely, making the read smooth and engaging. I couldn’t put it down. The Vanishing Half is an intergenerational examination of identity, and what it’s like to grow up in a body you’ve been conditioned to feel ashamed of. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. It is about racial identity, of course, and three generations of mother-daughter relationships. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2020, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2020. The line cook wondered if it had been Desiree after all, since Lou was turning sixty in May and still too vain to wear his eyeglasses. But that morning in April 1968, on his way to work, Lou spotted Desiree Vignes walking along Partridge Road, carrying a small leather suitcase. This book is about choices and circumstance. Mostly she'd told Stella, who indulged her with the patience of a girl long used to hearing delusions. The Vanishing Half revolves around the daughters of the lynched man. ", "Lord," Lou said. Both sisters, in their own way, rebel against the strictures of the town They run away as teenagers and wind up rebelling in very different fashions. Although the first 1/3 of the book was slow, once we start to see how two generations diverge and they connect later on, I became invested in each person's individual journeys as they grappled with race, loneliness, colorism, abuse, motherhood, and a sense of identity. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The story then moves back and forth in time and from the different characters’ perspectives. This and their upbringing in a small black community in Louisiana where people believe the lighter they are the better life will be. In that little farm town, nothing surprising ever happened, not since the Vignes twins had disappeared. "Blueblack," he said. Thus the skill on display, even more impressive. If Stella is the vanishing half, Kennedy is the undeveloped negative — the perfect blueprint that, absent any grounding identity, is no guarantee of a perfect life. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2020. The story focuses on twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, and their daughters, Jude and Kennedy. Unanswered plot lines, Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2020. 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. A beautiful, brilliantly written novel. The twins come from Mallard, Louisiana, where having light skin is greatly valued. The Vanishing Half. A long afternoon of celebration while the band played, the night ending in a dance in the school gymnasium, where the grown folks stumbled home after too many cups of Trinity Thierry's rum punch, the few hours back in that gym pulling them tenderly toward their younger selves. After seeing the brutal murder of their father, the girls run away to New Orleans at the age of sixteen. On the last day of tenth grade, their mother came home from work and announced that the twins would not be returning to school in the fall. You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood. On any other night, Sal Delafosse might have peeked out his window to see two girls walking under moonlight. Despite these shortcomings, “The Vanishing Half” is a brave foray into vast and difficult terrain. Lightness, like anything inherited at great cost, was a lonely gift. Life before he died seemed like only a story she'd been told. But the next year, she'd lost the role of Viola in Twelfth Night to the mayor's daughter, after her father had made a last-second donation to the school, and after an evening sulking in the stage wing as Mary Lou Fontenot beamed and waved to the crowd, she told her sister that she could not wait to leave Mallard. Each generation lighter than the one before. Write a review. The premise of this book is both very timely and fascinating: How do both blacks and whites perceive shades of black? Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. Well, how could they ever tell the difference? Winner of Best Historical Fiction in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards. Fair and blonde and redheaded, the darkest ones no swarthier than a Greek? Being light and darn near white myself I related to the story and enjoyed being a captured audience. The other sister passes herself off as white, marries her white boss and they produce a blond, blue-eyed daughter. His desire to be himself even though (especially given the time) it was so dangerous to be a Black transman. "I'll find a way-", "You can't, honey," her mother said. Please try again. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The father now dead, the now-freed son wished to build something on those acres of land that would last for centuries to come. Both sisters, in their own way, rebel against the strictures of the town They run away as teenagers and wind up rebelling in very different fashions. I have absolutely no interest in such matters. Please try your request again later. An absolute MUST-read, right now. I enjoy Bennett as a writer, but I felt like this book didn't come all the way together. But at least there would be no more tests or studying or memorizing, no more listening to lectures, bored to tears. There’s racism here, a violent incident against a man, witnessed by his young twin daughters, and more trauma for one of the girls than we want to imagine. She'd given Stella a worn calculus textbook from her own Spelman days, and for weeks, Stella lay in bed trying to decipher the odd shapes and long strings of numbers nestled in parentheses. I think Reese was involved in the story to juxtapose Stella's desire to pass and lie about who she is in order to ensure her safety and freedom, while Reese was almost doing the opposite. "If it was true, then you'd do something about it," Stella said. Desiree is restless, though, and persuades Stella to run away with her when they are 16, not realizing what she has set in motion. "Only thing waitin for you out there is wildness," her mother always said, which of course, only made Desiree want to go even more. In Mallard, nobody married dark. Was this who counted for colored in America, who whites wanted to keep separate? In the end your left limp, wrung dry, but longing for the story to go on. I’ve never read anything by Britt Bennett but this won’t be my last. "You think they fixin to stay?" The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett was on a lot of lists for highly anticipated books for 2020, but now it’s been picked up for an HBO limited series in a 7-figure deal.I really enjoyed this book, and I think it would be so fantastic as a television series, so I’m looking forward to when that happens. She barely remembered him now; it scared her a little. The Vanishing Half Book Club Questions. The Vanishing Half garnered acclaim from book critics, and was found by Emily Temple of Literary Hub to be the 2020 book most frequently listed among the year's best, making 25 lists. "Like she flown direct from Africa.". [What did you all make of the ending where Jude and her boyfriend are swimming in the river after their grandmother's funeral? It’s a poignant family story that doesn’t shy away from the intersections of race, class, and gender—all while capturing the reader’s heart and mind in a way only Bennett can.” —The Rumpus This is a must read. The Vanishing Half is a novel I highly recommend as fiction and as historical fiction, to individuals and for a group discussion. They'd had enough schooling, she said, easing gingerly onto the couch to rest her feet, and she needed them to work. Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2020. Unpopular opinion. Please try again. In many ways, the town is another character to the story. What a terrific review! Everyone on earth spent the entirety of last year telling everyone else that this book is excellent and brilliant and a must read, and then I showed up deeply and profoundly late to the party only to say the same thing. White people couldn't believe it even existed. The Vanishing Half Plot Just in case you missed the must-read novel, The Vanishing Half is a multi-generational story that centers on Black twin sisters Stella and Desiree, who come from a … Black as coffee, asphalt, outer space, black as the beginning and the end of the world. The story focuses on twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, and their daughters, Jude and Kennedy. The Vignes twins vanished on August 14, 1954, right after the Founder's Day dance, which, everyone realized later, had been their plan all along. One sister marries an extremely dark skinned man and has a dark skinned daughter. Refresh and try again. Could she possibly be Desiree's? Her work is featured in. Then the speech by Mayor Fontenot, Father Cavanaugh blessing the food, the children already fidgety, picking flecks of crispy chicken skin from plates held by praying parents. The book had me interested from the start to finish; I was intrigued by the characters and plot, but the end left me. Lou leaned against the smudged window, staring out at the road. Excellent read. It debuted at number one on The New York Times fiction best-seller list. "We can't leave Mama," she always said, and chastened, Desiree fell silent. Lord. No one saw the twins sneak out, exactly how they'd intended. Colored people whispered about it, wondered about it. One morning, the twins crowded in front of their bathroom mirror, four identical girls fussing with their hair. The twins used to love hiding behind the quilts and sheets before Desiree realized how humiliating it was, your home always filled with strangers' dirty things. I had a hard time with the character development of the children. The girls separate. Look might past me, didn't wave or nothin. Lindenhurst , NY 631-957-7755 But his great-great-great-granddaughters inherited his legacy, whether they wanted to or not. Her seco. This is clearly a case off false advertising. Missing her mother after all those years or wanting to flaunt that dark daughter of hers. The story begins in Mallard, Louisiana, a town founded by a light-skinned black man for light skinned blacks. Homesick, maybe. "I just don't see how nothin that black coulda come out Desiree. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEARNAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE* VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR, “Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal, “A story of absolute, universal timelessness …For any era, it's an accomplished, affecting novel. Let’s first talk about what the title means in the context of this story. The barely awake customers clamored around him, ten or so, although more would lie and say that they'd been there too, if only to pretend that this once, they'd witnessed something truly exciting. ", "Desiree seem like the type to take in no orphan to you?". Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2020. Their disappearance seemed as sudden as the rapture, all of Mallard the sinners left behind. This is reinforced as a place so small that it can't be found on an atlas though characters might try. She returns with her very dark daughter Jude while Stella vanishes into a new life where she passes for white, so much so that no one, not her husband, not her very blonde daughter Kennedy know until.....It's the story of Jude and Kennedy and also of Early and Reese (and his friends), the very good men in these women's lives. by Brit Bennett. Lou's Egg House splintered into a dozen different conversations. I don't agree. I'm sorry I didn't read the 1 and 2 star reviews before buying the book, I would have saved my money for better stories. "Well, who else's could it be?" "You gotta be there during the day. Once, Desiree flipped through the book, but the equations spanned like an ancient language and Stella snatched the book back, as if by looking at it, Desiree had sullied it somehow. But it's Jude who's the centre focus here. Still, the girls stared at each other in silence as their mother unlaced her shoes. The next, the bed was empty, the covers pulled back like any other day, taut when Stella made it, crumpled when Desiree did. Stella, the clever one, would have predicted that the town would be distracted. But Desiree had always fantasized about life outside of this little farm town. How she felt that you could flick away history like shrugging a hand off your shoulder. I have no idea where to even begin with my review. Now she was back, Lord knows why. One marries a coal-black man and has a dark-skinned daughter. The premise was supposed to be about two sisters who led different lives based upon the color of skin that they presented them selves as to communities they lived in, but it goes astray with stories of their offspring. THIS WAS NOT THE CORE OF THE BOOK. This is a book of relevance. Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2020. Unable to add item to List. "Wonder what she hurryin to. Internet Resources. If, say the story surrounding the relationship had been told by Reese he could have delved into the topics you expect. Adele snored through her cups of rum punch, dreaming of dancing with her husband at homecoming. The twins had been gone fourteen years, nearly as long as anyone had ever known them. Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? The Vanishing Half explores themes of race, family, and identity. I highly recommend this book. She leaves her abusive husband and returns to Mallard where her daughter is marginalized due to her skin color. ⁣, You can't wait to know, but need want it to end, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2020. Hadn't she, for years, told anyone who would listen that she couldn't wait to leave Mallard? Even Lou LeBon, closing down the diner, might have seen the twins through the foggy glass panes. Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020. Soooo...first I gave this book 4.5 stars. Brit Bennett’s writing is smart and sharp, funny and melancholy, and … The Vanishing Half is written in a more conventional tight third person, shifting between characters and generations – primarily Desiree and Stella … I think Reese was involved in the story to juxtapose Stella's desire to pass and lie about who she is in order to ensure her safety and freedom, while. I too was stumped by the ending. Disappointing. Absolutely wonderful exploration of race, identity, lies, and familial love. This would stick after the twins disappeared. I enjoyed reading about these women and also adored the male side characters (Reese makes me so soft!) The sisters have always been close, almost like one person, even though they are so different, in personalities. You could drown in two inches of water. See All Buying Options. Sal, feeling suddenly spry, rocked to sleep with his wife. This and their upbringing in a small black community in Louisiana where people believe the lighter they are the better life will be. Leanne Treese's Book Time Vlog: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2020. The Vanishing Half is itself a novel that deals with the past, specifically the 1940s through the early 1990s. The twins knew a girl named Farrah Thibodeaux who, a year ago, had fled to the city and it sounded so simple. The Vanishing Half is an intergenerational examination of identity, and what it’s like to grow up in a body you’ve been conditioned to feel ashamed of. He would have marveled at them. the line cook asked. however, this book deserves much of the hype it has received, and i think the complex look it provides at race, identity, and motherhood (among o. “THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett” is a valuable textbook that provides the basics as well as advanced knowledge on the statistics for business students. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Plus both had left their original lives in order to lead vastly different ones. This book is getting a lot of buzz, so I was pleased that our book club chose it and gave me an excuse to pick it up. She was pregnant then with their first child, and he imagined his children's children's children, lighter still, like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream. June 2nd 2020 The source material for HBO's new limited series is Bennett's epic 2020 novel. They just moved from one day to the next like they could not take charge of their lives. Their stories...and the backstories of their forebears is told over a span of almost forty years, beginning in the 1950s. Didn't the bishop tell him that Mallard was a colored town? Agreed, disappointing as I wanted more about the twins and seeing details of how their choices determined their futures. It was like there was not enough going on with the sisters lives, the author felt it necessary to throw this red herring into the story. A town that, like any other, was more idea than place. I'm not sure I have words for how excellent this book turned out to be, but terms such as "breathtaking, poignant, and ultimately hopeful" come to mind. Naturally, the truth was neither sinister nor mystical; the twins soon surfaced in New Orleans, selfish girls running from responsibility. 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. Instead it focused on the dynamics of the LGBTQ community. Then slowly it evolves into a gripping page turner. The Vanishing Half may seem old-fashioned but it’s cleverly constructed to both match and critique the conservativism of the 1950s and 60s: the … The other sister passes for white and lives a privileged life. The twins come from Mallard, Louisiana, where having light skin is greatly valued. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Didn't seem right for her to be ambushed by her own daughter, not after everything she'd already been through. A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom, Born and raised in Southern California, BRIT BENNETT graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. A more perfect Negro. No, so black she looked purple. And what reason she got to be uppity? The story starts off with Desiree returning home to Mallard, Louisiana after running away at age 16 with her twin sister Stella. This is certainly true of the founders great-great granddaughters, identical twins Stella and Desiree Vignes. Marrying a dark man and dragging his blueblack child all over town was one step too far. Stella wanted to become a schoolteacher at Mallard High someday. I have to go take a nap. He grabbed a handful of napkins from the dispenser, dabbing his damp forehead. One sister marries an extremely dark skinned man and has a dark skinned daughter. Desiree and Stella are identical twin girls born in the 1950s in Mallard, a small town in Louisiana. He'd married a mulatto even lighter than himself. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller. So well written and so interesting! Does this book contain inappropriate content? Yet, I was still drawn to her and felt for her, trying to understand her more. He's a part of her life but not all of it. Completely absorbing. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett features black twin sisters, whose skin is so light that they can pass for white. Why not focus on some serious family drama? Welcome back. Weak characters. I wanted it to either be a more focused book with half the plot or to really go big and have more about all the characters. All the people in Mallard are black but light skinned. "Who knows? The Vanishing Half is an intergenerational examination of identity, and what it’s like to grow up in a body you’ve been conditioned to feel ashamed of. Ranging through the years and across the US, it's told from third person perspective of each woman and her daughter. , The ending felt rushed and anticlimactic. She was a selfish girl. I went into this book with high expectations, considering that I hadn’t seen one single negative review; everyone loved it and found it important and was mind-blown by the quality of the writing. It is her second novel and was published by Riverhead Books in 2020. They'd run out of money and gall and come sniffling back to their mother's porch. The Vanishing Half, published in June 2020, is the second novel by author Brit Bennett.It became a New York Times bestseller and was selected as a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. On Sunday nights, Stella ironed her clothes for the entire week, unlike Desiree, who rushed around each morning to find a clean dress and finish the homework crushed in the bottom of her book bag. It’s a poignant and lovely story that takes you through several lifetimes with empathy and hope. Deep characterization. The expectation is that as these light-skinned blacks live together and breed together, their offspring would become lighter and lighter in skin tone with each ensuing generation. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller. By the time the Vignes twins were born, Alphonse Decuir was dead, long gone. I was very intrigued about the lives of the sisters, but I got no satisfaction of what made them what they were. And the story and characters kept me interested and curious from beginning to end. It tells the story of twin girls growing up in the segregated South. This book is great if you are looking to make the most of the time that you are given. Desiree hated helping her mother clean. Overview. There was a problem loading your book clubs. But they never returned again. The Vanishing Half portrays twinship in a new and more authentic light. How are ratings calculated? She had already found them a job cleaning a house in Opelousas and they would start in the morning. Ending was unsatisfying and abrupt. HBO acquired the rights to develop a limited series with Bennett as executive producer. She sure seem in a hurry though," Lou said. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. They tell of the lives of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, who were born in the fictional Louisiana town of Mallard, where the population of African-Americans were all light-skinned and looked down on dark skinned people. What a talented writer. A time when her mother hadn't risen at dawn to ride buses clean to white people's houses or taken in extra washing on the weekends, clotheslines zigzagging across their living room. I agree with reviews I have read. “Her death hit in waves. How Desiree never wanted to be a part of the town that was her birthright. Soon others came. The concept of Mallard was created as a place for people 'who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like Negroes.' They live in a town that is colorstruck inhabited by light skinned black people. She looked exactly the same as when she'd left at sixteen-still light, her skin the color of sand barely wet.