book
Genres linked with this book
  1. Fiction

The Vanishing Half

"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."
Recent ratings for this book on Bookelphia
 
5
4
1
3
2
1

4

1 Ratings
Jaya Shravan Reviewed on: 16-04-2021
Moderately paced family drama about racial passing

The story tails the journey of twin girls - the Vignes sisters who run away from their small fictitious town of Mallard in Louisiana at the age of 16. They’re blacks but, so light skinned that they could be whites too . You are defined by your choices. You could choose to leave an abusive husband or you could choose to pass as white. The former is Desiree and the latter, Stella . I discovered racial passing through an essay I read of Gail Lukasik in 2017 (you can find it by googling her name and Washington post). Spoiler alert - if you read it, you’ve pretty much read Stella’s story. Back then, it was a revelation to me. As a country obsessed with skin colour, I could understand where this was coming from. But for them, it means a lot more. It unlocks access to so many things. And the stark contrast between the two worlds is decidedly obvious in this tale and in the real world in today’s scenario, what with Black Lives Matter and white privilege and all . I liked the book. It is well-written, the characters have depth even if some of them could’ve leapt a bit more off the pages. You can imagine the whole thing as a movie. The backdrop of Mallard, the family dynamic, the sisters going their own ways and forging their lives over a span of the next 30 years - it’s all very well done. I also enjoyed how the book traversed between the 2 generations almost seamlessly with important little details hidden here and there. The writing is easy, the tone authentic and the story enjoyable, if predictable. I would’ve tied a few more loose ends but then this book wouldn’t be itself, it would be a Karan Johar movie . Recommended. Rating - 4.2/5