The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Book Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

THE VANISHING HALF 

FIVE STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SYNOPSIS

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 secretly 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

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51791252-the-vanishing-half

MY REVIEW

This book is definitely one of the best books I have read this year. 

I connected with this book on so many levels. As a person of color sometimes we feel as if there is a need to change who we are to be accepted. The Vignes sisters, twins, belonged to this small town called Mallard where everyone was light skinned. 

They witnessed their father being killed by a gang of white men when they were children and this I think impacted on the twins during the course of their lives. The story follows Desiree and Stella  Vignes as they grow up and take two different paths in life, with Stella trying to pass for white, while Desiree wanting to prove a point by marrying one of those {"dark men" that her mother warned were trouble. 

I felt connected to all the characters in this novel. I felt mixed emotions anger, fear, sadness especially for Stella because she felt that hiding who she was would somehow erase the hurt from her past. I think that while she lived in luxury she had the harder life than Desiree. As a person of color myself. 

I could relate to the issues of colorism that came out in the book. The writer did that creatively with the character Jude who was Desiree's daughter. I felt through the words how she lacked the confidence just like most girls who are darker skinned. Reese was important too because he had his battles to fight with being transgender but in Jude he found a mirror image. 

I read this book as an e book but I am going out to the book store and getting a physical copy for myself. I am looking forward to reading more from this author in future.

I highly recommend this book. 

I also think that it is a great book for a book club discussion.