Book Review: THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett

 

Title: THE VANISHING HALF

Author:  Brit Bennett

Publisher:  Riverhead Books

Read: June 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

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.

 

Ten 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?

 

My musings:

 

Why are the books we love best the hardest to review? I have debated so long over what to write but am still lacking the words to describe how much this book and its characters touched my heart. There are lots of reviewers out there who have expressed much more eloquently how wonderful this book was, and of the many questions it raised, so I am going to keep it short. I adored this book!

 

Weeks after reading it, its characters and their struggles are still with me. Even though Reese and Jude’s chapters were my favourites, my heart ached for each and every character in the book and the tough choices they had to make. There were so many themes that would make great discussion points that I am not even going to touch on them here. Race, identity, sexuality, family ties and the legacy our choices leave for our children were just a few themes that beg mentioning.

 

THE VANISHING HALF would make a perfect book club choice, because once you turn the last page you will feel like talking about it with someone. But either way, I urge you to read it – it definitely was one of my favourite reads this year. Highly recommended!

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Riverhead Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.