"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."
Two twin sisters escape their small unusual town together to make a new life for themselves outside of their black community. Both sisters end up married with daughters. One decides to live her life as a white woman, one does not. The magic of this story comes from the binding and eventual unraveling of the Vignes twins in relationship, racial identity and life circumstances.
The Vanishing Half has easily one of the best plot lines I have read this year. This book was both engrossing and gut wrenching. Every section and new character voice felt like a new story, but they were all connected in the burden of their loneliness in some way. This book was always going to be great because Brit Bennett is an incredible writer but this story took on additional meaning and depth upon its release into this 2020 nightmare scape.
The Vanishing half felt like a reckoning in terms of topics and themes covered. The combined exploration of colorism, racial and gender identity, and assimilation felt almost overwhelming in their scope, but Bennett connected these themes to characters that carried their stories in their hearts more gracefully than the clunky labels. Bennett took hard ideas and brought the reader's understanding to an intimate human level. Time spent sitting with these characters felt transformative. There are books that you take in that change you in some small but great way and I can vouch for The Vanishing Half having this effect on me.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
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