Book Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Book: 90/150

Rating: 5/5

Summary: 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? 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.

Thoughts: Do you ever read a book by a new (to you) author and immediately add the author to your all time favourite authors list? This is Brit Bennett, folks. Her writing is beautiful. You fall hard and fast for her characters and can see them so vividly in your mind.

There really isn’t too much more I have to say about this one that hasn’t already been said. It is beautiful, poignant, and relevant. It deserves all of the hype it is getting and I’m really glad I have my own copy. This is a book I will want to revisit. At the end of every chapter (and the mid-chapter breaks) her writing is so poignant and beautiful I found myself re-reading certain passages.

I will say that I didn’t *love* the ending. I was hoping for something a little more final, but I think the ending was very true to the book. This one is a five star which means I'll be talking about it and recommending it for a while!