The Vanishing Half: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)

The premise pulls you in—an intriguing story that lays bare the weight of inheritance, stretched across the lives of women bound by blood and bruised by circumstance. Through the generations, their trials accumulate like sediment, layered with the questions of identity, the harsh mathematics of race, and the unflinching power of choice. Each decision these women make is an equation, its answer shaping not just their lives, but the lives of those yet to come. At the heart of it all are twin sisters, identical in appearance but fractured by the world they inherit. Raised in a fictional town steeped in internalized racism, the sisters learn to move through a society that sees passing as both salvation and betrayal. And yet, even in a world where their skin might grant them entry into spaces barred to others, the trauma doesn’t relent. The story reminds us that passing is no escape—it is a survival strategy built on sacrifice, a survival that exacts its toll. The town they come from, and the time they live in, are cages dressed up as choices. And in navigating that, they carry wounds—some visible, some buried deep—etched by the unrelenting hand of history.

Not the journey I expected

The Vanishing Half started out kind of slow to me, but it picked up right when I was about to call it quits. This novel explores the lives of two twins and how each one’s decisions shaped their lives and the lives of their children. The main theme that Bennett explores is colorism and how one twin took advantage by “passing” to reinvent herself. However, even though she’s “passing” she can’t outrun herself and her past. I feel like Bennett could have tied up a few loose ends, but other than that this was such a good read!

I really loved this book. It was so interesting to me because it showed up like a thriller/mystery and yet still had barely any plot and I don’t know why but I love those kind of books. In real life, dramatic events and horrible feelings and deep trauma DONT bend to a specific, entertaining plot… they just kind of simmer and rot. Jude’s lasting trauma from her dad’s DV was super relatable to me and one of my favorite parts. With all that being said, the qualms that I’ve heard people have with the major themes of this book are super valid. To some, the trans representation felt shallow and the comparison between LGBTQ+ communities and Black communities felt uncomfortable. Even though I didn’t necessarily feel that way while reading, that doesn’t mean it’s not true and it’s a super important point of discussion.

The beginning was a hard start for me. I just couldn’t get into it at first. I found there was a lot of information about a lot of characters and so it got hard to follow at times. Then when I finally got into it, it ended so abruptly. I just felt like she put so much into the other parts of the book and then the ending felt cut short and very lack lustre. I wanted to like it more. It had potential.