The Vanishing Half & The Mothers By Brit Bennett 2 Books Collection Set
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • THE WASHINGTON POST • NPR • PEOPLE • TIME MAGAZINE • VANITY FAIR • GLAMOUR • BARACK OBAMA
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
“Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
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.
As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.
NAMED A BEST BOOK BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • THE WASHINGTON POST • NPR • PEOPLE • TIME MAGAZINE • VANITY FAIR • GLAMOUR • BARACK OBAMA
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
“Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
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.
As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.
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Readers say Brit Bennett’s collection offers a compelling, masterfully told exploration of sisters, identity, and life’s defining choices. They praise...
I really loved this book. Brit Bennett's writing if so fresh and her descriptions of certain things and situations are relevant and spot on. I do feel that Bennett left some doors and windows open in the story that I wanted some closure to but I can see her picking these stories up in books she will write later. I loved discussing this book and look forward to sharing it and discussing it with others.
thenextgoodbook.com
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
343 pages
What’s it about?
Identical twins Desiree and Stella grow up in the small Louisiana town of Mallard, which was founded by their great-great-great grandfather Alphonse Decuir. Alphonse was the son of a white land owner and a slave. His dream was to create a community for light skinned negroes who would not be accepted as white, but saw themselves as set apart. "Lightness, like anything inherited at great cost, was a lonely gift. He'd married a mulatto even lighter than himself. She was pregnant with their first child, and he imagined his children's children, lighter still, like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream. A more perfect negroe. Each generation lighter than the one before." When Desiree and Stella turn 16 they run away from this small town to New Orleans. Years later, Desiree will return to Mallard with her daughter in tow, but not much has changed. “In Mallard, nobody married dark....Marrying a dark man and dragging his blueblack child all over town was one step too far.” Desiree and Stella make different life choices- as we will soon see. The choices these women make will reverberate in the lives of their respective daughters.
What did it make me think about?
Identity- racial identity, gender identity, and what influence do others have on how we see ourselves and what we become? This novel also made me think about racism, loneliness, consequences, acting versus lying, and so much more. My one wish is that Stella's daughter would have been written as less of a caricature.
Should I read it?
Yes! For some reason I have put this book off and I am so glad book club chose this one. Brit Bennett has written a very thought provoking book that is easy to read. Not to mention her writing, "Her death hit in waves. Not a flood, but water lapping steadily at her ankles.
You could drown in two inches of water. Maybe grief was the same.". I will look forward to a good discussion- as there are many ideas to explore in this story.
Quote-
"People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else."
If you liked this try-
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
343 pages
What’s it about?
Identical twins Desiree and Stella grow up in the small Louisiana town of Mallard, which was founded by their great-great-great grandfather Alphonse Decuir. Alphonse was the son of a white land owner and a slave. His dream was to create a community for light skinned negroes who would not be accepted as white, but saw themselves as set apart. "Lightness, like anything inherited at great cost, was a lonely gift. He'd married a mulatto even lighter than himself. She was pregnant with their first child, and he imagined his children's children, lighter still, like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream. A more perfect negroe. Each generation lighter than the one before." When Desiree and Stella turn 16 they run away from this small town to New Orleans. Years later, Desiree will return to Mallard with her daughter in tow, but not much has changed. “In Mallard, nobody married dark....Marrying a dark man and dragging his blueblack child all over town was one step too far.” Desiree and Stella make different life choices- as we will soon see. The choices these women make will reverberate in the lives of their respective daughters.
What did it make me think about?
Identity- racial identity, gender identity, and what influence do others have on how we see ourselves and what we become? This novel also made me think about racism, loneliness, consequences, acting versus lying, and so much more. My one wish is that Stella's daughter would have been written as less of a caricature.
Should I read it?
Yes! For some reason I have put this book off and I am so glad book club chose this one. Brit Bennett has written a very thought provoking book that is easy to read. Not to mention her writing, "Her death hit in waves. Not a flood, but water lapping steadily at her ankles.
You could drown in two inches of water. Maybe grief was the same.". I will look forward to a good discussion- as there are many ideas to explore in this story.
Quote-
"People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else."
If you liked this try-
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
This was a book I didn't know about until Book Group brought it to my attention. I'm glad it did. This was a very well written historical fiction genre that really made you think about all the ways the author presented "vanishing".
For me the biggest tragedy was the loss the TWIN sisters had for the remainder of their lives, just because of how society dictated the way people lived at the time. The thing is, I don't think even now, with so many societal changes that we've improved life as much as we should have in all this time. The horrible unfairness of the privileged few dictating the way "things ought to be" is sadly still happening even though many think it's changed, it sadly is only minor improvements for some.
Because one twin felt she had to lie about who she was, she forever had to give up being herself and only being half of who she was on several factors. First, identical twins are always the most in tune with each other and extremely close, this was lost for both women when the time came that one chose to live one way while the other stayed with what she knew. Secondly, she lost that in that she could no longer be proud of her heritage and had to hide it for the rest of her life to fit in to a society that demanded she be less than who she was, but her fear was so great that she couldn't even be honest with herself let alone her child or husband. She gave up as much as she gained by living the life she chose, but maybe not so much chose as accidentally fell into and didn't know how to change her circumstances without giving up what she came to know, and the opportunities that would never have be available to her otherwise.
There are so many different people that "vanish" in this story, the theme is woven in both the sisters, but their daughters, the people their daughters come to know and it is sad that society caused this problem and still does.
For me the biggest tragedy was the loss the TWIN sisters had for the remainder of their lives, just because of how society dictated the way people lived at the time. The thing is, I don't think even now, with so many societal changes that we've improved life as much as we should have in all this time. The horrible unfairness of the privileged few dictating the way "things ought to be" is sadly still happening even though many think it's changed, it sadly is only minor improvements for some.
Because one twin felt she had to lie about who she was, she forever had to give up being herself and only being half of who she was on several factors. First, identical twins are always the most in tune with each other and extremely close, this was lost for both women when the time came that one chose to live one way while the other stayed with what she knew. Secondly, she lost that in that she could no longer be proud of her heritage and had to hide it for the rest of her life to fit in to a society that demanded she be less than who she was, but her fear was so great that she couldn't even be honest with herself let alone her child or husband. She gave up as much as she gained by living the life she chose, but maybe not so much chose as accidentally fell into and didn't know how to change her circumstances without giving up what she came to know, and the opportunities that would never have be available to her otherwise.
There are so many different people that "vanish" in this story, the theme is woven in both the sisters, but their daughters, the people their daughters come to know and it is sad that society caused this problem and still does.
This a story about sisters, daughters, and the choices we make in life that end up defining us.
I honestly did not want this book to end. From the beginning, Bennett draws you in with her masterful storytelling. I don’t think I have ever read any other book that weaves the past and present together as seamlessly as The Vanishing Half. All the characters were so engaging and complex. There really isn’t any negative thing I can say about this book. The ending, though not quite what I had hoped would happen, was true to life and the decisions that real people often make- it’s not neat and certainly not easy. I’m eager to pick up Brit Bennett’s other book, as well as anything else she publishes.
I honestly did not want this book to end. From the beginning, Bennett draws you in with her masterful storytelling. I don’t think I have ever read any other book that weaves the past and present together as seamlessly as The Vanishing Half. All the characters were so engaging and complex. There really isn’t any negative thing I can say about this book. The ending, though not quite what I had hoped would happen, was true to life and the decisions that real people often make- it’s not neat and certainly not easy. I’m eager to pick up Brit Bennett’s other book, as well as anything else she publishes.
Beautifully written, but profoundly heartbreaking. A riveting story about the impossible weight of external and internalized racial prejudice.
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