The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Book Club Gem!!!

As a reader, I love stories that allow me to think for myself and dig deep into the depth of the story, and that is what I did with this one. I often dig deeper, then most of my friends in our group read and sometimes talk to myself. Lol What I got out of this story was not what I expected at all.

The story explores a few things here I wasn’t expected, like performance, reinvention, and transformation with the different characters. This gave me so much to think about, along with racial identity, we see with twin sisters Stella and Desiree.

Stella and Desiree are very different from each other, and it was interesting to see how a series of events and experiences shaped those differences. In turn, then those differences shaped their daughters and their search for their identities. I did think a lot of the focus was on the character’s individual identities, which made it harder to connect to their relationships and get the emotional response I was looking for there. At each turn of the story, we see and question what the characters gain, lose and what parts of them vanishes and what stays the same.

The characters are all pleasantly refreshing, and Brit Bennett writes without condemning them or judgement good or bad. She shows us their actions and motivations allowing me to ask myself questions and form my own thoughts

For me, the best part of the writing is the things not told that allowed me to see, think, understand, ask questions and challenge the way I think. I highly recommend it!

I received a copy on EW