It seems like half the world is reading this book at the moment, so we all probably know that it’s a book about two very light-skinned (and wavy-haired) Black sisters whose lives divide when one chooses to live as if she were white – “passing over” as it’s called in the book. I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down; although it was obviously written before the massive surge in reading of BIPOC people’s lives, it has a timeliness about it and the differences between Black and non-Black experiences that serve as useful education. However, I have read numerous comments about it being important to still read books for their literary or entertainment value, rather than just because they teach us some kind of po-faced lesson, and this book certainly ticks those boxes, too – I couldn’t put it down towards the end and sat up late again to get it finished.
So, Stella and Desiree are twins growing up in a semi-mythological town (it doesn’t appear on maps; why this happens does get explained) town in the Southern US which has basically bred darkness out of its own population; they are in fact descendents of the town’s founding father. The town acts as a kind of chorus in the book: for example, when Desiree, who has seemingly married the darkest man she can find, brings her daughter back home,
Each time that girl passed by, no hat or nothing, they were as galled as when Thomas Richer returned from the war, half a leg lighter, and walked around town with one pant leg pinned back so that everyone could see his loss.
Stella, on the other hand, having had a couple of dry runs, manages to pass as white, and although she slips up a few times and has a very awkward relationship with her only Black neighbour, who she is drawn to even though she has been instrumental in trying to stop her move in, and is in fact instrumental in having her driven out (I’ve seen some reviews describe her as becoming a ‘good white woman’. While I appreciate the 60s were a different time, and while it is interesting to have her in a fairly standard rather than, for example, overtly racist family, I do think there would have been white women then who would not have done those two things), she doesn’t get found out by her own actions. However, even not found out, she is sort of hollowed out, with no real friends, no sister and mother, not able to relax for a moment.
We pass to the stories of their two obviously very different daughters, and things get even more interesting, plot and character wise. We also find out more about two men who love two of the women who are not on the path of canonical masculinity but offer different perspectives on manhood and created as opposed to blood families, Early in one generation, Reese in another. I just love these kind people and the additional layers they add to the book, and also the range of different life experiences in changing and dressing, from Black women passing as white through a teacher with a twice-monthly drag act to a convincing and lovely trans character. And yes, in a way you have to go to the big city to find this variety, but that’s a trope of the small town coming of age story genre this novel also belongs to.
A quote that sort of sums up the all sorts of powder kegs that could be lit in this book:
She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but by then, it was too late. She had rung the bell, and all her life, the note would hang in the air.
This book exists in the context of other books like Nella Larsen’s “Passing” but adds new layers to that, and brings it up to date. Another context I would put this book into in terms of my own reading preferences places it with Ruth Ozeki, Larry McMurtry, Michael Cunningham, Terry McMillan and Gish Jen. Yes, two white males there, but I’m by no means saying it’s good because it’s as good as them, I hasten to add. Like I like in my music a certain American whimsical whine in the singer, one strand of things I really like in novels is a clear, matter-of-fact voice that offers often astounding but also everyday experiences in a sort of reportage style, as if it was just plainly stating the facts. While still beautifully written, this book fits in with those others that I have loved for years, and I will certainly be picking up the author’s other novel and looking out for more.
Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review. “The Vanishing Half” was published on 11 June.
gardenbeak
Jun 19, 2020 @ 09:16:07
Hi Liz
Hope you are well.
This is an interesting review and given the times we are in very timely I shall be having a look at this……I am reading East west street by Phillipe Sand,he won the Bailey Gifford prize a couple of years ago. It intermingles the story of his Jewish family, and what happened to them in Poland/Ukraine/ Austrian Hungarian empire…depending on who were the invaders…and the development of the law and trials of the Nazi criminals. The two men who developed the word genocide, legally and crimes against humanity. The authors family and the two lawyers working on the law all came from the same area…..fascinating. Anyway we are ok …..in desperation Annie cut my fringe and I cut the hair at the sides of her face…we still look ok but can’t wait to get the hair cut.
Hope you and Matthew are ok and like us all plodding on…..so take care
Juliax
On Fri, 19 Jun 2020 at 09:42, Adventures in reading, running and working from home wrote:
> Liz Dexter posted: “It seems like half the world is reading this book at > the moment, so we all probably know that it’s a book about two very > light-skinned (and wavy-haired) Black sisters whose lives divide when one > chooses to live as if she were white – “passing over” as it'” >
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2020 @ 16:30:26
That sounds an important and harrowing book. I can highly recommend this – sorry I can’t lend it to you as it’s an ebook! We are doing OK thank you – I have been cutting Matthew’s hair for over a decade but have branched out into grading the back after a BBC video, and I have let mine grow and it’s fine, so that aspect at least has been OK!
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heavenali
Jun 19, 2020 @ 11:04:45
So glad you enjoyed this so much. I can’t believe that I was finishing this one as you were starting it and you have manged to get your review up before me. That goes to show how behind I always am. I still have another book to review before The Vanishing Half if I stick to the order that I read them.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 19, 2020 @ 11:16:43
I did read it really quickly as I couldn’t put it down. I so loved it and am looking forward to reading your review.
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lizipaulk
Jun 19, 2020 @ 13:26:07
Glad to hear that you enjoyed this Bennett. I’m reading her earlier work called “The Mothers” — oh, it’s sooo good!!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 19, 2020 @ 13:28:30
Oh, I have that on my wishlist now and I’ll be interested to read your review!
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Cathy746books
Jun 19, 2020 @ 14:36:06
I’ve ordered this from my local bookshop and hoping to get it next week. Lovely review Liz.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 19, 2020 @ 14:39:39
Oh cool, it was nice to read and review it around publication as so many other people are reading it! I look forward to hearing what you think about it. Unputdownable!
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Rebecca Foster
Jun 19, 2020 @ 17:48:50
It’s funny, when I first requested this I thought I’d be the only one reading it … but suddenly loads of people have read it! I think with BLM and everything, its subject matter has come to seem of even more immediate importance. Anyway, I’m only 2/3 through so won’t read your review in detail, but I’m really enjoying it and feel sure it will be on my Best-of list for the year.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2020 @ 16:08:57
Yes! I won it on 1 April so saw about it a little before then, but it was Ali reading it that made me dig it out to read!
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Jun 19, 2020 @ 19:13:34
Ali’s been telling me all about this one, and it sounds fantastic – as you say, we need to enjoy the diverse range of books we read. Interesting you should mention Passing, as I have the Larsens on the TBR! 😀
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2020 @ 16:09:23
It would be fascinating to read the two close together – such different times, such similar issues.
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JacquiWine
Jun 20, 2020 @ 06:57:51
Like Karen, I first heard about this book when Ali mentioned that she was reading (and loving) it. A timely release given where we are culturally and politically at the moment. I’m so glad to see that you rate it very highly too. It does sound very compelling!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2020 @ 16:09:50
And I already had it by Ali mentioning she was reading it made me pick it up. Very highly recommended!
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Hayley at RatherTooFondofBooks
Jun 20, 2020 @ 14:35:53
Glad you enjoyed this one – it does sound like such a good read. I have her previous novel The Mothers on my TBR so I must try and get to that soon. I think I might treat myself to this one as I think it’s a book I’ll enjoy.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2020 @ 16:10:18
Yes, I think you would enjoy this one, and I’ll look forward to hearing what you think of The Mothers.
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Paul at Halfman, Halfbook
Jun 22, 2020 @ 15:59:29
I’m one of the half who doesn’t seem to be reading it at the moment!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 22, 2020 @ 16:04:46
I know you’re more of a non-fiction person but this is a book one learns from as well as enjoys, and I do highly recommend it!
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Paul at Halfman, Halfbook
Jun 22, 2020 @ 16:32:12
I will bear that in mind, Liz
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Thomas
Jun 23, 2020 @ 14:59:44
Wonderful review Liz! Ugh so happy that we both read this one basically at the same time. I also felt so compelled by the book and was kept up wanting to finish it and fly through it. I loved how Brit Bennett showed the consequences of “passing” through the characters’ relationships with their daughters and their daughters’ development. No pressure to read but this is my review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3213027760?book_show_action=false
Yay for reading iconic books! I also recently purchased Bennett’s first novel and will be reading that one relatively soon.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2020 @ 15:29:50
I loved your review and I’m so pleased you liked the book, too. Your points about how it made you think about Asian American experiences were fascinating. I didn’t think Stella came out very positively at all, she didn’t seem to be happy and had such a flawed life but she could have chosen not to do that, I suppose. She just seemed like someone panicking as stuff from her past came to get her rather than someone one could identify with.
I keep thinking about the stuff about the town breeding out its blackness and how it had to work so hard to do that, which makes me shudder. I mean, I’m 1/64 Spanish (I think coming possibly originally from North African ancestors) and that 1/64 shows up so strongly in the looks of me and my cousins still, having not (not by design I hope!) introduced any other Southern European blood into the family. So how did they do that when I can go to Spain, Italy or the South of France (even Tunisia) and blend in? Doesn’t really bear thinking about.
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East Coast Appetite
Jun 23, 2020 @ 23:45:44
You sold me on this one! Will order from my local indie bookshop ASAP.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2020 @ 08:13:24
Welcome to my blog, and wow, that’s a win! Let me know how you get on with it!
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State of the TBR January 2021 and reading stats / best books of 2020 #AnneTyler2021 | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
Jan 01, 2021 @ 20:58:31
Sheila (Book Journey)
Mar 14, 2021 @ 14:04:14
I loved reading your review! Thanks for linking it! You wrote a review for the book I wish I had read lol – I have no idea why it didn’t click for me.
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Liz Dexter
Mar 14, 2021 @ 17:45:15
It is a shame – but it didn’t click for a few people, I know.
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Mar 02, 2022 @ 01:22:35
Very good review. We see the same stuff today in terms of racism, just with nicer manners. Sad. And, even sadder, it is as often from the most vocal left wing as from the usual right wing just in different ways.
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Liz Dexter
Mar 02, 2022 @ 08:36:26
Thank you, and yes, as a lot of the non-fiction books I’m reading are saying, liberal folk who think they’re non-racist are very bad at being called out, accepting biases, etc. in a situation where it’s worse to be called a racist than to BE a racist somehow. We all need to keep doing the work; I hope more and more people are.
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Mar 03, 2022 @ 01:39:18
Thank you for this. Made my day.
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