“She’d grown up in her mother’s eyes, no longer her daughter but a separate woman, complete with her own secrets”

I am going to start with pure honesty and say I have no idea where to start with this review, not only because this book was extremely popular but because this book earned and deserved every bit of the popularity it received. 

I actually put off reading this book because of how popular it was. My main reason for doing this was because I have found that in the past when I have read popular books at the height of their popularity I almost entirely miss the book. I am more likely to rush through the story and to base my enjoyment of the book on what everyone else says it should be. Yes, I am flimsy like that and I sometimes succumb to wanting to just fit in by enjoying a book that everyone enjoys.  With this book however, it turns out that I had no reason to worry.

I am one of those people who likes opening a book with no knowledge of what to expect and I tried to take in as little as was possible about this book (this was very hard because this was one of the most popular books of 2020), I went in as clueless as I could and I still I was not immune to the captivating quality that was this phenomenal book and Brit Bennett’s writing. 

“Important men became martyrs, unimportant ones victims. The important men were given televised funerals, public days of mourning. Their deaths inspired the creation of art and the destruction of cities. But unimportant men were killed to make the point that they were unimportant – that they were not even men – and the world continued on”

The Vanishing Half is a book about twin sisters who come from a town called Mallard that prides itself on having an entirely light skinned African American population. The book moves between two time periods being the late 1960’s and the early to late 1980’s. In this book we follow the lives of of the sisters as one of them (Stella) makes a decision to pass and live her life as a white woman and the other (Desiree) lives her life as an African American woman. With what appears to be an already rich grounds for a story, Brit Bennett manages to somehow go the extra mile and not only give us the complex issue of sisters being apart from another and a history of passing and but she also allows us to explore the important topics of colourism, racism, abuse, and love. Love was by far my favourite part of this book and if a book should come out that consists of Jude and Reese just walking around eating sandwiches all day I am all here for it!

When I think back to the themes that were explored in this book my head nearly spins when I thinking of how brilliantly Brit Bennett juggled all these topics in 343 pages and while at the same time crafting characters that are easy to bond with on a very deep level. I remember reading a part of the book and pausing to cry because Jude and Reese seemed to be happy and the thought of any more sadness coming to them made me want to end the story right there,  but I didn’t because I was tied to Desiree, Early, Adele, Kennedy and Stella. I needed to know how everyone’s story was going to end. And that is the beauty of this book. 

This book unpacks so much with the patience of someone who is slowly telling you a story while basing your scalp with some coconut oil. The story felt as personal as having an old friend walk though your door, shaking their head in disbelief and saying “girl, have I got a tale for you?” That is how deeply invested I was in this story. Brit Bennett did a great job of telling us a story about the many forms of family and relationships take while opening us up to some very deep (and necessary) topics. 

This was a story of transformation for so many people and it was great to see their masks disappear as the characters became more and more of themselves, while others sunk deeper and deeper into the lives they built for themselves on top of the new versions of themselves that they had created.

I rated this book 4.5 starts (rounded up to 5) because I wanted more from the ending. I loved this book and I think the more I read the more I expected a notch above perfection (which might be a bit unfair) but I think the ending didn’t give me that, it took away a little bit from me and how much I loved this book. 

I think the book is worth the read. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It deserves the accolades it has received so far and it is definitely worth your time.