But Bennett excels in conjuring the silences of families and in evoking atmosphere: the claustrophobia of the small town and its scuzzy and beloved saloon (“Cold Women! The Vanishing Half Audiobook Review. It seduces with its literary flair, surprises with its breath-taking plot twists, delights with its psychological insights, and challenges us to consider the corrupting consequences of racism on different communities and individual lives. Read Article In 1950s New Orleans, an identical twin, desperate for dignity, abandons her beloved sister to begin a starkly different life: she passes as white, her blackness kept secret for the rest of her life. The Guardian view Columnists Letters Opinion videos Cartoons Sport Soccer NFL Tennis MLB MLS NBA NHL Culture Film Books Music Art & design TV … Bennett is an excellent storyteller, though some of her secondary characters – a white academic blind to how white and middle class her version of feminism is – are overshadowed by the plot and can feel like plants. Last updated at 19:07 29 June 2007 The dual narrative ebbs and flows through this astounding book. The Vanishing Half has unforgettable characters, complex familial ties, long-lost sisters, tragedy, and romance. The extrovert Desiree is also a homing bird who returns to her sleepy home town. The other, Stella, reinvents herself as a white woman and spends decades in an upper-middle-class California community, where she is forced to hide her secret. Weaving together multiple strands of generations of this family, from the Deep South of California from the 1950s and 1990s, this emotional family story is also a timely exploration of American history. The movie is phenomenally well made and the three actors who fall apart on our watch suffer magnificently. Stella eventually marries her white boss, who is unaware of her roots, and lives in a wealthy, white Los Angeles suburb. Review. Review of The Vanishing Half. All this is expertly paced, unfurling before the book is half finished; a reader can guess what is coming. This generous, humane novel has many merits, not least its engrossing plot and richly detailed settings, from smoky small-town diners to gleaming laboratories. And this feeling of utter frustration fuels the book’s power as a page-turner. As the sisters’ separate lives unspool in widely different directions — with Stella, the novel’s most fascinating character, living in fear her real identity will one day be found out — Bennett explores the multiple ways in which race and gender can be authentic, permeable and socially constructed all at once, without ever passing judgment on her characters. By tracing Stella and Desiree’s diverging paths, and the way their daughters are affected, the novel maps the lines drawn between white and Black people and dramatically exposes the emotional stakes of identity. Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of the British Book Awards judges, said: “From Shuggie Bain to The Thursday Murder Club, from All the Lonely People to The Danger Gang, from Hamnet to Black and British, these were the books that answered the call during this period of turmoil, debate and hope.”, Chair of judges and novelist Bernardine Evaristo, said: ‘…with this shortlist, we are excited to present a gloriously varied and thematically rich exploration of women’s fiction at its finest. The Vanishing Half should mark the induction of Brit Bennett into the small group of likely successors to Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen. The Vanishing Half gave me the kind of reading experience where I wanted to know what happens, but at the same time, I wanted to read slowly and be immersed in the story longer.It’s also the kind of book where I wanted to keep reading so badly, despite the need for sleep. In 1968 that was the water they swam in. Review the reviews: The Vanishing Act Of Esme Lennox. For this mixed-race reader, each page of Stella’s fakery, each page of her pretending to be white even in the face of so much racism, felt like a punch to the gut. In “The Vanishing Half,” her follow-up to “The Mothers,” Brit Bennett writes about twin sisters from Louisiana who set out in very different directions. Congratulations to Brit Bennett on that #1 NY Times Bestsellers spot You've Got a Friend in Me:On Instagram: https://instagram/Storyscape Fascinating, and beautifully written. The Vanishing Half has sold thousands of copies across the world this summer, and if thousands of people can forget the deadly virus, political mismanagement, racial violence, domestic violence, economic uncertainty and ecological disaster (as well as the washing-up, their overgrown fringe and their neighbours’ suspiciously un-distanced-sounding party), while reading a book that touches on all these things, resolves happily but not stupidly, and reintroduces them to Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston and Lorraine Hansberry – well, that’s good enough. Stella, ensconced in White society, is shedding her fur coat. The Vanishing Half may seem old-fashioned but it’s cleverly constructed to both match and critique the conservativism of the 1950s and 60s: the attenuated tone chimes with the restrained language and style of the period. It debuted at number one on The New York Times fiction best-seller list. by Deepa Gahlot August 27, 2020. written by Deepa Gahlot August 27, 2020. There is a third reading of a novel when you’re writing about it, one that necessarily takes you further away from the sunny weekend lying on the grass. Worldwide delivery available. I think this book works so well because the author has very carefully and thoughtfully Twins Stella and Desiree grow up in a small black community in the southern US, until they run away at 16. The Vanishing Half waseasilya five-star book for me. This book has everything: enticing plot, memorable characters and beautiful, melodic writing. The violence is indelible, the twins’ complicated bond beautifully real. 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 … But the novel is driven by the intelligence and agility of her writing, which is tender without being sentimental, and stark when it needs to be. Four years later, her second, The Vanishing Half, more than lives up to her early promise. Which brings us to the water we’re swimming in now. In setting down the plot twists, parallels, shocks and returns of The Vanishing Half, I’ve sometimes felt that it might as well be a soap opera, a potboiler, a TV series (as it soon will be – HBO bought rights for a seven-figure fee at the end of June). The source material for HBO's new limited series is Bennett's epic 2020 novel. Read more... Return purchased items within 30 days for a full refund. Dialogue's super lead for 2020. All positive reviews › Daniel S. 5.0 out of 5 stars The Road Not Taken. The handling of Stella’s secret struggles is, however, an especial achievement. The characters in this book are so real, so warm … Desiree returns with her child 10 years later, while Stella is living in California, passing as white. The Vanishing Half may seem old-fashioned but it’s cleverly constructed to both match and critique the conservativism of the 1950s and 60s: the attenuated tone chimes with the restrained language and style of the period. Daily Mail - Eithne Farry. Bennett’s arresting, humane novel is an indictment on race and class in America. In The Vanishing Half, she follows a set of twins after they leave their small, mainly Black hometown in Louisiana. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett review, two faces of the black experience + A light-skinned twin sister constructs a new identity as a white woman in a clever novel that confounds expectations, Colin Grant for the Guardian. Sign up to get the best reviewed books of the week delivered every Monday morning - Stella has to sacrifice so much of herself to maintain the lie. We feel passionate about them, and we hope readers do too.’, "brings the saga of Ryan to a satisfying completion...", " a novel of complex feeling and beautiful restraint from one of the finest writers around....", "... it works best if you don’t sweat the details too much and just let its wave sweep over you....", "There’s a melancholy seam of emotion about family life here, as well as a keen eye for the absurdities of workplace culture...", "Jackson follows her brilliantly unnerving Never Have I Ever with another battle of wits between a manipulative criminal and her victim. And she is deft at using figurative language. Yet the novel proves to be a timely testament to the redemptive powers of community, connection and looking beyond the self. (Emma Trim) Add to Wish List. From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Mothers, a powerful new novel about the parallel lives of estranged twin sisters who choose to live in two very different worlds - one black and one white. Guardian. along with news, insight and charts from the BIM database. Bennett is a gifted storyteller. The Vanishing Half is a novel that shows just how human emotion, uncertainty and longing can be captured and put on paper ― Candice Carty-Williams The Vanishing Half does exactly what a great novel is meant to do. From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Mothers, a powerful new novel about the parallel lives of estranged twin sisters who choose to live in two very different worlds - one black and one white. By AMBER PEARSON. How are ratings calculated? January 7, 2019 | Full Review… David Edelstein. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. 'The Vanishing Half' is a multi-generational tale that explores the changing times and beliefs of America in the latter half of the 20th century. Jude, so Black that strangers routinely stare, is unrecognizable to her aunt. Stella’s lie takes her into a deep and jagged introspection that threatens the life she has so painstakingly built. by Brit Bennett. Copyright © 2021 Guardian News & Media. It begins in a small town in the Deep South, a place identical twins Stella and Desiree ran away from as 16-year-olds in 1954. Very compelling (I was hooked straight away) and beautifully-written. It’s a clever balancing act indeed to pair such heartbreaking material with a narrative that’s so much fun. HBO acquired the rights to develop a limited series with Bennett as executive producer. Moments such as this are all the more disturbing for how quotidian they are to Bennett’s characters. Her omniscient narration roves among story lines, introducing us to a cast of stock characters ... More than once, the plot turns on an outrageous coincidence. The Vanishing Half – Book Review. While the first 50 pages were a bit slow as the reader tries to figure out the lay of the land, thereafter, you simply can’t stop thinking about this book and waiting to dive back into it at every chance you get. See All Buying Options. The Vanishing Half: A Novel. The period details in The Vanishing Half are offered just as casually; an emergency Homeowners Association meeting in Brentwood in 1968, for example — the emergency being the “regretful news” that “the Lawsons on Sycamore Way were selling their house and a colored man had just placed an offer to buy it”. The Vanishing Half...belongs to a long tradition of literature about racial passing ... Bennett roots out these withered tropes and reanimates them in a fresh, surprising story ... she leans into their prescribed melodrama. The Vanishing Half is a novel that shows just how human emotion, uncertainty and longing can be captured and put on paper * Candice Carty-Williams * The Vanishing Half does exactly what a great novel is meant to do. Tending bar as a side job in Beverly Hills, she catches a glimpse of her mother’s doppelgänger. This book is about choices and circumstance. There will be spoilers so for more context about the story, check out my spoiler-free review. We have over 140,000 titles available to buy, and can ship all around the world. How To Be White: Racial tensions just never ease off in the US, and writers have to find new stories to tell, to draw readers into the many aspects of the issue and keep them engaged. "The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett for me started slow until I got invested in the characters and once that happened, I could not put it down! Ten years later, Desiree has returned with a young daughter in tow, but no one has seen or heard from Stella, who, it turns out, is secretly passing for white, and her new family know nothing of her past. The Vanishing Half explores themes of race, family, and identity. The characters in this book are so real, so warm and so … The timbre of the woman’s voice didn’t really appeal to be, I found it to be a bit thin, but there was nothing objectively wrong with it. They are conjured not as real places, one feels, but as their mythologies, in how they exist in the imagination. It is her second novel and was published by Riverhead Books in 2020. Support The Guardian. The Guardian Bookshop is the online bookshop for The Guardian and The Observer. 'The Vanishing Half is an utterly mesmerising novel. This immersive novel about twins Desiree and Stella, who run away from the small, suffocating Southern town of Mallard when they're 16 to carve out a new life for themselves, should win many, many awards. Born in 1938 in Mallard, a small town in Louisiana, while their fair appearance may disguise their negroe heritage, they are very much part of the black community. Combining a mythic structure with emotionally rich social realism, this is a truly excellent novel. Can you truly leave behind the identity you’re born with? Bennett is deeply engaged in the unknowability of other … The Vanishing Half garnered acclaim from book critics, and was found by Emily Temple of Literary … Write a review. These novels will take the reader from a rural Britain left behind to the underbelly of a community in Barbados; from inside the hectic performance of social media to inside a family beset by addiction and oppression; from a tale of racial hierarchy in America to a mind-expanding tale of altered perceptions. Dialogue have swooped in over here, making this a super lead for 2020, and it deserves to be big. It seduces with its literary flair, surprises with its breath-taking plot twists, delights with its psychological insights, and challenges us to consider the corrupting consequences of racism on different communities and individual lives… We know these spaces not from life but from literature. In a style as easy and candid as a detective story, she scatters clues for us to gather just as, crucially, the twins’ contrasting daughters, Jude and Kennedy, piece together fragments of their painful heritage. Top positive review. 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