Let’s Talk Books – The Vanishing Half

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Hi, welcome to BNOELLELIVING! I’m Brooke Noelle and we’re going to talk all about learning to live again.

Let’s talk books!

I recently returned from vacation and I could not wait to tell my people about this book. It is called The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. She has written some other books but this is the first one I’ve read from her. It was recommended to me by a friend and I have seen it popping up all over the place.

So, let’s talk about The Vanishing Half. Why should you read it?

I love this book because it is so timely for our country and our nation and the topics that we’re talking about, what everyone’s talking about. I love it because it talks about three important themes.

One of them is identity. From beginning to end you’re given this theme of identity, trying to answer the question of “How do we embrace who we are? Especially when we have two dueling warring conflicting things inside of us?” That’s very human nature. I felt like a lot of the identity issues in this book center around race. They center around skin color and how people perceive you. In that sense, it’s so timely for our culture right now, for our country. 

I also loved it because if you’re somebody that isn’t really sure how to talk about identity when it comes to race and skin color this is a great kind of entry point for you. I think fiction books, fiction stories, novels, short stories can be great entry points to a conversation that’s really hard because it allows you to see things through somebody else’s perspective.

You have two main characters in this book who are growing up in a black culture, from a black family. Yet their skin is so light-skinned that they could possibly pass as white. Already you’re getting the duplicity. Who are they? Where do they fit in? Where are they accepted? 

The main characters are twin girls: Desiree and Stella. You’re getting another element of duplicity. It’s like one of them is going to take it one way and the other sister will veer off in a different way. They’re trying to figure out, how do they live honestly with these two different sides of themselves? How do they live fully without one side of themselves vanishing? 

It’s just a really interesting take on this idea of identity. I think it’s something that everybody can relate to. I think every person has these two warring conflicting things inside of them if they really think about it. I loved that theme. 

There’s also this theme of empathy. How can we relate to people that we don’t really understand? People we’ve never fully taken the time to understand or maybe we have tried to understand them but we don’t. We’re getting a lot of different elements of race in the storyline but you’re also getting some elements from the LGBTQ+ community. Again, if you are somebody that has never really felt comfortable talking about that or you don’t fully understand that community, the struggles that come with that community, a fiction story is a great way to enter into that.

You’re getting their thoughts and the fears and the feelings from these characters that are living in that community. I highly recommend this book just in general. Especially, for that element. You don’t have to agree with it. You don’t have to fully understand it. Some of the characters in this book are going to help you see a different side to the LGBTQ+ community that maybe you haven’t really considered before.

The third theme that I absolutely love in this book is this idea of honesty. Trying to answer that question, “How on earth do we face the fear of being honest?” 

Honesty is hard. Vulnerability is hard. So how do we face the fear of being honest with ourselves, with our family, with our friends, with our community? Again, it’s this thread that goes from beginning to end in this book. Sometimes honesty comes out in a really positive way and sometimes it creates more friction and more conflict. Then you get to see these different characters work through that.

Another element that I love about this book, the characters are multi-generational. You have the twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, that the storyline is really centrally focused on. You’re also getting the perspective from their mom.

So, you’re getting the older generation perspective on all these different themes and topics. You’re also getting another generation’s perspective with their daughters.

Yes, the timeline of the book will go backward and forwards. However, it’s pretty easy to follow along with the way that Brit Bennett has set it up and organized it. There are sections of the book and they will very clearly tell you what decade you’re in. You can tell pretty quickly with each chapter, which character you’re focusing on and what time frame it is. I appreciate that because sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the timeline. The way that it’s organized it’s pretty easy to track where you are in the timeline, in the story and who you’re focusing on.

I love that kind of multi-generational dimension that you’re getting with this book and all the different perspectives. Skin-color, identity, honesty, empathy, how you can view different people from different lenses. I highly recommend this book for all of those reasons and it’s just a great way to approach some really controversial and difficult topics from a more understanding and empathetic way. In a way, it’s allowing you to connect with a different perspective than you would normally.

I also have to say, I’m really excited because HBO just picked it up! I don’t know if they’ll do a miniseries or movie version of it but the book does read like you’re watching it on TV. It’s a pretty fast read. At some point, I didn’t want to put it down. I just kept going because I had to find out what was going to happen next.

I highly recommend The Vanishing Half!

Go check it out. Go listen to it on audio, get it digitally. Somehow, get your hands on it. I highly recommend it and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts after you read it.

I’ll catch you guys later.