BRIT BENNNETT
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet is a beautifully written novel with a true boldness about it. It covers issues of race, colourism, elitism, LGBTQ, domestic abuse, identity and so much more all in 352 pages, I picked it up and couldn’t put it down for four straight days. In short, this book is about a set of twins, both light in complexion, raised in the 50s in a small town called Mallard. They have to leave school aged sixteen because their mother needs help paying the bills, but they decide to run away together to live in another city. Despite running away together, Stella decides to leave her sister to live her life as a white woman; leaving Desiree behind to fend for herself. It follows the unfolding story of both of their daughters, Jude and Kennedy whose identities are better understood together than apart.
In my first review of the year (in quite a few unforgivably quiet years) I want to keep it short and sweet. I will simply describe the power of each main character.
DESIREE VIGNES
From what I learnt about their twin bond from Desiree’s perspective, it was an incredibly strong one. Best friends from birth through their shared womb experience and shared trauma of witnessing their father being murdered at the hands of white men. Desiree was the bubbly and outgoing one of the two who had the idea to run away in the first place.
Following her story through to motherhood, we learn of Desiree’s’ domestic abuse in her marriage. She returns home to Mallard and finds true love whilst living a stable life working in the local diner. She raised her daughter as best she could, trying to shield her from the colourism and racism that her beautiful dark skin was bound to experience, even her own mother expressed attitudes of colourism.
Her story is about love and forgiveness.
STELLA VIGNES/SANDERS
Initially I thought Stella to be selfish for leaving her sister in the lurch. She chose whiteness as a means of freedom but did not envisage the tiring life of mental imprisonment she would endure because she was not able to live in her truth. She truly had no one around her that could resonate and understand her experiences and choices except for her sister who she left behind. Stella had gone too far down the road to turn back – a wife and a mother as well as a sister meant she had to stick with her choices which whilst reading I couldn’t quite work out if she truly regretted or not.
Secrets meant Stella struggled with her identity and self-worth. Experiencing mental health issues such as PTSD from her traumatic childhood and anxiety and depression from the constant fear of being caught. She lived in constant fear and despite choosing to live life as a white woman because she thought it equated to freedom, she ironically was held captive and restrained as a result of her emotionally naïve decision.
We learn that she is a liar, and it hurts to know that she lies to herself just as much as she lies to others. I think she lived with a lot of guilt for the decisions she made and she had to continue to live her new life despite the lies tearing apart the sham of a relationship with her daughter, Kennedy.
Her simple decision ruined her prospects of living an authentic and free life. Is it worth it is the question?
JUDE VIGNES-WINSTON
Jude looks nothing like her light skinned mother, despite her struggles with racism as a child she grows up to be a self-assured and confident young woman. Through a scholarship to attend college, she then decides she wants to become a doctor and she makes it happen. To me, Jude epitomises authenticity in being that flower that grew from the concrete withstanding all that was up against her, she persevered.
She falls in love whilst young and experiences a truly beautiful love story and what it really means to love – vulnerability, patience, sacrifice and freedom to be yourself.
KENNEDY SANDERS
How ironic that her mother is pretending to be someone she is not and her daughter, Kennedy wants to pursue a career in acting? I truly giggled. I think her identity crisis stems from her mother’s hidden truth (or outright lie) and that leads to her living a spoilt life of confusion and disarray.
The famous Maya Angelou's saying, “if you don’t know where you've come from, you don’t know where you are going” is the epitome of Kennedy’s story. She floats around, unsure of herself, only sure that something in her is missing.
Her privilege is evident but the key to unlock the part of herself she is yet to know must be found and courageously used for the purpose of healing.
Overall.
I loved this book – the bond between the sisters is so incredibly strong and you see how this manifests in their lives despite their physically severed relationship. Even the fact they both had daughters of their own and they chose to name them uniquely with what would be referred to as boys’ names is truly incredible. Their daughter’s unique names are just the beginning of their unique experience as cousins.
I said short and sweet… but here I am a whole essay later.
A great read. I want to read The Mothers by Bennett too but a lot to get through before I purchase another book!
Thank you so much for reading, hopefully won’t be another three years before my next post!
best,
Atinuke
