Book Review: The Vanishing Half

Running away is easy, but staying gone? That takes work.

The Vignes twins have lived in Mallard, a Black town in the deep South so small that you can’t even find it on a map, all their lives. Everyone knows everyone, and no one has a complexion darker than a blonde latte. Like many sets of identical twins, Stella and Desiree are seldom seen as individuals - most commonly referred to instead as “the twins”. But the two girls couldn’t be any more different. Desiree is loud, reactive, and in a perpetual state of motion. Stella is quiet, contemplative, and deeply intelligent. Each has dreams of a bigger life outside of Mallard, a place that seemed to them to be stuck in a postbellum time warp.

As the twins get older and a sudden family tragedy forces them to mature overnight, a plan is hatched to leave Mallard and all that it represents behind. But there’s a catch: in order to go, they must completely vanish without a trace, a decision not taken lightly. So under the cover of darkness, the Vignes twins leave Mallard for New Orleans with lofty dreams and a resolve to start anew. And for a while, life is good, or at least, better than it was before. But as the girls mature, Stella realizes that the light complexion the two share could open up doors for them they had never dared try. On several occasions, white people had assumed Stella’s identity before she could correct them. She had been able to enter establishments in the “main” entrance, had been treated with respect. What if she could live that life forever? What if she could “cross over”? What if one day she could just…turn white? And when an opportunity arises, Stella does just that, vanishing again, but this time, she leaves her sister Desiree behind.

Years pass and the Vignes twins are living separate lives as wives and mothers - Desiree as a Black woman in Mallard, and Stella as a white woman thousands of miles away. Neither sister fully grieves the loss of the other, but life moves on. It isn’t until decades later, after a chance encounter between the daughters of Stella and Desiree, that the twins are finally confronted by the decisions of their past. Little by little, the pieces to a puzzle long since abandoned start coming together…for better or for worse.

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett is a powerful story of the detrimental effects of colorism on the Black self-esteem, the importance of acceptance, and the power of love in all of its forms.

The Good: From the very first chapter Bennett was able to pull me into a multi-decade story without missing a beat. I loved how she was able to develop the characters in a way that didn’t seem rushed, but also didn’t seem super drawn out. The dialogue was strong, and I felt that every character introduced not only had a strong, distinctive voice, but a well thought out backstory. Bennett’s superpower is her ability to create rich details.

The Bad: There’s not much about this book that I would change. If anything, it would have been nice to see some relationships in the book developed as well as others, but overall, I was really happy with what was presented.

Bottom Line: The Vanishing Half raises some uncomfortable questions for all readers, but especially readers of color. In times of desperation, what would you do to survive? Bennett’s well-written story is not just about a broken family, it is also the perfect example of how a snap decision made by one can have lasting effects on generations to come. A definite must-read.

Read it for yourself HERE.