What We're Reading (Week of 1/31/21): The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
What We're Reading: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Written by: Elyana Riddick || Date: January 10, 2021
Featured Bookstore: Black Pearl Books of Austin, TX
Picking the first book to review for SHADES & COLOR was not a hard decision to make. Rather, it was in thinking about this book that I decided to incorporate book reviews onto the forum entirely.
The Vanishing Half is the second novel to come from the brilliantly talented Brit Bennett, gaining international recognition and deservingly claiming stake as a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Brit Bennet's work is choice for the GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB as well as numerous other rankings all across the internet for best reads of 2020.
The book features a set of twin sisters--inseparable in their youth--spanning the time from growing up in a city full of white-passing people to a more mature age after having lived two completely different lives.
The Vanishing Half takes a cumbersome look at the role of race in daily life--the privileges inherent to it and the moral dilemmas that accompany. As one is criticized for giving birth to a dark-skinned baby, the other finds herself criticizing the black-family-next-door in her façade of whiteness. The book is an intricate collage of stories from the sisters and others, giving highlight to economic inequality, race relations, LGBTQ+ issues, gender inequality, and more.
The writing alone is something of a marvel. This book takes an omniscient view that exposes you to every instance in the characters' story in an extremely inviting way. Bennett doesn't make you feel as though you're invading the characters' spaces, but rather that you are the consciousness of the characters--familiar with their antics and a lowly spectator of their lives. The intimacy you feel while reading this book is most similar to the feeling of a long and warm hug. Not only this, but the book gives scores of nostalgia--a spectacular feat considering the fictitiousness of the town in which the girls grow up. As a girl from Texas, I can assure this book taps right into the feels of all the small-town-country girls across the country.
The stories are heart-felt and tantalizing, so much so that I would often find myself losing track of time as I flipped through the chapters. A tip from me to you, invest in a booklight because you will definitely find yourself reading this all day--even at the most ungodly of hours *seriously, I finished the book in two days*.
The book is available to purchase virtually everywhere, but here at SHADES & COLOR, we would like to feature a black-owned bookstore to purchase your copy from. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions and strike a conversation with others in the comment section below. We'd love to hear from you!
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