All there was to being white was acting like you were.”, “Her whole life, in fact, had been a gift of good fortune—she had been given whiteness. Bookclub Pick. “The Vanishing Half: A Novel” is another Goodreads pick, this time for the 2020 Historical Fiction award. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. We’d love your help. Both books are top notch, more than five star, literary fiction at its finest. Bennett’s writing is lovely, making the read smooth and engaging. So well written and so interesting! The structure of the story is original. 1. Twins, inseparable as children, ultimately choose to live in two different… I wanted it to either be a more focused book with half the plot or to really go big and have more about all the characters. You want to go feel good about feelin bad, you can go on and do it right across the street.”, “You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood. The race for Goodread’s favorite fiction pick, on the other hand, came close this year—as in, five votes close. Maybe grief was the same.”, “Loretta said that, a couple months ago, Cindy asked her what assassination meant. The story then moves back and forth in time and from the dif. 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. You could never meet one who’d passed over undetected, the same way you’d never know someone who successfully faked her own death; the act could only be successful if no one ever discovered it was a ruse.”, “She felt queasy at how simple it was. The twins’ skin is light enough that Stella decides to “pass” as white and disappears from Desiree’s life in the late 1960s when they are in their early 20s. This and their upbringing in a small black community in Louisiana where people believe the lighter they are the better life will be. While it’s easy to connect with Desiree and the choices she makes, it’s not very easy to accept how Stella has chosen to live a lie and was most of the time unlikable. I can promise you this review is going to be kept very, very pretty. From there their lives will diverge and their relationship will never be the same. Finally, a follow-up to Bennett’s smashing debut. The twins’ skin is light enough that Stella decides to “pass” as white and disappears from Desiree’s life in the late 1960s when they are in their early 20s. THE VANISHING HALF #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. It’s a poignant family story that doesn’t shy away from the intersections of race, class, and gender—all while capturing the reader’s heart and mind in a way only Bennett can.” —The Rumpus I think Reese was involved in the story to juxtapose Stella's desire to pass and lie about who she is in order to ensure her safety and freedom, while Reese was almost doing the opposite. [Why do you think the author was compelled to bring transsexuality (Reese) into the story? Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same sou. For my cocktail, I am making a White Russian. Desiree marries a dark-skinned Black man and has a child, while Stella lives her life passing as white. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller. 140,990 200 … August 2020 F.A.B. made by suzy boots ... Goodreads' 200 Most Difficult Novels. Blonde hair, a pretty face, a nice figure, a rich father. 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