#24 [2022/CBR14] The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

I noticed The Vanishing Half ages ago, but there was always a ridiculously long wait for it at the library. I think I first saw it on NPR's Best Books of 2020 and it seemed like a must-read book, so I began it with relatively high expectations. In the end, I was pretty impressed. The novel covers the 1950's to the 1990's and follows a number of different characters. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get into it, but I thought Bennett did a really good job showing how race, color (and other traumas) affected different characters and how that changed over time.

The Vignes twin sisters grew up in Mallard, a very small, unique town in Louisiana. The town was founded by their light-skinned great grandfather(?) after slavery. The people in the town had internalized the racism around them and took great efforts to marry other light-skinned, black people. But as light as they were able to become, it did not protect the twins' father. It was in the 1950's when the twin sisters were still very young that their father was dragged out of their home in front of them and viciously murdered by white men.

When they turned sixteen, their mother said they would have to drop out of school and clean houses to help make ends meet. Stella, who is quiet and uncomfortable with herself, wished to go to college and was very unhappy at this development. Her twin sister, Desiree, who was always more impulsive, talked her into running away. But not too long after they left, Stella left Desiree, never talking to anyone in her family again.

What we find out later is that Stella attended a job interview for a secretary, where she was taken for white and got the position. She kept up the charade and ended up in a relationship with her boss, leaving with him. Desiree stayed on by herself, getting into a relationship with a very dark-skinned man and having a child. Unfortunately, Desiree's man was violent, and she eventually runs back home, taking her child with her.

Desiree's daughter, Jude, takes after her father and her skin is described as "blue-black." Suddenly appearing in a town as the child of the infamous runaway twin was gossip fodder enough, but in a town especially obsessed with skin color, it was an extremely difficult childhood for her.

The story follows Jude as she grows up, gets out of Mallard, and goes to college. Then it switches back and we learn more about Desiree. Finally, we figure out what happened to Stella and why. Stella has a daughter of her own with her rich, white husband. The difference between the upbringing of these cousins is striking, and the insanity of racism when you have the entire spectrum in one family is palpable. Stella does some pretty bad things in her quest to stay white and not face what she'd done. However, I always found her a sympathetic character because you can see how she fell into that trap and how miserable it made her.

Bennett manages a lot of layers in this book, including racism, colorism, violence, family, love, and others who are disadvantaged. In the end, I really enjoyed how the book jumped around as I slowly learned about each of the characters. I was never really sure where it was going, but the people and their struggles felt nuanced and real.