Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Vanishing Half

One decision and... everything changes. This book is marketed to us as a novel about "passing". I read a novel about "identity". Identity of self. Identity of family. My 3.5 star rating is because too many stories were happening and they each felt a bit incomplete.

Is it about Desiree & Stella? Stella & Kennedy? Kennedy & Jude? Jude & Reese? And what about Desiree & Early? Let us not forget the family matriarch and her battle with Alzheimer's. The twins were lost in the background.

I appreciate the important issues the author presented to the reader and you know I love a generational family saga, but I wish it had been shared through the twins perspectives and not their children. I wanted to know more about the twins and how they felt. About each other, their relationship, their daughters and their daughters choices.

“The only difference between lying and acting was whether your audience was in on it, but it was all a performance just the same.”

"At least Peg stood for something, fought for something. She went to war with the university over everything: paid maternity leave, sexist faculty hiring, and exploitation of adjunct labor. She argued about these things even though she had no children and had already secured tenure - she argued even though her advocating wouldn't benefit her at all. It baffled Stella, protesting out of a sense of duty, or maybe even amusement."

Content Warnings

damiscous's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

oliviapincin's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

ltsang08's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was pulled in right away! Its been a long time that a foreword has made me say “oh this is going to be a great book” 💜

A beautiful story that I didn’t want to put down but also wanted to take my time with it! I marked a lot of passages with quotes that struck me or made me think.

Chapters could be a little long for my taste but I didn’t always mind it. I was intrigued and captivated by the well-developed, complex characters! I especially enjoyed the switching POVs and spanning across years/decades to follow the twins and the family. There were times I hated characters and other times I sympathized with them.

I’ve never read a book quite like this and I’ll definitely be reading more from Brit Bennett!

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