Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

172 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Enduring, diligent, confident

We follow twin siblings from their childhood through to their teens, where they eventually go their separate ways and live with different racial identities. We later follow their children, unaware of much of the family history as they navigate early adulthood.
🇺🇸 Set in small town Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Washington D.C. from the 1940s to the 1980s.

🎙️ Love the narration. Felt like I was watching a movie, it was easy to stay engaged and differentiate the characters. The narration is also expressive and emotive - one of the few audiobooks I didn't need to adjust the speed on for it to sound more natural.

🐺🐕 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 
🥹 The writing style is so immersive and empathetic, and I was hooked into the story early on. The twins each have different personalities and are well developed as we follow them over the decades. 

👌 The timeline jumping for the first 75% or so of the novel worked well to set the scene and provide context. It is very show, not tell, even when in-real-life horrors are unfolding. 
🤔 However, the last 25% was harder to follow. I sometimes got confused about what timeline we were in for the later chapters and I felt like the character development for Kennedy and Jude was lacking a bit. It almost felt like the kids we followed earlier were not the adults we follow now. It just didn't relate back to the past if that makes sense? It felt more like we were being reminded of what happened in their childhoods instead of seeing how those events impacted them now. 

Mood Reading Match Up: 

• Historical fiction with small town 1950s vibes up to gritty 1980s city life
• Multigenerational story showing the impact of each generation on the next ones
• Character studies exploring privilege, bias (conscious and unconscious), race, prejudice, presumptions, and identity

Content Heads-Up: Racism (slurs, character opinions, themes, prejudice, persecution). Physical abuse (relationship). Transgender rep (good to excellent?). Death of a parent. Dementia.

Format: Library Audio via Libby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Dementia, Hate crime, and Transphobia

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Transphobia, Classism, and Vomit

b_harrington's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved it. Loved it all. The writing, the characters, I learned stuff, I felt stuff. 

I’ve gone for 4.5 because

I just wish there was some more resolution at the end… I wish it went as far as one or both of the sisters dying, for there to be *an ending*. I don’t hate where it did end, with each character in a kind of happy place, but they all still have so much life left to live and I want to know more.

I’ll be recommending this book to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, and Domestic abuse

sperigo's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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

God, this book was incredible. Brit Bennett is a fantastic writer. She writes gorgeous prose, and the most compelling, well developed characters. This books follows an ensemble cast of family members, each with lives radically different from each other, as they find themselves and then eventually grapple with whether or not they want to find one another. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel longer than 300 pages, yet I couldn’t put this one down.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, and Dementia

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Addiction

dnvrdnvr's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Transphobia and Sexual assault

glammster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Dementia, Bullying, Classism, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Dysphoria

Graphic description of lynching

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

As a someone who is biracial, the themes of racial identity really struck a chord with me. I loved how Bennett explored this theme, along with passing, familial and sisterly bonds, transitioning, and so many other important topics in such an engaging way. I would highly recommend the audiobook if interested, the narration was phenomenal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, Abandonment, Classism, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Transphobia

lpdx's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Dementia, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Homophobia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Transphobia

theskyboi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

When I say that this book had everything, I feel as though I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Overall, I had such a fantastic time with Brit Bennett's impactful second novel.

Desiree and Stella Vignes are two identical twin sisters who grow up in Mallard, a town too small to have ever made it onto the map. Perhaps too big for their britches or too ambitious for their surroundings, they let out for greater destinies: Desiree as a Black woman and Stella passing for White.

At the center of this novel lies the struggle that Desiree faces in trying to find her long-lost twin, yet there are so many interlocked stories that sprout from this search. Jude, Desiree's daughter, inevitably sparked my interest with her lifelong journey of love and self-discovery.

Although I will refrain from revealing too much of the intrigue contained between the covers of this magnificent book, I will say that I was delighted to read a story that so effortlessly weaved its way through the intersecting identities of its characters: Black, White, trans, gay, and cis.

Bennett's care for these characters shines brightly on every subsequent page, and the attention that she paid to crafting such a satisfyingly connected, intergenerational exploration of identity formation was much more than I could have ever hoped to find.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Outing, and Sexual content

mgeary2's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, and Transphobia