Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Vanishing Half

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

189 reviews

peam's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

Content Warnings

b_harrington's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

jcstokes95's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I had put off reading Brit Bennet’s sophomore novel, The Vanishing Half, after having a strange experience with her debut The Mothers. Which was linguistically beautiful, but often had frustrating characterization and plot decisions. Plus, I read it, a book about abortion, a week after the overturning of Roe without knowing abortion figured heavily in the plot. For all these reasons, I got skeptical of The Vanishing Half. I can say solidly, this is Britt Bennet’s better effort.
The Vanishing Half’s characters are deep and make decisions in such a believable and real way; even when they make heartbreaking choices that hurt them, everything makes painful sense. We follow a few generations of women, with twins Desiree and Stella Vignes at the center.

After escaping a Southern, Black town that determines worth based on lightness and class, the twins end up in the world on their own, forced to make their own decisions for survival. Stella leaves behind her roots, creating an elaborate lie of a life to pass into Whiteness and privilege. But the price is an existence made up of fear and shame. Desiree, meanwhile, makes her own way into trouble before returning back her hometown for refuge with a dark-skinned daughter, Jude. The choices each twin makes ripple out from there.

This book is in conversation with other works about passing over, including, obviously Passing. But I’m assuming the choice to make Desiree’s Baby dark was and intentional to Chopin (we see you Brit, you literary genius). Stella is by far the most interesting character because she has made the most interesting choice. She lives every day as an actress and is willing to turn away from what, to the reader, feel like a moral imperative to tell the truth. But in the end, you sympathize with her while also feeling conflicted at every single thing she does in the novel. Bennet writes with such feeling and beauty. You’ll be mapping out your thoughts on this one long after you finish. As the child of a mixed-race person, this story was of particular interest to me, because like many about passing, it is asking some questions about how we define race and shape identity from it. I know I’ll be snooping through reviews to see how others took its themes.

I must say, the people in my book club were a little head scratching about the ending. I think Bennet ties up her ends a little bit quickly. After a pressure cooker of a book, the tension does not seem to break. Which is sometimes a way of making a point, but it does feel a bit like it falls down a bit then. Would have liked more time to sit with the consequences of their choices. In any case, this book has fully earned the modern classic status it seems to be climbing toward and I would recommend it to anyone, especially to read with a friend or group.

Content Warnings

taryngoehrig's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

jhbandcats's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of those bools that makes me say, “Wow. Just wow.” It’s a powerful story of people whose willfulness and early choices affect the rest of their lives. For whatever reason, I wasn’t fond of Bennett’s The Mothers. But I will always be singing her praises for this book.

Bennett is able to show the difficulty and complexity of each life, showing less sympathetic characters in a way that sympathy grows for them. You wish so much that circumstances could have been different for these characters, that they hadn’t felt forced to make the decisions they had.

The way Stella’s life plays out, ostensibly easier than Desiree’s, but with her always tense, never able to relax and be herself, living a lie and poisoning her relationship with her daughter, was just so tragic. Like lots of people who make poor decisions, Stella brought this all on herself.

Desiree’s life is also difficult but she doesn’t have the trouble that comes from pretending to be what she isn’t. She has a loving and rewarding relationship with her daughter because she’s never had to lie.

I read Nella Larsen’s book Passing a year ago but The Vanishing Half is the one I’ll always recommend. It’s astonishing, such a good book.

Content Warnings

laurenmaria422's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

michaelion's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Trying to find reasons not to give this 5 stars is very, very hard. I'm biased because immediately it reminded me of Toni Morrison's Paradise. Whether or not that was intentional, I'm not gonna look it up, but I love it even more for that.

Passing is a thing that happened and I'm sure there are still many, many quadroons and hexadecaroons walking around without a clue. I've always felt sympathy for the people who passed, and this book definitely gave me a new / another understanding. (I mean, who can be mad at you for wanting better for your life and your family?) To be moved so much by a book show just how good it is. That being said though I do not feel sympathy for Stella!

After what she did to Loretta and Reg?!

This one's definitely staying on my bookshelf.

Content Warnings