Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Vanishing Half

3.75 stars (I’d like to remind people that’s nearly 4 stars, aka not a bad rating).
I feel like I missed the ending, I feel like there was just a huge part of the story that hadn’t been written. I literally sat there, staring at my screen, mumbling “that’s it???”
This entire book felt-
I don’t know?
It felt like it wasn’t bad, wasn’t great, I don’t think it was unimportant, and I think it talked about important and interesting things and had interesting commentary, but it was just, meh?
I wished I loved it more, and I can see why other people loved it so much, I just didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would.

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hukiki's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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beanjoles's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

I feel conflicted about this book. The premise is interesting and the author explores a lot of complex realities, identities, and situations deftly and with a lot of compassion for her characters. I still felt like something was missing, though, and I’m unsure what. I found myself feeling like the more interesting and important characters were not the twins, but Early, Reese, and Jude. I would have loved to see this story narrated from Jude’s perspective. Her relationship with Reese was honestly the highlight of the book for me.

I was so, SO happy the two of them didn’t have a miserable ending. I’m very here for stable and unconditional queer love.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny 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

4.0

Review to come. Not emotionally capable of reviewing this right now lolllllllll.

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c_l's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

With most books like this, I find the last few chapters (the end) feels rushed and abbreviated. Last fifth of this book was so well arranged. The emotional sensation of the story and characters are slowly built and stacked, in a way you don't notice it's really happening through the text. And then at the end you get to walk into this completed structure, neatly designed and powerful, but not overwhelming.

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