A review by erinkabez
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Holy moly! This book took me through a whole roller coaster of emotions! The writing style was very elegant and smooth, however, I struggled sometimes to follow the time period and point of view jumps. There were years included occasionally, but not every time the story jumped forward or back in time. The inclusion of the year at the start of a chapter more often would have made this easier to follow. I simultaneously love and hate that this book was based on a real town that the author's mother told her about. I always want to expand my knowledge in order to grow and improve, but it was also heartbreaking and infuriating to read about horrible things that were happening and some that still are. This novel shines a very bright light on a wide variety of scenarios involving racism, sexism, and discrimination. This was an incredibly powerful novel that I know I will remember forever.
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