Publishing Info + About the Author
Embedded Files
Published June 2020
by Riverhead Books
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. Her work is featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Paris Review, and Jezebel. She is one of the National Book Foundation's 2016 5 Under 35 honorees.This is her second book, after The Mothers.
Themes/Big Ideas
Themes: Identity, Race, Siblings, Family
How does our race influence our identity?
How does are family affect who we become?
How does where we grow up impact our future? Does our upbringing/geography matter?
Is lying to your loved ones ok if you are doing it protect them?
First Impression Review
The Vanishing Half's narrative explores many important topics through the lives of these four women. Covering the time period from the World War II era through 1986, the author portrays the changing face of racism in the United States as exhibited not only by whites, but within Black communities as well, with light-skinned Blacks discriminating against those who are darker. Bennett also addresses the themes of family, identity and privilege, and illustrates the evolution of women's rights during this time period. That seems like a lot to tackle within one short novel, and in less-skilled hands the story might have become a slow plod, weighed down by its heavy themes. The author interweaves these subjects and others so skillfully, though, that the narrative soars, and it's only on reflection that one realizes its remarkable depth.
Connections to Self/Real World
From Black Lives Matter to Critical Race Theory, race and racism has been in the news a lot lately. The Vanishing Half poses a lot of big questions regarding how much our background influences our identity and the outcome of our lives. Race in particular is explored as one sister in the book chooses to live her life as a black woman and the other opts to "pass" for a white woman. This novel forced me to think about my own privilege and advantages I have had in my own life based on my race, upbringing, and socioeconomic status.
Beyond the Book
In this Vox article, the author discusses the fact that fraternal twins are often born with different skin tones. This is especially common when one parent is black and one parent is white. Although these stories are often dramatized in the news, normal genetic variations have led to "biracial" twins.
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