
The Vanishing Half
A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
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Narrated by:
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Shayna Small
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By:
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Brit Bennett
Number one New York Times best seller
One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year
Named a Best Book of 2020 by The New York Times * The Washington Post * NPR * People * Time Magazine * Vanity Fair * Glamour
“Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” (Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal)
“A story of absolute, universal timelessness.... For any era, it's an accomplished, affecting novel. For this moment, it's piercing, subtly wending its way toward questions about who we are and who we want to be.” (Entertainment Weekly)
From The New York Times best-selling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one Black and one White.
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern Black community and running away at age 16, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her Black daughter in the same Southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for White, and her White husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
As with her New York Times best-selling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing pause resister about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate, and wise.
©2020 Brit Bennett (P)2020 Penguin AudioInterview: Brit Bennett discusses ‘The Vanishing Half’ with Audible Editor Margaret
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Editor's Pick
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Great read. Truthful and wonderfully reminiscent.
Wonderfully Reminiscent
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Great performance... story not so
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I didn't have the understanding of white passing while reading the book, and did some background reading thereafter (general and author commentary) and I now understand why author chose to make her characters who they were compared to other passing literature.. that said though, just plain reading the story without knowing the author's thoughts left me unsatisfied by how LITTLE anger there was by all the people who got hurt (Desiree, jude, kennedy).. not everyone will get angry but someone should..it's just not realistic
wanted to finish reading but didn't love the story
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The narrator, Shayna Small did a wonderful job!
Great book!
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...added up to NOTHING
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Disappointing, especially the end
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An engrossing and emotional story about race, family, and what it means to craft a life for oneself. I loved the characters and the scope of the story. The writing is also beautiful. This was an immersive and compelling read and I highly recommend it. One of the best new books of the year. The narrator is masterful at crafting distinctive voices for each of the characters.
Excellent narration and moving story
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Enjoyed it— but
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If you love multigenerational fiction
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Narrator fabulous!
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