The Vanishing Half and Half

Ranked one of Teghann’s top books of 2020!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and happy last post of the year! I, like most people, am excited for this year to come to an end. Until then, I’m excited for Christmas even though I won’t get to do what I normally do or see my family. But I’m hoping that’ll just make next year even more special. Anyways, for my final review of the year I have chosen to do Indigo’s top book of the year, Goodreads’ top historical fiction book of the year, and one of Obama’s favourite books of the year—The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. For my cocktail, I am making a White Russian. You may be asking yourself “how is this a pun?” Well, it’s technically not, but half and half cream is being used in the recipe so close enough! Enjoy!

White Russian Recipe

2oz Vodka

1oz Kahlua

1 splash of Half and Half

Crushed Oreos*

*Oreos are optional.

Rim a rocks glass with crushed Oreos. Then fill with ice. Once filled, combine all other ingredients and enjoy!

I didn’t go too crazy with the drink this week as I’ve been pretty busy with Christmas coming up and creating a murder mystery zoom party for my family for New Year’s Eve. I also originally wanted to make a cocktail called a Half and Half, but it didn’t sound good and I don’t want to be bringing people drinks that I think aren’t tasty. So, instead, I decided to play with the same words but make a different drink!

For my special ingredient, I chose to add Oreos as The Vanishing Half is a story of twin sisters, one who chooses to live her life black and the other who chooses to live her life white. And the first thing that came to mind when thinking of a special ingredient that is both black and white was Oreos! As always, you don’t need to have an Oreo rim for a White Russian, but it definitely adds a bit of extra taste to it. I love Oreos, so I may be biased in thinking that it tastes better with them than without, but to each their own!

The Vanishing Half Synopsis

(from book flap)

The Vignes sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything, including their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. Across the country, the other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, although separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen when their own daughters’ story lines intersect?

Review

“Sometimes who you were came down to the small things.”

Wow! Where to even start with this book? It is beautiful. The Vanishing Half is a story that sticks with you and leaves you thinking about it even after you’ve put it down. I had expected to like this one based on all the ratings and reviews of it, but I didn’t expect to get as engrossed in it as I did. Bennett is an amazing storyteller and this novel truly showcases her talent.

The best part of this novel is the writing. From the first sentence I was hooked. There’s not many books that I can say that about, but this is definitely one. It’s a sentence that draws you in, intrigues you, and begins to paint a picture. Speaking of which, the descriptions of everything throughout the novel do this. They make the story and characters come alive and every little detail immerses you a little bit more into the world of the novel. I felt like I could perfectly picture Mallard and California throughout the years.

The dialogue and characters are also extremely well written. The dialogue is so refreshing in how natural it is. It’s also mixed in wonderfully with the description and narration. I didn’t feel like it was ever too much of one thing, just the exact right amount of it all. And the characters are unique and sympathetic, even when you don’t really want to like them. I particularly struggled with liking Stella, but it’s clear you’re supposed to. It’s impossible not to empathize with her and feel for some of the experiences she had, but overall she was hard to like. However, though her actions and decisions angered me at times, they were always authentic and believable.

I also love how topical this novel is. As with my previous review, The Invisible HighLife of Addie LaRue, The Vanishing Half focuses on marginalized people. Not only people of colour, but also transgender people. As I was reading, I tried to think of any other book I’ve ever read with a transgender character and I couldn’t think of one. So it was really amazing to see a novel with this type of representation that handles it in a respectful and meaningful way.

In terms of POC, this novel plays out true to history and shows us that not enough has changed in all these years. Even though it is through a historical fiction lens, this novel brings up so many issues that are still facing the world today. And, it opened my eyes to a lot of the minute racism that isn’t shown as much in the media. As a white person, I also found myself analyzing my own privilege in relation to both Desiree and Stella throughout the novel, and it was interesting to be able to look at it through the lives of these fictional sisters.

Finally, the ending of this book—wow again. It was perfect. It’s an ending that stays with you. I closed the book and just sat there for a few minutes thinking. Was it a perfect happy ending? No. Should it have been? No. The story was raw and real, so the ending should be too. And it really was. It couldn’t have ended any other way without seeming like a copout or something that it wasn’t. It was beautiful and haunting and happy in a sad way, which doesn’t really make sense but it does when you read it I swear. And, honestly, I typically want my novels to end wrapped up in a tight bow of resolution, and this one doesn’t. But it doesn’t in a way where it still feels complete and right. However, the whole novel wasn’t as perfect as the ending and I do have a negative.

My singular downside of this novel is one early on “coincidence” that bugged me. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever picked out in a novel, but it did bring me out of the story. I understand giving characters connections to each other, but sometimes it’s unnecessary. I’m not going to go into detail about this as it’s hard to explain and I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m just going to say that it was not believable. And this unbelievability took me out of the world of the story for a moment, which is disappointing for how great the rest of the novel was. However, that was my only negative for the entire novel, so that’s saying something!

Overall, I loved this novel. It was so unbelievably well done I think most people would struggle to find a more perfectly written novel. And reading it was genuinely enlightening in so many ways. I 100% recommend this novel to anyone and everyone. If you want to understand a little more about marginalized people, read it. If you want to read a book that I think is a true literary masterpiece, read it. Just read it. Also, try a White Russian if you never have or try it with an Oreo rim if you’ve had one before but want something a little different! Merry Christmas!

My Rating:

Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment, on Instagram, or in person (if you know me). Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading The Glass Hotel Nacional (also an Obama top pick), Simple Truths I Never Told You, and Where the Crawdads Sing-ria if you liked this one!

Teghann

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