Recent Reviews
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett’s second book, The Vanishing Half, is a compelling, timely and provocative story about race. More specifically, Bennett’s novel illuminates the irrational and outsized role pigmentation plays in American life. Not only in terms of black and white but all the shades in between. By following the lives of twin light-skinned African-Americans sisters, the reality of skin color as a determinant of social status is laid bare. One sister decides to live her life as a black woman, while the other chooses to “pass” as a white woman. Bennett’s story explores each sister’s life and the ramifications of her choice. Not since Nell Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing has a book beautifully explored the nuances of Black Americans’ “passing” as white.
When Stella and Desiree Vignes are young girls, living in the small town of Mallard, Louisiana, their father is dragged out of their family home and murdered by a gang of white men. Their mother and they persist despite their pain. Years later, in August of 1954, the twins vanish from Mallard. After finding jobs in New Orleans, Stella realizes that she can “pass” for white as can her sister. However, Stella’s circumstances make it easy for her to do so. Soon Stella leaves Delia in New Orleans, marries her white boss and moves to Los Angeles. Desiree moves to Washington D.C., where she marries a dark-skinned black man with whom she works.
Though the novel follows both sisters’ lives, the emotional power of the novel derives from the tension around Stella’s “passing.” Living as a white woman in Los Angeles allows Stella to escape racial prejudice and discrimination and experience the privileges of being white. She tells her husband, daughter, and friends that she is an only child, and her parents have died. Yet, Stella lives in fear that she will be found out. Her decision to pass means that she must eradicate her childhood from her mind. Pain, hollowness and isolation are the prices Stella pays for this deception. “At first, seemed so simple, she couldn’t understand why her parents hadn’t done it. But she was young then. She hadn’t realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.” 169
Meanwhile, Desiree returns to Mallard because her darker-skinned husband beat her, the hue of her husband’s skin is noted by the residents of Mallard. Desiree and her daughter Jude are embraced and loved by the community. Desiree’s life is limited by discrimination, and yet she feels freer because her choice does not require her to hide.
Stella and Desiree both have daughters. And as the story progresses, these cousins find one another and piece together their connection. My small issue with the novel is that I found it surprising that the twins left their mother and then each other without dialogue. Also, it strains credulity that Stella and Desiree’s daughters meet one another in Los Angeles. However, the collective human unconscious moves in mysterious ways. These instances in no way minimize the book’s powerful impact.
The Vanishing Half is an enjoyable read. Bennett has created engaging characters while educating readers about the nuances of race and privilege. As America focuses on its sorry racial history, this novel provides an excellent contribution to this discussion.
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
My son Sam discovered Britt Bennett’s 2016 debut novel The Mothers and gave it to me for the holidays. I am grateful he did. Written by a young woman with a fresh new voice, Bennett’s prose is precise and penetrating. With wisdom and empathy she captures the travails of three teenagers who are struggling to find their places in the world under the weight of grief, a secret, and poor decision making.
Set in San Diego County, these three black teens connect through their involvement with a church in their community called the Upper Room. The “mothers” of the church serve as the collective narrator for the novel and a loose emotional safety net for these kids. These “mothers” observe, critique, love, and serve their church community with graciousness, and pettiness too.
The novel’s three high school kids are naïve and well meaning yet confused teenagers. And for good reason. Nadia Turner’s mother recently committed suicide and Nadia’s father is in a fog. Aubrey Evan’s mother abandoned her and Aubrey now lives with her sister and her sister’s partner. And Luke Sheppard, the son of the Upper Room’s pastor, has dropped out of college due to an athletic injury and feels depressed that his best days are behind him.
Without their mothers, Nadia and Aubrey struggle with feelings of isolation and shame. They both feel inferior because their mothers chose to leave them. They don’t often discuss their missing mothers, but find comfort and connection with each other and become like sisters. The narrator says, “It was strange, learning the contours of another’s loneliness. You could never know it all at once; like stepping inside a dark cave, you felt along the walls, bumped into jagged edges.”
In high school Nadia dates Luke. Their relationship ends due to an unexpected circumstance and Nadia’s imminent enrollment at the University of Michigan. Aubrey takes classes at the local junior college and Luke waits tables at a local restaurant. Before long Aubrey and Luke are in a serious relationship. The years pass and neither Nadia nor Luke tells Aubrey about their high school romance. Their motivations are not malicious. Neither of them wants to hurt Aubrey. Seven years later, Nadia returns from the University of Chicago Law School to attend Luke and Aubrey’s wedding. When Aubrey becomes aware of Luke and Nadia’s prior relationship and their unfinished business, her pain is excruciating. The betrayals affect the entire Upper Room community.
It is hard to read about Nadia and Luke’s poor choices. Bennett makes you feel anger and empathy toward them at the same time. Nadia is more isolated than Aubrey and makes worse judgments. Despite her strong intellect and warm personality, her wounds are deep. Nadia seeks to sabotage her own happiness at every turn. Like a Shakespeare tragedy, she seems doomed to destroy not only herself but those who love her most. The "mothers" help these motherless girls, but there is only so much they can do. There are no grief counselors, social workers or psychologists in the story; just kids and adults doing the best they can with the lives they were given.
