The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half

Adult fiction
"...The twins had been gone fourteen years, nearly as long as
anyone had ever known them. Vanished from bed after the Founders Day
dance, while their mother slept right down the hall...the town spent
all morning searching for them, calling their names through the woods,
wondering stupidly if they had been taken. Their disappearance seemed
as sudden as the rapture, all of Mallard the sinners left behind."
Deprived of her husband by a vigilente mob, Adele struggled to
provide for her twins. Eventually her burden became too great. She
pulled Stella and Desiree, protagonists of Brit Bennett's The
Vanishing Half, out of school after tenth grade. They'd had enough
education. Their income was needed. They spent the summer working as
maids for a wealthy White family. That was not what they wanted out
of life, especially Stella who resented being pulled out of school.
As their small home town of Mallard searched for them, Stella
and Desiree were settling down in New Orleans. At first they worked
together in a laundry. After awhile Stella got a more remunerative
and prestigious job that required her to pass for white. She did so
well she ended up in a gated community in California, married into a
White family. Desiree wed a Black man with a temper, fleeing to the
home she'd run away from with a very dark child after her husband
abused her once too often.
The twins haven't seen the last of each other. Decades after
their initial separation their daughters discover one another and
connect the dots. Lives will never again be the same.
Bennett based the book partially on the stories of her mother
who grew up in a town that was highly invested in colorism, in
striving for and judging on the basis of lightness. She knew that
coming from a place like that would profoundly effect one's self image
and life choices. In this book one twin embraces this value to the
ultimate degree while the other rejects it.
The Vanishing Half is one of the most engaging books I've read
all summer. It combines a captivating plot and characters it would be
hard not to care about with valuable insights into the ubiquity,
systematic nature, and microaggressions of racism.
On a purrrsonal note, looks like we're getting a belated taste of
summer. Wednesday I was able to sun dry my clothes. That made me so
happy. I was confused about some statistics class concepts. I went
to Craig's zoom office hours. He was very helpful.
It looks like the weekend will be nice too. Here's hoping you have a
special way to enjoy it. (Jules)
It's nice and hot out again, purrrfect for sun soaking. (Tobago).
A great big shout out goes out to statistics professor Craig. He's an
exempler of the person pursuing his purrrfect calling.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway



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