The Well-Read Woman Book Club discussion

Our Contemporary Classic/Best Seller for July 2020 is The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

The Vignes twin 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: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten 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.

Who's planning on joining in for the read this month? Give us a shout out here!

What are you looking forward to discussing with this book?
Are you reading through an e-book or hardcover? Will you annotate either copy that you have for our discussion?

I am REALLY excited to read this one and have heard nothing but raving reviews. I want this to live up to the hype that is created around it so badly. It seems that a lot of people have read this through the BLM movement as an informative fiction option, and I'm betting that a lot of you have already read this on your own. I'm hoping that we can really have an honest and frank discussion on our perspectives and where we may have been moved through our reading this.

I have the hardcopy version that I will refuse to annotate! I have a journal that I'll write in anything that speaks to me usually.

I am so excited to read this one. I have in on audiobook though so I am hoping that I’ll still be able to get all the important stuff noted down.

I have heard so much good about this one so I can’t wait. But like you I hope it lives up to the hype and that I haven’t set my expectations too high.

Depending on the format I take notes, or underline if it’s on kindle. I don’t like writing too much in my proper books but use a pencil if it’s something I feel I really need to take notice off.

I drive a lot and hike a lot and if I’m on my own I listen to a audiobook but I prefer real books above all. Even above kindle, even if kindle is perfect to bring everywhere and take up little room I still prefer the feel and smell of real books. I’m weird like that.

I have a feeling I’ll want this one as a proper book with hardcover though but they don’t yet sell them in Norway and getting stuff from amazon costs a fortune and I’m not waiting that long

All I can say so far is how eye-opening this read has been for me in more ways than one.

I am now aware of how little I have read POC authors and just how badly I've missed this perspective. It's enlightening, to say the least.

Does anyone else feel this way? I'm about halfway through the book so far. I'm excited to get into this with everyone.

I picked up a beautiful hard copy at my local bookseller. I started it a few days ago, and already I am so engaged in the story. I have twin boys...so twin characters fascinate me. It is a very unique relationship especially identicals; parenting is very interesting. My boys are entering High School and they are going to different schools. One is definitely wanting to pull away form the other, and the other is devastated. Sorry to add this personal stuff. Great choice, Well-Read Ladies and I look forward to comments form the group. Cheers.

I had no real expectations going in with this one. All I knew where that they were twins and got separated.

It is such a complex novel and deals with so many subjects. I’m completely drawn into it and loving all the characters so far.

I don’t have experience with twins but I have children and you sort of feel when your their parents they should turn out quite similar cause you raise them in the same way but they’re all their own person. And I would think that is the same with twins too. I have heard a lot of twins wants to make their own way so they can be their own whole person instead of the one of the two.

Wow. I finished this last night. I felt like the story and plotline could have kept going on for a succinct ending but I feel like the point of the novel was distinctly stated for a well-rounded finish. It is delicately and beautifully written on such a complicated subject.

I had a few moments where I admittedly recognized myself in some of the situations of white ignorance and the embedded privilege that goes unrecognized when not seeing another perspective in its truth, enough so that it truly surprised me and took a moment for me to check myself. I'm so glad that I read this book, the sentiment is so well-put.

(view spoiler)[I thought it brilliant to juxtapose the daughters with the spirit of the sister that each twin left behind, it seemed Kennedy and Jude both adopted the stature of the parent they never had.

It was sad to see the suffering and trauma implemented upon both of the twins and how their personalities in childhood shaped their self-acceptance in adulthood.

I also enjoyed the obvious audacity in Kennedy's privilege to feel as if she COULD and was even allowed to, openly, judge Jude and Reese. She judges Reese as being better than Jude and is surprised that he is with her, showing a judgement truly made in appearances of the seen versus the unseen. How quickly would she have made a different assessment if she had found out Reese was transgender?

I also felt really moved when they covered the assassination of MLK in a Black vs. White household. (hide spoiler)]

Has anyone else had any thoughts regarding our own perspective versus anyone's perspective in the book? Has this been an eye-opening read for you?

I’m just starting this now! So excited to read it. I have the ebook.

I agree with you all on this one, I absolutely loved this book! I agree that it was definitely eye-opening in a lot of ways. I've never really thought extensively about colorism being another level within the broader issue of racism.

Elba and Helene - I appreciate your thoughts from a parent's perspective. It's interesting to consider both the twin perspective and the twins moving apart. It's also interesting to consider Stella's perspective in having raised Kennedy to be so entitled and different from her.

Caroline - great point about the seen vs. unseen! That's definitely the theme of this book, assigning value to the things we see rather than the unseen things, whether it's somebody's race or their gender.

First I'd like to start by saying I'm so glad I bought this book instead of waiting for it to become available at the library. This is one of those books that you want to look at on your shelves and that you're proud to own. This was honestly one of the best books I've read in a while and hands down the best book I've read in 2020.

At the beginning of the novel, I struggled to understand the judgement that took place within the Black community itself. I couldn't understand how a group of people who had been discriminated against their whole lives could turn around and do the same to others. I found this article to be very helpful in explaining where the hurt and anger comes from.

This article talks about "legacy." I thought it was fitting because it's incredible how Bennett can show the legacy of trauma and the lasting effects it has on future generations.

If you haven't already read The Mothers by the same author, I highly recommend doing so.

I was also glad I bought this book and have it on my shelf now and it is by far one of the best books I've read this year. I'm excited to see where Brit Bennett's career takes her.

It seems that so many of our contemporary book picks are getting picked up for film/series adaptations and I'm glad we're getting the book versions first!

The Vanishing Half was won by HBO in a "wild auction" by a supposedly seven-figure bid for a television limited series. I know that Brit is not writing the script, but she is deeply involved in the implementation to screen!

Watch party, anyone?

Ella wrote: "I finished reading this book about 18 hours ago and cannot stop thinking about Mallard, the twins, Adele, Early, Kennedy, Jude and everyone and everything in this book. EXCELLENT reading experience..."

Yes, this is definitely one I still think about!