Tepper Reads discussion

Tepper Readers,

If you're keeping track with the reading guide I sent out, you will have just finished Chapter Two. If you're not there yet, be forewarned: spoilers lie ahead.

Lots of stuff happens in this first section - in the podcast with Michelle Stoner, we talk about how a lot of the book is laid out right in this beginning section, and the book continues to flesh out the main story of the twins as you get deeper and deeper into it.

This week's discussion question focuses on Leon, the father of the Vignes twins, who dies a horrible death based solely on his race.

“But even here (Mallard), where nobody married dark, you were still colored and that meant white men could kill you for refusing to die. The Vignes twins were reminders of this, tiny girls in funeral dresses who grew up without a daddy because white men decided it would be so.” (Page 35)

How did you react to what happened to Leon Vignes? What did it make you feel?

You can respond to this discussion question, or let us know what else is on your mind, for this first section of The Vanishing Half.

A little late - I was sad to read it although not surprised given the setting of the book. I really found myself wanting to find out why through out the book, if maybe there was another motive other than just his lower prices.

Tenny wrote: "A little late - I was sad to read it although not surprised given the setting of the book. I really found myself wanting to find out why through out the book, if maybe there was another motive othe..."

Thanks for being the first brave person to join our online discussion!

I think you hit the nail on the head here in two ways. First, you're right, what happened to Leon isn't completely surprising given the time period in which this section of the novel took place. In the American south, in the time of Jim Crow, this was something that happened far too often. And second, as a rational person, it feels like some deeper motive should be at hand, but it was really hate and racism. Leon's murderers had no real motive, other than their intense hatred. They did it because they wanted to, and because they knew they could get away with it. Their monstrous actions left two children fatherless.