From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Vanishing Half

Brit Bennett

Start date: December 1, 2020

Finish date: December 31, 2020

Discussion: 2020 Monthly Reads

Why we're reading this: December 2020 group read for "book published in 2020"…more
[close] December 2020 group read for "book published in 2020"

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2020 Monthly Reads

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* 2020 Monthly Group Reads - The Final List of Categories and Books
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What Members Thought

Feb 16, 2021 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt, contemporary, gender, family, race, popsugar-2021

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: A book from your TBR list you associate with a favourite person, place or thing. A few favourite people including Manda and Bellish who read it late last year and I was intrigued.

This story wove together so many concepts: racial identity, racism, gender, family, motherhood, ambition, domestic abuse, home, and more. Just reading that list could give the impression that it's a heavy tome, over-important and lecturing, but nothing could be further from the truth. I ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2021 Julia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: introducing-great-new-characters, black-authors, southern-fic, historical-fiction, marginalized-author, read-women-2021, lgbtq, wsirn

Compulsively readable, fascinating characters, transparent writing. It's a 4.5 for sure, maybe a 5, we'll see how long the characters are floating around in my head. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2020 Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-books, rc2020

This was an amazing well told story of two twins and their daughters and so much more. The characters are well fleshed out and imperfect. (The exception being Kennedy who kinda falls into mean girl trope but oh well). Male characters that are tender and masculine. And it makes you explore the concept of race and what it means to be white or black.

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Apr 29, 2021 Kath rated it liked it

A solid 3.5 stars. An interesting, clever book about thought provoking topics that include racism, motherhood and identity. Two twin girls grow up in a town where the residents are all black, and have very light skin. One girl grows up and moves away, passing for white. The other girl stays in the town. I liked the characters, especially the sisters and Early, but the number of characters was too much to really get to know each one of them which left me not as connected as I wanted to be and kin ...more

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Aug 15, 2020 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-own

Fantastic! Definitely lives up to the hype. The story of twins grieving up in the late 60s and one decides to walk away from her family, her twin, her life, and pass as white. The choices the young women make, and are forced to make, affect the trajectory of their lives and their families in interesting and powerful ways. Highly recommend!

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