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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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

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Jun 18, 2020 Leslie Jerkins rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020

4.5 stars rounded up for absorption factor. I devoured this story. I didn’t really “get” the ending, though ... but maybe that’s the point, too, this is still in progress ...?

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Jul 11, 2020 Amy rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 10, 2021 Debbie rated it it was ok

I'd give this 2.5 stars, if I could. I saw this book in a lot of high-profile lists, including here on Goodreads, but the summary did not make me want to read it. I did pick it up because my book club selected it, though. I guess I'm glad I read it, but it was not a fabulous read.

The most interesting parts about this narrative were those in which a discussion of "passing for white" because part of the story. I don't subscribe to the whole "one drop of blood" idea, and having an entire town (not) ...more

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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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