The Vanishing Half

Genre: Fiction

This is the story of twin sisters, Stella and Desiree Vignes. The girls are from Mallard, Louisiana, a small, southern town, which is well-known for its light-skinned African American residents. The sisters are raised by their mother, and at sixteen years old they run away from home and go to the big city of New Orleans. The sisters disappear completely and no one in Mallard has seen them for many years. They live together for a while but then separate. Desiree marries and then leaves her husband. She returns to Mallard with Jude, her baby girl in tow. Jude is dark skinned, like her father, and the town doesn't know what to make of this girl. Stella marries a white man and is so light skinned herself, that she passes for white. They have a daughter named Kennedy together. The sisters haven't seen each other for many years and don't know anything about the other's life, but their paths will soon cross and so will their daughters'. This is a beautifully written story of family, the bonds that bind us and those that separate us, and learning that often the perceptions the world has of us, based on our outside, become so entangled in how we see ourselves on the inside.

This books illustrates the wide and diverse experience of being African American and living in the United States, and we need this picture now more than ever. The characters in this story struggle with their racial identity and how it's perceived by the white world, but also by other African Americans. It's very well written, captivating and I wanted to go back over and over and learn more about these women and their families. The one thing I will say about this book is that the ending is disappointing. I tend to love books that wrap up the story in a tidy bow of an ending, and sometimes I also like stories that end with a cliff hanger. This one does neither. I have grown so invested in these characters that I wanted to be able to put their story to rest and move on, but this didn't do that for me. But, maybe that's the point. This is a great book for book clubs for its many themes and discussion points.