sakritamaharjan's review against another edition
3.0
The vanishing half honestly felt flat for me. It is a good book and touches a lot of concepts and it's premise itself is very intriguing. The book has many thought provoking lines which hit the spot just right. Having said that though it is kinda off for me. I didn't like the choice of storytelling and felt the narrative drag on at some points. It had shifting character perspective and we know about Stella and Desiree through each one's perspective. What I didn't like was the insane amount of issues that it touched and left it incomplete with no proper recognition of its existence. It just involved so many issues that it just couldn't give justice to any of it. It had DV, LGBTQ, colorism in passing as white, racism, identity conflicts, classism, and while it is important to raise this issues but it is equally important to give justice to them. The author just opens a Pandora box of issues but cannot provide ample explanation or character perspective for it. Speaking of which, the author spends quite a huge chunk of time telling the stories of back characters who aren't even very important to the story building. The backstory of Early, Blake, Reese or Lou could be easily left out or at best told in a paragraph instead of pages and pages of their stories. I couldn't even wrap my head around the stories of Jude and Kennedy who were mediocre characters at best. They felt caricature and evoking any sort of feelings for them was difficult. The story of main characters-Vignis twins, were important and themselves showed the intensity of social biases. But they are hardly ever focused after the first quarter of the book. It is about who is with them and what their issues are. So much time is wasted on unnecessary perspective of back characters that it becomes frankly exhausting. Their big climax meeting is so flat and boring, hardly matching the intriguing concept. So many things could be said or done but instead focus is on something else. I was very disappointed with the hype of the book. It has bones of a great story but didn't have the heart.
dorothy_gale's review against another edition
5.0
PASSING AS WHITE IS “MORE SAFE” EVEN TODAY. As someone of mixed race in the post-George Floyd America, the color of my skin and that of my kids has been getting more of my mental energy lately. Passing as white is central to this book, but it's not a rugged individual's journey. The impacts to multi-generational families and the neighbors we're supposed to love are extensive. I didn't want this book to end. It was especially personal with identical twin protagonists, as I have identical twin nieces. As of today, Vanishing Half has a 4.2-star average by 497,948 reviewers. I would read this author again.
fdlr's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
elizdancer1's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sargar114's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fantastic look at identity and the risks taken to find your own. I usually don’t care for slice of life type stories, but this seemed to be so much more and was beautifully done.
lotta21's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lolatombola's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
marilou363's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0