A review by minimicropup
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Enduring, diligent, confident

We follow twin siblings from their childhood through to their teens, where they eventually go their separate ways and live with different racial identities. We later follow their children, unaware of much of the family history as they navigate early adulthood.
πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ Set in small town Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Washington D.C. from the 1940s to the 1980s.

πŸŽ™οΈ Love the narration. Felt like I was watching a movie, it was easy to stay engaged and differentiate the characters. The narration is also expressive and emotive - one of the few audiobooks I didn't need to adjust the speed on for it to sound more natural.

πŸΊπŸ• Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 
πŸ₯Ή The writing style is so immersive and empathetic, and I was hooked into the story early on. The twins each have different personalities and are well developed as we follow them over the decades. 

πŸ‘Œ The timeline jumping for the first 75% or so of the novel worked well to set the scene and provide context. It is very show, not tell, even when in-real-life horrors are unfolding. 
πŸ€” However, the last 25% was harder to follow. I sometimes got confused about what timeline we were in for the later chapters and I felt like the character development for Kennedy and Jude was lacking a bit. It almost felt like the kids we followed earlier were not the adults we follow now. It just didn't relate back to the past if that makes sense? It felt more like we were being reminded of what happened in their childhoods instead of seeing how those events impacted them now. 

Mood Reading Match Up: 
  • Historical fiction with small town 1950s vibes up to gritty 1980s city life
  • Multigenerational story showing the impact of each generation on the next ones
  • Character studies exploring privilege, bias (conscious and unconscious), race, prejudice, presumptions, and identity

Content Heads-Up: Racism (slurs, character opinions, themes, prejudice, persecution). Physical abuse (relationship). Transgender rep (good to excellent?). Death of a parent. Dementia.

Format: Library Audio via Libby
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