Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett, is the story of twins who vanish in 1954 after the Founders Day dance. They knew everyone would be distracted. They were as different as night and day. Desiree can’t wait to leave her birthplace of Mallard to be an actress. She does her homework at the last minute before class, and Stella likes school.
At age sixteen their mother takes them out of school and sends them to work cleaning houses, mostly at the Dupont's for the summer.
After Desiree is married for three years to Sam who hits her in the face and threatens to kill her, she leaves in the night with her daughter, Jude. In D.C. she’d learned to read finger prints and rents a basement room. She has left Stella in New Orleans and still misses her. Sam is a black attorney and Desiree has a baby who’s as black as her daddy, even though Desiree is as light as the dawn.
Later, on the night she gets to her mama’s in Mallard, she meets Early Jones at a bar and remembers him from their school days. He used to bring her fruit until her mother chased him away. Early catches men for the money not for the law. Sam wants his wife and his daughter back and hires Early to find her. Desiree walks her daughter to school where all the children stare at her. When Desiree applies for a job at the sheriff’s office, she is turned down even after she completes the test in record time.
Early falls for Desiree at the bar named The Surly Goat and decides he’ll not find Desiree for Sam. He wants to hide her. He tells Sam she is not in New Orleans and takes another hunting job to find a mechanic who murdered his wife and lover. Desiree is a good waitress at Louie’s Egg House. Early calls her every day.
Stella takes a job by pretending to be white and Early says he’ll find her. Desiree says not to, that she should live her own life. But she and Early go to New Orleans to look anyway. They go to the Maison Blanche building and Desiree acts as if she’s white. They give her a card that says Stella has moved to Boston, MA.
Ten years later we hear that Jude has won a track scholarship and left for UCLA. Author Bennett has won many awards for her powerful descriptions of characters. In Mallard, Jude runs on the track team as her father had run at Ohio State. Early buys her running shoes, Desiree preens before the mirror, she and her grandma are allies.
Jude meets Reese who is really Theresa Anne Carter. He’s become Reese by body building and has changed. Jude understands wanting to be someone else. He wants to be a photographer and always takes photos, never of himself. Barry is his friend, a chemistry teacher during the day and a Queen entertainer at night. After a blackout, Reese and Jude become lovers. She gets a job catering at Malibu parties. Reese wants surgery on his chest and it costs a lot. Jude thinks it’s shady but wants to help him.
At a meeting of wealthy homeowners a woman named Stella Sanders speaks emotionally about a black man having made an offer on a recent house listing. “Enough is enough,” she says. The residents worry about property values plummeting. She’s jumpy around Negroes. Her husband is a Yale graduate and wealthy, an executive at Maison Blanche. Stella is his secretary and they have a daughter, Kennedy who has blond hair, very blue eyes and milky skin. Stella has a swimming pool, a red Thunderbird, and a maid. Years later, Kennedy appears in a revue with Reese’s friend Barry.
Reginald and Loretta Walker move into the house across from Stella and Blake. Reginald plays a character on a cop show on television, drives to the studio in his black Cadillac. Stella begins to go to Loretta’s when she calls to invite her daughter to play. Loretta is the only one Stella talks to but never about her past or her sister. She tells her daughter she can’t play with “niggers.” She knows she’s teaching Kennedy to lie. When bricks are thrown through their windows, Loretta and Reginald move to Baldwin Hills where they will be happier. Jude loses her job at the catering company. She’s dropped a wine bottle when she thought she’d seen Stella at a party. Kennedy finds Jude in her dressing room. Kennedy says Jude could never know her mother whose last name is Vigne. Author Bennett’s writing is full of twists and turns, but logical. Stella had gone to Blake’s partner’s retirement party and saw the black girl cleaning the wine stain from the carpet. She decides to investigate. They have lunch together and Jude gives Kennedy answers to questions her mother wouldn’t tell her about her past.
Reese is in town for surgery and Jude is studying to be a doctor. They go to the show Kennedy is starring in. Jude gives Kennedy a photo of the twins. Does this pave the way for the truth? Do Desiree and Stella meet? Is Jude successful in helping them? Do she and Reese stay together? Find this fascinating novel of relationships on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
At age sixteen their mother takes them out of school and sends them to work cleaning houses, mostly at the Dupont's for the summer.
After Desiree is married for three years to Sam who hits her in the face and threatens to kill her, she leaves in the night with her daughter, Jude. In D.C. she’d learned to read finger prints and rents a basement room. She has left Stella in New Orleans and still misses her. Sam is a black attorney and Desiree has a baby who’s as black as her daddy, even though Desiree is as light as the dawn.
Later, on the night she gets to her mama’s in Mallard, she meets Early Jones at a bar and remembers him from their school days. He used to bring her fruit until her mother chased him away. Early catches men for the money not for the law. Sam wants his wife and his daughter back and hires Early to find her. Desiree walks her daughter to school where all the children stare at her. When Desiree applies for a job at the sheriff’s office, she is turned down even after she completes the test in record time.
Early falls for Desiree at the bar named The Surly Goat and decides he’ll not find Desiree for Sam. He wants to hide her. He tells Sam she is not in New Orleans and takes another hunting job to find a mechanic who murdered his wife and lover. Desiree is a good waitress at Louie’s Egg House. Early calls her every day.
Stella takes a job by pretending to be white and Early says he’ll find her. Desiree says not to, that she should live her own life. But she and Early go to New Orleans to look anyway. They go to the Maison Blanche building and Desiree acts as if she’s white. They give her a card that says Stella has moved to Boston, MA.
Ten years later we hear that Jude has won a track scholarship and left for UCLA. Author Bennett has won many awards for her powerful descriptions of characters. In Mallard, Jude runs on the track team as her father had run at Ohio State. Early buys her running shoes, Desiree preens before the mirror, she and her grandma are allies.
Jude meets Reese who is really Theresa Anne Carter. He’s become Reese by body building and has changed. Jude understands wanting to be someone else. He wants to be a photographer and always takes photos, never of himself. Barry is his friend, a chemistry teacher during the day and a Queen entertainer at night. After a blackout, Reese and Jude become lovers. She gets a job catering at Malibu parties. Reese wants surgery on his chest and it costs a lot. Jude thinks it’s shady but wants to help him.
At a meeting of wealthy homeowners a woman named Stella Sanders speaks emotionally about a black man having made an offer on a recent house listing. “Enough is enough,” she says. The residents worry about property values plummeting. She’s jumpy around Negroes. Her husband is a Yale graduate and wealthy, an executive at Maison Blanche. Stella is his secretary and they have a daughter, Kennedy who has blond hair, very blue eyes and milky skin. Stella has a swimming pool, a red Thunderbird, and a maid. Years later, Kennedy appears in a revue with Reese’s friend Barry.
Reginald and Loretta Walker move into the house across from Stella and Blake. Reginald plays a character on a cop show on television, drives to the studio in his black Cadillac. Stella begins to go to Loretta’s when she calls to invite her daughter to play. Loretta is the only one Stella talks to but never about her past or her sister. She tells her daughter she can’t play with “niggers.” She knows she’s teaching Kennedy to lie. When bricks are thrown through their windows, Loretta and Reginald move to Baldwin Hills where they will be happier. Jude loses her job at the catering company. She’s dropped a wine bottle when she thought she’d seen Stella at a party. Kennedy finds Jude in her dressing room. Kennedy says Jude could never know her mother whose last name is Vigne. Author Bennett’s writing is full of twists and turns, but logical. Stella had gone to Blake’s partner’s retirement party and saw the black girl cleaning the wine stain from the carpet. She decides to investigate. They have lunch together and Jude gives Kennedy answers to questions her mother wouldn’t tell her about her past.
Reese is in town for surgery and Jude is studying to be a doctor. They go to the show Kennedy is starring in. Jude gives Kennedy a photo of the twins. Does this pave the way for the truth? Do Desiree and Stella meet? Is Jude successful in helping them? Do she and Reese stay together? Find this fascinating novel of relationships on the new fiction shelf of your local library.