Bookseller Reviews
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Gorgeous book
This is a brilliant decade spanning epic that looks tells the story of twin sisters Stella and Desiree who run away from their small town.
The novel exa... READ MORE
Loved it
I very much enjoyed this book.Brilliantly drawn characters (I LOVED EARLY) sense of place and time. To reinvent yourself and escape your past to such an ex... READ MORE
Simply brilliant
This is a family story, centred around twin sisters, living in the American Deep South, in racially segregated 1950s within a small town populated by a mix... READ MORE
Brilliant
I wanted to read this when it first came out in hardback. When the paperback was picked as a Waterstones book of the month I knew it was time to read it. I... READ MORE
Beautifully crafted novel covering many important themes
What a beautifully crafted novel about race, identity, family, class, motherhood, gender and secrets – I loved it! I found it to be so moving; Bennett is a... READ MORE
Publisher information
- Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
- ISBN: 9780349701455
Customer Reviews
View allAn emotional story
I found this story to be both moving and ambitious. We will be introduced to identical twins, Desiree and Stella. When they turn sixteen everything will ch... READ MORE
The Vanishing Half
The Vanishing Half is a tantalising slow-burner of a novel, an intelligent exploration of race, class and identity.
The opening premise is a little flimsy... READ MORE
How much do we create our own identity and to what extent does the world define it for us?
Two twins are born into the same set of circumstances, yet both attempt to escape them in very different ways.
Bennett winds us through a skilfully creat... READ MORE
Fascinating concept and so current
The Vanishing Half is a book with a fascinating concept that couldn't be more relevant at the current time. It's also a fantastic, complex and thought-prov... READ MORE
Black, white, or pale brown?
This book was our book group's August read, during a time when racial inequality is high on the agenda. I am certainly glad that it was a book I had the op... READ MORE
Stunning thought-provoking read
This is the best book I have read in a long time. Twins born in the deep South of US, pale skinned, so much so that one decides to 'become white', leaves h... READ MORE
Gripping read
I really loved this book. I was very invested in each character and their story. It had me turning page after page, unwilling to put it down.
The novel ex... READ MORE
A wonderful book, masterful in its story-telling, thought-provoking, and deeply emotional.
Within The Vanishing Half Brit Bennet has covered a wealth of topics: racism, family ties, love, loss, and so much more. At the core this novel tackles rac... READ MORE
A very well written book.
A lovely book to read, hard to put down and couldn’t wait to get back to. A very honest look at race and skin colour in society and in the black community.... READ MORE
There comes a time when silence is betrayal - Martin Luther King Jr.
I once saw a study that was done on a group of children aged 3-5. The children were from a mix of different nationalities. They gave these children headsho... READ MORE
Passes the time
I picked this book up after seeing it reviewed on Between the Covers. I wanted to enjoy the book but found it slow in places and almost as if it was trying... READ MORE
The vanishing half.
Great read - I first saw this book on the BBC - Book programme and I was not disappointed.
Was sadden by the racist in America. I think this book makes yo... READ MORE
Unforgettable
I really enjoyed reading this book and it is one which I still think about weeks after originally reading. Packed with reoccurring themes of duality, ident... READ MORE
I wanted to enjoy it
Sadly I am not in agreement with the broader reception of this novel. I found that the novel tried to be unique but was riddled with cliches and underdevel... READ MORE
Didn’t live up to the hype
I couldn’t wait to read this book after reading so many amazing reviews and thought it would be right up my street.
I’ve just finished it and I’m still un... READ MORE
Timeless
With an endorsement from Bernardine Evaristo and a mention on The High Low podcast — the ultimate source of literary recommendations — it would have been w... READ MORE
An excellent work of historical fiction exploring complex themes with sensitivity
My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group U.K. - Dialogue Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett in exchange for an honest rev... READ MORE
A story that stays with you
Excellently written - what and introduction I've had to Brit Bennet!! I've become an instant fan.
The characters are well developed, the story lines are we... READ MORE
A poignant story of how racism affected lives during the 60s and 70s in America.
A poignant story of how racism affected lives during the 60s and 70s in America.
This story revolves around identical twins, Stella and Desiree Vignes, li... READ MORE
Love, love, love
I loved Brit Bennett's first novel, The Mothers, and have been eagerly awaiting The Vanishing Half since it was announced. This exceptional book is about t... READ MORE
Thought-provoking and beautiful
"You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood. Somehow, the Vignes twins believed themselves capable of both."
The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett’s se... READ MORE
An important read!
Twins, inseparable as children, ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds: one black and one white.
The Vignes sisters will always be identica... READ MORE
Disappointing
Having been enticed from its interesting synopsis, noting the various awards/shortlists and having read the positive reviews I had high hopes for this book... READ MORE
Such a joy to read.
The Vanishing Half is a title that really falls outwith my normal genre. But this year I am trying to expand my reading and I am so glad that I did as I l... READ MORE
complex but great
After trying to read The Mothers, which I ended up DNF because I didn’t like the format and the writing, I finally read The Vanishing Half.
It had quite... READ MORE
Had potential
I had high hopes for this book. Really enjoyed in until the last few chapters. It had so much potential but the ending was disappointing
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett was a story told in another time, another era, another culture and another country. Whist I had no concept of the idea ... READ MORE
Superb
Twin sisters Stella and Desiree Vignes grow up in Mallard, Louisiana, the great, great, granddaughters of the ex-slave founder of the settlement. Mallard i... READ MORE
Interesting and highly readable
I wanted to read Brit Bennett’s second novel, The Vanishing Half, despite being underwhelmed by her debut, The Mothers, because I found the synopsis so int... READ MORE
Riveting family saga of love, hate, poverty and racial discrimination
A black family , lightly skinned and living in an exclusive lightly coloured community where paleness of skin was protected and prized amongst all gifts. ... READ MORE
Phenomenal!
This book was phenomenal! It’s for a reason that many popular magazines and bookish media keep mentioning «The Vanishing Half» by Britt Bennett as one of t... READ MORE
Secrets and Lies...
Desiree and Stella Vignes are teenage twins who run away from a small town in Louisiana called Mallard in 1954 leaving their mother Adele to mourn their di... READ MORE
Thought-provoking
This book took me a little while to get into. There is a lot of early information to take on and a lot of characters to get into your head right at the beg... READ MORE
Great read!
I read this book as it was recommended by one of my book club members. It was a thoroughly captivating story and was enjoyed by every member of the club.
... READ MORE
Stayed with it
I had heard rave reviews of this book,I have to say that I almost gave up in the first half,however I stayed with it and found the second half
more intere... READ MORE
Unique, but something missing for me…
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021, The Vanishing Half tells the tale of twins Desiree and Stella Vignes from a place called Mallard; which... READ MORE
My favourite so far this year…
In ‘The Vanishing Half’ we follow two sides of the same family. Desiree & Stella are twins growing up in a small, southern, black community in 1950s Americ... READ MORE
Meh.
Forgettable.
Reading a novel is an investment of time, in return for which you should feel enriched somehow. I don't know that this book offered me any... READ MORE
Thought provoking
This is a story of 2 twin sisters that leave their home, together, at a young age, and then take their own paths in life. It takes place between the 1950s ... READ MORE
Bennett's sisters
Both epic and contemporary in feel, The Vanishing Half ponders the burdens of personal history and the weight of intersectional disadvantage, as Bennett ho... READ MORE
Exquisitely layered and multi-faceted
Some books settle into your mind like a quiet melody, others unfold like a grand symphony—The Vanishing Half is the latter. Brit Bennett masterfully constr... READ MORE