September 2023 Book - Wed., the 13th @ 7PM
The Vanishing Half By: Brit Bennett
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
Discussion Questions:
- What do you think of the title? Did it give you an idea of what the story would be about?
- The twins’ father, Leon, was butchered by a group of white men when the girls were children. This, of course, has a devastating impact on his family. How do you think Leon’s death influenced the twins and the decisions they made later in life?
- Did you agree with the twin’s decision to leave? What did you think about the fact that they left their mother, Adele, alone?
- Stella is determined to carve her own path, and does so by pretending to be white. What do you think of Stella’s character? Do you think she ever felt relaxed or settled in her new life?
- Desiree, meanwhile, returns home, despite being the one to decide to leave in the first place. Why do you think Desiree decided to stay in Mallard for so long?
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