sofia

i'm thinking 3.65-3.7 stars on this one

The vanishing half is a story about two twin sisters so light-skinned they could pass as white, as do most people in their small hometown, Mallard. They flee from town as teenagers and live in New Orleans for a while, where they ultimately make a splitting decision that will change their lives forever, as well as their respective daughters. We follow their stories from their childhood, in the 50s, until they're middle aged in the 90s.

the array of topics approached in this book is impressive, going from colorism to internalized racism to domestic violence to identity (be it about race or gender), to classism, depression, trauma, self-worth and more; I appreciated reading about all of these but it was so much, it felt like some of them only scratched the surface and left me wanting more. I'd rather have read half of these and have a more focused story where we delved into the twins lives and their own stories.
But i did love that the author showed the consequences of the twins' decisions, affecting their daughters even when they're grown adults.

i really disliked Stella, i believe it was done on purpose but jaysos. Her chapters though, i was really into them, and i loved to see the whole arc with Loretta. I, however, disliked her daughter, Kennedy, and i think her chapters were my least favorite, i would go as far as saying they were almost not needed, or at least her part should have been much shorter

I Loved Jude's parts though, especially the ones with Reese, a trans man who she befriends and later becomes romantically involved with. Gotta love how positively it was portrayed and if it's unrealistic i don't care I still loved it. I'm not completely sure about the parallels between his transition and Stella's “transition”, though.

The ending... I wasn't crazy about it. I cant explain why but when it was over I was like really? That's it? I loved certain parts of the book so much and others i was begging to get them over with but the ending was painfully unremarkable to me. I know in these generational stories the ending will always be open and have some issues to still be unresolved but idk, i wanted more.

This was the first time i consumed a book as an audio! I don't know if it affected my enjoyment in any way but i liked the reading! I will be on the lookout for more Brit Bennet in the future!

3 stars

A tad underwhelming. I very much enjoyed the book, but with all the incredible acclamation, I expected a lot more from it. I like that it tackles a lot of important social issues (such as domestic violence, racism, fatphobia, homophobia, bullying, sexism, etc.), but the way some of them are brought up and handled doesn't quite sit well with me. I don't know if that was the author's goal. The narrative was a bit lazy, but I really liked that there were both Eleanor and Park's points of view, and I couldn't help but melt and blush whenever they mentioned each other lovingly. I liked the ending, but I feel it could be better. Felt a bit rushed. But the last part left me hopeful, so I can't really complain.