The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021
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Description
Posts
People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else. It is the year 1954. In a small town in the state of Louisiana, called Mallard, two light-skinned colored twin sisters are packing their bags to leave this godforsaken place and start a new life of their own in New Orleans. The two are inseparable at the time, but still, 14 years later, only one of them returns, with a child, that looks nothing like her. Desireé returns, while Stella left her in her early days in New Orleans. Dessireé married a colored man, while Stella started to pass. Slowly first, until the point when there was no turning back anymore. So she left her sister alone, to live a life, she'd never imagined she'd have one day. 'The Vanishing Half' is a book that gave me the opportunity to learn. To learn about everything I take for granted everyday, just because I have the rights to do so. To learn about the worries of other people, those worries I will never be able to understand, just because I don't have them, I will never have them and I will never be able to put myself in this position. It is also a book full of emotions and empathy. Being a little sister myself, I wouldn't want to imagine what it would be like not seing my brothers for 14 years straight, not even knowing how they are, what they are doing and if they are still alive. The story is told through several eyes, each bringing their own perspective into the scenario. But even though so many people seem to tell their on story and there is a switch between different perspectives, it was never hard to find out through which's eyes you are hearing the story right now. Overall, 'The Vanishing Half' was a great book, through and through. I'd never read a book more powerful, than that.
really enjoyed the multiple POVs in this book
The Vanishing Half (dt. Die verschwindende Hälfte) von Brit Bennett hat mich schwer beeindruckt und ist eines meiner Jahreshighlights. Ich habe am Anfang ein wenig gebraucht, um mich in das Buch einzulesen. Die ersten 50-60 Seiten war ich nicht überzeugt. Danach erfolgte aber ein Wechsel in der Erzählperspektive. Und genau dieser Wechsel machte für mich den Unterschied, ich war völlig gefesselt. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von Stella und Desiree. Die beiden sind eineiige Zwillinge, sehr hellhäutige Schwarze. Sie wachsen in Mallard, einem kleinen Ort in Louisiana auf. Dort leben ausschließlich Farbige, aber auch hier ist Rassismus erkennbar: je hellhäutiger, desto höher ist der gesellschaftliche Wert. Mit 16 verlassen die Schwestern Mallard und gehen nach New Orleans. Dort trennen sich ihre Wege: Stella gibt sich als Weiße aus und verschwindet bald darauf. Desiree geht nach Washington D.C., heiratet einen sehr dunkelhäutigen Mann, bekommt eine sehr dunkelhäutige Tochter. Jahre später kehrt sie mit dieser nach Mallard zurück und begibt sich auf die Suche nach Stella. Vor ein paar Jahren habe ich Passing (dt. Seitenwechsel) von Nella Larsen gelesen. Das Buch befasst sich ebenfalls mit Passing, also dem Überwechseln einer Farbigen auf die weiße „Seite“. Bei The Vanishing Half fand ich diese Thematik aber noch gelungener umgesetzt. Die Geschichte ist viel vielseitiger, abwechslungsreicher und auch moderner. Vor allem das Verhältnis zwischen den beiden Schwestern war für mich sehr interessant. Ich habe selber eine Schwester, daher mag ich solche Geschichten besonders.
Authentical merge of a family story with black history
In Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’, we follow the lives of Desiree and Stella, identical twins, and their families over four decades. They were born in Mallard, a small town in Louisiana, where its Black population has successfully segregated themselves by taking pride in being light-skinned. Through a series of small episodes, we learn how the twins make life-changing decisions in the 1950s and how these choices shape their personal histories. The book addresses important topics such as identity, colourism, racism, passing, queerness, motherhood and feminism—everything in the context of American history. Unfortunately, some of these subjects are only touched upon superficially. There would have been a lot of potential to explore them more deeply. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, but in the beginning it was difficult for me to find into the non-linear narrative structure, including significant time jumps and frequent changes in POVs. Although the book was highly praised (not to say hyped) in the English-speaking media, I had never heard of it before, but the beautiful cover immediately drew me in!
3,5 Sterne. Leider bin ich den Charakteren nicht so richtig nahe gekommen. Vielleicht lag das aber auch an meiner absoluten Abneigung gegen Lügen. Ich schätze die Idee für die Story sehr, fand aber besonders eins der Themen zu viel und auch unpassend, außerdem hatte das Buch auch einige Längen. Als Film oder Serie stelle ich es mir spannender vor. “Wenn man ein anderer Mensch werden wollte, war das Schwerste der Entschluß, der Rest war Logistik.”
Unglaublich interessante, einzigartige Story — sehr lesenswert und spannend geschrieben.
Dieses Buch wird dem Hype gerecht. Es stecken so viele interessante Themen drinnen - Rassismus, Identität, Mutterschaft, Familie, Feminismus… Und doch fühlte ich mich niemals überfrachtet. Die Charaktere sind mir schnell ans Herz gewachsen, gleichzeitig las es sich spannend wie ein guter Krimi. Ein wunderbares Buch, von ich mir gewünscht habe, dass es nicht aufhört.
Highly Recommend
I cannot really summarize the book, you have to read it to really know what’s going on. It had me hooked from the start once i picked it up. Be prepared for a lot of time changes tho, you read a chapter in 1988 and the next chapter is in 1986 i. e. however with the timeline changes the POV most of the time which makes it a lot less confusing than it sounds. Great book that mentions important topics. If it wasn’t fiction I’d recommend it for schools right next to THUG, or maybe even given that it is fiction… the language and everything would certainly be suitable for English class imo
A great novel about the complex realities of twin sisters Desiree & Stella, and what each of them gains or loses when they choose their path in life, and the impact this has on them and their respective families.
3.5 ⭐
Description
Posts
People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else. It is the year 1954. In a small town in the state of Louisiana, called Mallard, two light-skinned colored twin sisters are packing their bags to leave this godforsaken place and start a new life of their own in New Orleans. The two are inseparable at the time, but still, 14 years later, only one of them returns, with a child, that looks nothing like her. Desireé returns, while Stella left her in her early days in New Orleans. Dessireé married a colored man, while Stella started to pass. Slowly first, until the point when there was no turning back anymore. So she left her sister alone, to live a life, she'd never imagined she'd have one day. 'The Vanishing Half' is a book that gave me the opportunity to learn. To learn about everything I take for granted everyday, just because I have the rights to do so. To learn about the worries of other people, those worries I will never be able to understand, just because I don't have them, I will never have them and I will never be able to put myself in this position. It is also a book full of emotions and empathy. Being a little sister myself, I wouldn't want to imagine what it would be like not seing my brothers for 14 years straight, not even knowing how they are, what they are doing and if they are still alive. The story is told through several eyes, each bringing their own perspective into the scenario. But even though so many people seem to tell their on story and there is a switch between different perspectives, it was never hard to find out through which's eyes you are hearing the story right now. Overall, 'The Vanishing Half' was a great book, through and through. I'd never read a book more powerful, than that.
really enjoyed the multiple POVs in this book
The Vanishing Half (dt. Die verschwindende Hälfte) von Brit Bennett hat mich schwer beeindruckt und ist eines meiner Jahreshighlights. Ich habe am Anfang ein wenig gebraucht, um mich in das Buch einzulesen. Die ersten 50-60 Seiten war ich nicht überzeugt. Danach erfolgte aber ein Wechsel in der Erzählperspektive. Und genau dieser Wechsel machte für mich den Unterschied, ich war völlig gefesselt. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von Stella und Desiree. Die beiden sind eineiige Zwillinge, sehr hellhäutige Schwarze. Sie wachsen in Mallard, einem kleinen Ort in Louisiana auf. Dort leben ausschließlich Farbige, aber auch hier ist Rassismus erkennbar: je hellhäutiger, desto höher ist der gesellschaftliche Wert. Mit 16 verlassen die Schwestern Mallard und gehen nach New Orleans. Dort trennen sich ihre Wege: Stella gibt sich als Weiße aus und verschwindet bald darauf. Desiree geht nach Washington D.C., heiratet einen sehr dunkelhäutigen Mann, bekommt eine sehr dunkelhäutige Tochter. Jahre später kehrt sie mit dieser nach Mallard zurück und begibt sich auf die Suche nach Stella. Vor ein paar Jahren habe ich Passing (dt. Seitenwechsel) von Nella Larsen gelesen. Das Buch befasst sich ebenfalls mit Passing, also dem Überwechseln einer Farbigen auf die weiße „Seite“. Bei The Vanishing Half fand ich diese Thematik aber noch gelungener umgesetzt. Die Geschichte ist viel vielseitiger, abwechslungsreicher und auch moderner. Vor allem das Verhältnis zwischen den beiden Schwestern war für mich sehr interessant. Ich habe selber eine Schwester, daher mag ich solche Geschichten besonders.
Authentical merge of a family story with black history
In Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’, we follow the lives of Desiree and Stella, identical twins, and their families over four decades. They were born in Mallard, a small town in Louisiana, where its Black population has successfully segregated themselves by taking pride in being light-skinned. Through a series of small episodes, we learn how the twins make life-changing decisions in the 1950s and how these choices shape their personal histories. The book addresses important topics such as identity, colourism, racism, passing, queerness, motherhood and feminism—everything in the context of American history. Unfortunately, some of these subjects are only touched upon superficially. There would have been a lot of potential to explore them more deeply. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, but in the beginning it was difficult for me to find into the non-linear narrative structure, including significant time jumps and frequent changes in POVs. Although the book was highly praised (not to say hyped) in the English-speaking media, I had never heard of it before, but the beautiful cover immediately drew me in!
3,5 Sterne. Leider bin ich den Charakteren nicht so richtig nahe gekommen. Vielleicht lag das aber auch an meiner absoluten Abneigung gegen Lügen. Ich schätze die Idee für die Story sehr, fand aber besonders eins der Themen zu viel und auch unpassend, außerdem hatte das Buch auch einige Längen. Als Film oder Serie stelle ich es mir spannender vor. “Wenn man ein anderer Mensch werden wollte, war das Schwerste der Entschluß, der Rest war Logistik.”
Unglaublich interessante, einzigartige Story — sehr lesenswert und spannend geschrieben.
Dieses Buch wird dem Hype gerecht. Es stecken so viele interessante Themen drinnen - Rassismus, Identität, Mutterschaft, Familie, Feminismus… Und doch fühlte ich mich niemals überfrachtet. Die Charaktere sind mir schnell ans Herz gewachsen, gleichzeitig las es sich spannend wie ein guter Krimi. Ein wunderbares Buch, von ich mir gewünscht habe, dass es nicht aufhört.
Highly Recommend
I cannot really summarize the book, you have to read it to really know what’s going on. It had me hooked from the start once i picked it up. Be prepared for a lot of time changes tho, you read a chapter in 1988 and the next chapter is in 1986 i. e. however with the timeline changes the POV most of the time which makes it a lot less confusing than it sounds. Great book that mentions important topics. If it wasn’t fiction I’d recommend it for schools right next to THUG, or maybe even given that it is fiction… the language and everything would certainly be suitable for English class imo
A great novel about the complex realities of twin sisters Desiree & Stella, and what each of them gains or loses when they choose their path in life, and the impact this has on them and their respective families.
3.5 ⭐