Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021
Skip to main content
.com.au
Hello Select your address
All
Select the department you want to search in
Hello, Sign in
Account & Lists
Returns & Orders
Cart
All
Best Sellers Customer Service Today's Deals Prime Fashion Music New Releases Kindle Books Books Electronics Home Toys & Games Gift Cards Computers Video Games Beauty Audible Home Improvement Health & Personal Care Sports, Fitness & Outdoors Gift Ideas Pet Supplies Automotive Coupons Subscribe & Save Sell
Createspace

  • The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021
  • ›
  • Customer reviews

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
85,419 global ratings
5 star
38%
4 star
43%
3 star
15%
2 star
3%
1 star
1%
The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021

The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021

byBrit Bennett
Write a review
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
See All Buying Options

Top positive review

All positive reviews›
Cindy
5.0 out of 5 starsCouldn't Put This Down
Reviewed in Australia on 18 August 2020
This was a beautifully written and compelling story of intergenerational trauma, identity and the choices that end up defining who we are.

The characters were vividly drawn with story lines that spanned across decades so that I felt like I had come to intimately know these characters and the shapes of their lives by the end. Through the characters of the twin girls we see themes of loss, identity, race, society, survival and motherhood play out and I love how the book tackles these bigger themes without detracting from the core story of the girls' disappearance and separation.

The writing was stunning in that quiet, unassuming way, balancing descriptive prose with a grounded realism, "A town always looked different once you returned, like a house where all the furniture had shifted three inches. You wouldn't mistake it for a stranger's house but you'd keep banging your shins on the table corners"

I couldn't put this book down but I also didn't want it to end, and I wished the story had continued to the next generation of daughters because it is a story that I could keep reading.
Read more
5 people found this helpful

Top critical review

All critical reviews›
Philip Cassell
2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing
Reviewed in Australia on 16 November 2020
I found this novel to have some interesting features; the basic storyline is involving enough; and its description of prejudice is sometimes moving.
However, far too much of the writing is banal and repetitive. Too much of the novel is static.
All novels are fabrications, of course; however, the concoctedness of Vanishing Half leaps out at the reader and spoils it. For me at least.
Read more
One person found this helpful

Search
Sort by
Top reviews
Filter by
All reviewers
3 star only
Text, image, video
Filtered by
3 starClear filter
8,846 total ratings, 277 with reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Australia

FiCo
3.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Tale, Great Holiday Read
Reviewed in Australia on 8 March 2021
Verified Purchase
The tale of twin sisters who took different paths in life. Likeable characters, an enjoyable read. The story somehow familiar, yet original enough to entertain.
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


Renee Oberin
3.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of questions in this story
Reviewed in Australia on 31 December 2020
Verified Purchase
Who are we ? What is a lie ? Can we ever leave our born identities behind? What are the consequences?

This story touched on these but didn’t get close enough to exploring all the possible tendrils of answers.
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


Amanda
3.0 out of 5 stars I felt I needed more at the end
Reviewed in Australia on 14 April 2021
Verified Purchase
I read this very quickly, I enjoyed it but felt the ending was too abrupt. I could have done with five more chapters!!
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


From other countries

Ralph Blumenau
TOP 500 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars Problems of racial and gender identity
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 July 2020
Verified Purchase
The first three quarters of the book are excellent. They tell of the lives of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, who were born in the fictional Louisiana town of Mallard, where the population of African-Americans were all light-skinned and looked down on dark skinned people.

This had not prevented whites from a neighbouring town from lynching their father for an imagined racial transgression.

In 1964 Desiree and Stella ran way to St Louis. But they soon went their separate ways. Stella, traumatized by having seen her father lynched, had decided to pass as white. She had taken a job in St Louis. Her employer, a wealthy white banker called Blake Sanders had taken a liking to her, and she to him; and when he was moved to Boston and asked her to go with him, she had agreed, and had simply walked out on Desiree without telling her where she had gone. There she married him and bore him a white daughter, Kennedy. Neither Blake nor Kennedy knew that she was not white. Later they moved to Los Angeles.

For years Stella had no contact with Desiree. She was always terrified that she would be found out, and avoided any contact with black people. The exception was her friendship for a while with Loretta Walker, a black woman who lived in the house opposite hers; but this ended when Kennedy, playing with Loretta’s daughter Cindy, made a racist comment to Cindy.

Desiree had gone to Washington D.C, and married a black man, Sam Winston, and bore him a black daughter, Jude. But Sam was violent towards Desiree, and she and Jude left him and returned to Mallard in 1968.
In 1982 Jude was living in Los Angeles with Reese Carter, a transgender man with whom, sharing his bed, she has an affaire of sorts, and with Barry, who performs as a drag queen twice a month. Reese and Barry, like Stella, were passing for something they were not.

One day, Jude thought she had seen Stella, the lookalike of her mother; and she also met Kennedy.
Kennedy had become a rebel, had dropped out school, and against her mother’s wishes, had taken up acting in a crummy play in a crummy theatre. Jude took a job as a dogsbody at the theatre in order to see more of her cousin and in the hope of meeting Stella. On the last night of the show she did meet Stella, and introduced herself to her as Desiree’s daughter. Stella froze, then walked away. Angrily, Jude told Kennedy that their mothers were twins, and that Stella had been lying to Kennedy all her life.

The secret was out: Stella knew she had been rumbled, and Kennedy knew the truth.

I found the remaining quarter of the book, dealing in part with the consequences of this situation, very confusing. Hence only three stars, when so much of the book deserves five.
40 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Teresa
3.0 out of 5 stars Overhyped, somewhat disappointed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2021
Verified Purchase
I thought that from the pages and pages of accolades printed at the start of this book that it would be a literary tour de force. Not so. It's a very plainly written book that fails to satisfy, with a somewhat abrupt conclusion with many unanswered questions. The idea of a light skin black woman choosing to pass as white is an interesting one. However, I never really felt I understood or believed Stella's motives. The book is an easy read which I finished in a few days. But despite being set in the 60s, 70s and 80s there was very little sense of time or place as the writing style was so simple lacking any real evocative descriptive writing. There was also amention of 'breath taking plot twists' . Well perhaps my book was missing a chapter or so as I saw no sign of those. So, an engaging enough read, but fails to deliver in the final third. Also, a strange trans gender theme that seemed to be shoehorned in to the plot completely unnecessary and only to tick a box for being, somehow 'relevant' to today's audiences. This theme felt clumsy, added nothing, and again felt unresolved.
13 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Time for Tash
3.0 out of 5 stars This book reminds me a cold cup of hot chocolate....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2020
Verified Purchase
I was extremely excited when I bought this book because it was on my reading list for a few weeks and the reviews were amazing, so I had really high hopes. I had almost expected the classic changing perspectives each chapter style, but the storyline seemed to drag out too much and we don't even get into the other twins life until over 1/4s of the book. We also never find out what happens to Stella and her family and it really irked me because whilst the ending lines of the book were perfect for the main idea, the ending as a whole lacked fullness. It was like drinking a cold cup of cocoa - sweet but lukewarm, not just THERE yet. I would love to see the ending completed to include Stella, because at the end of the day there are two protagonists but this story seems to just be about Desiree and her daughter. Until then, I would say to buy this book but prepare to be disappointed with its seemingly single instead of double story.
14 people found this helpful
Report abuse
SusannahB
TOP 500 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars The Vanishing Half
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2020
Verified Purchase
Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’ is a novel which looks at race and identity through the lives of Stella and Desiree, twin sisters - who, although of colour, are so light-skinned they could pass for white. When, in 1954, Stella and Desiree leave home as teenagers keen to experience life outside the small town they grew up in, Desiree accepts herself for who she is and meets and marries a man of colour with very dark skin; Stella, however, seeking a ‘better’ life, makes the decision to pass for white and, in doing so, has to keep her whole past a total secret - even from those she loves. As time passes and Desiree returns home to her mother’s house, Stella sets out on a very different path, but although Stella’s life is ostensibly one of privilege, her terror of her secret being revealed casts a very long shadow and one that has repercussions for almost everyone around her.

A very interesting premise and one which made me keen to start this book ahead of others on my TBR and, when reading, I found it interesting how the author highlighted that it’s not just some white people who are prejudiced about those with darker skins, but also how some light-skinned black people are too. And I very much enjoyed the early part of the novel where we see the twins leave home and try to make their way in the world; I also enjoyed reading about Desiree’s return to her home town and about her meeting up again with a man she was very attracted to when she was a teenager, but whom she rejected when her mother objected to his much darker skin.

However, when the novel moved to the lives of Desiree’s and Stella’s children and the story moved back and forth in time and from one character to another, I felt it lost impetus and direction somewhat, and although I was interested to see when, or if, Stella would finally reveal her ‘secret’, I did lose sympathy with her over time - I’d like to explain but to do so would involve spoilers so I can’t really discuss this further. So, an interesting and enjoyable novel in parts, but not one that sustained my interest and enjoyment throughout its length and, therefore, one I have rated as a three star read - which is not intended to be a negative rating but just that I found the earlier parts of the novel worked better than later parts and, yet again, a book that I didn’t feel quite lived up to the hype.

3 Stars.
2 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Amy
3.0 out of 5 stars Real potential
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2020
Verified Purchase
This is a book with a good concept but was not executed well. Although the characters were well written and interesting there was not a good flow to the story which made it difficult to hold my attention. Each “part” did not integrate with the next and there was no real conclusion, twist or cliff hanger keeping me wanting more. I wish this had been a better read as I think there is some real potential in storylines addressing modern and century old issues.
2 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Ruju
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 September 2021
Verified Purchase
Aged sixteen, twins Desiree and Stella each have their reasons to escape the Southern black community that is their home. The Vanishing Half is the fascinating story of how their lives unfolded, initially together but for the most part of it going their separate ways. The novel explores many issues; race, family relationships and sexuality to name a few. Although on the face of it Stella's life of denial should be the most interesting thread of the story, I sometimes found these sections about a bored and frustrated suburban housewife and her bratty daughter Kennedy quite tedious. The best parts were saved for Desiree's daughter, Jude, who was a more fleshed out character with more going on in her life. The book was very well written with an effective style that never got in the way of telling the story. Worth a read if you can wade through the hype and get to it unscathed.
Report abuse
Luke Dennison
3.0 out of 5 stars Lacks grit
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2022
Verified Purchase
The premise of this was interesting but it lacked grit. I have read many books depicting either issues of race or issues of hardship brought on by divisions in race and there are many better than this.

I feel this book substituted the harsh reality for a page turning narrative. I remember a reviewer of the book of the night women calling it out for being crass and bemoaning its swearing and violence. I'm sure she would like this book, as for me this is what this book is missing. It covers the themes, alienation, esacpism, reinventing yourself but doesn't really get under the skin of these themes.

Overall a decent page turner with some interesting characters but it lacks death and grit.
Report abuse
  • ←Previous
  • Next page→
Need customer service? Click here
‹ See all details for The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize 2021

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations
›
View or edit your browsing history
After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Back to top
Get to Know Us
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Corporate Information
  • Press Releases
  • Amazon Science
Make Money with Us
  • Independently Publish with Us
  • Sell on Amazon
  • Drive with Amazon Flex
  • Advertise Your Products
  • Associates Program
  • Host an Amazon Hub
Let Us Help You
  • COVID-19 and Amazon
  • Your Account
  • Your Orders
  • Delivery Rates & Policies
  • Returns & Replacements
  • Manage Your Content and Devices
  • Help
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
And don't forget:
  • Amazon Advertising
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Goodreads
  • Shopbop
  • Conditions of Use & Sale
  • Privacy Notice
  • Interest-Based Ads Notice
© 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates