3. The Vanishing Half

Brit Bennett. 2020.

This is the best book I have read in a very long time.  Often, I am not enamored by the ulta-popular best sellers that everyone is talking about, but this book delivered.  Let's start with the writing, which is exquisite.  The cadence, the word choice, the succinctness.  Even the dialogue flowed.  The character development and historical detail was as good as it gets.  I loved that she doesn't pound the history into your head, it is just a natural backdrop to the layers of the story.  And the story. I think my favorite storyline has always been the multi-generation family history and this one is particularly fabulous as it traces four generation of women, two women in each of younger generations, so seamlessly that I don't know which of the six women is really the protagonist.  Often in stories with multiple stories, I spend a lot of time in my head waiting for them to show how they are intertwined or wanting to get back to the storyline I connect with the most, but no this time. There wasn't an expectation that these would come back together in a meaningful way, nor did I have a favorite storyline.  When the book jumped to a different character, I was sorry to leave the one I was just reading about, but equally happy to find out what happened to the one we left to hear about that one.  The jumps felt natural, falling not with cliffhangers, but at gentle lulls.  Oh, and the themes this story covers--so, so many poignant and powerful themes woven into the stories and, again, just as part of the backdrop.  She doesn't force-feed messages about racism, transphobia, or misogyny, but rather just lets the story speak for itself.  And it isn't the same old themes, either.  No, this book brings home internalized oppression and generational trauma and how that can play out for individuals, families and communities.  It speaks to academic and formal education and access to wealth and resources.  It makes you think about what marriage is or means and whether it matters and not just in terms of "same-sex marriage."  What does it mean for middle aged people and what is "family" anyway?  Does the unmarried partner of your child who cares for you gently while you struggle with Alzheimer's count as family? Does a child who disowns you and tells the world you are dead for decades still count as family? Does it matter?  Oh, you are in for a treat!

Highly recommend.  I find it hard to believe there will be another book this year I like this much.

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