Naturalle Drea

You know I had this book since sometime last year and just getting around to reading it lol. I love that I am reading more this year and almost done with my goal for the year and will most likely exceed it. There are so many books out there that I want to read and just can’t wait but today I am sharing my thoughts on The Vanishing Half.

Now this was an interesting read for me. It started off a little slow for me but started to pick up and at first I didn’t like the ending of the book until I really thought about it and understood why it ended in that way. This is based around twin sisters Desiree and Stella in a small unknown town called Mallard in Louisiana that one day decided to run away and at some point separated and lost touch. Both sisters went on to get married, start families but Desiree returned home after experiencing abuse from her husband and just wanted to get away. It was a shock to the town because she has been gone for so long and often wondered on whereabouts of her sister.

Now when it got to the part of Stella, it was super interesting to me. The small town of Mallard was a very colorist town. Majority of the people were accepted for being very fair skin and you were frowned upon for being a darker shade of brown. Both sisters were very fair skin and often passed for being white so when Stella started passing as a white woman and kept living that lie, she just stuck with it. To me, she did so to have more opportunities in life and have a better life than being a black woman. She kept that part of her life away from everyone she knew and always feared someone who discover her secret or who she really was.

As I was reading, I thought ahead about if the sisters would cross paths again and it was interesting how it took for both of their daughters to meet for it to happen. Both sisters have grown apart and were living completely different lives but Stella just wanting to keep living the lie she was living because she was so deep in. I could understand that if Stella told the truth, her whole world would be shattered. It was just crazy that it was the only time the sisters saw each other again in life. I feel like they both needed each other but they were just too different at this point in life. I wish they had the chance to mend their relationship.

The Vanishing Half was a really interesting read. I felt like there were some things to unpack about self acceptance, self identity, colorism and family dynamics. This is one of those books that you really have to pay attention to what you are reading to understand everything but it was a really good read that challenged me. I do highly recommend it and if you do pick it up, let me know your thoughts.