There has been SO much hype around this book all over social media that I couldn't wait to get started on it, but the book just really wasn't what I expected. It's always been described as either a romance of a coming of age story, and I just felt like neither of those descriptions really hits the spot. Don't get me wrong, there were elements of it that were great and that I really loved, but it was so slow that I really struggled through at least the first half.
The Vanishing Half is a story about a pair of twins who grow up in a rural Southern black community. They run away as teenagers and Stella leaves Desiree behind in the big city. Desiree never stops searching for Stella, never knowing what really happened to the other half of her. Told over a number of decades, the book shows us both Desiree's and Stella's stories, and how one decision can change the lives of generations to come.
This book started off really slow for me and I struggled to connect to the writing. I felt as though the back story to the twins' adult lives (them running away as teens, finding their first jobs and then separating) was completely rushed through and I didn't get much of a sense of either of them. Desiree's life as a mother to Jude was then equally rushed through whilst at the same time feeling a bit too slow. I think the writing just felt a little bit more like fact-telling than anything emotive.
However, things improved a lot when it came to Jude's (Desiree's daughter) and Stella's stories. Stella's decision to pose as being white was an interesting one, and something I've never seen discussed in a book before. And then we had Jude, who falls in love with a trans man. I've read very few books with trans characters in, and this was the most nuanced example I've ever seen. We are always presented with Reese presenting as male, and learn the difficulties of being trans through Jude's eyes. Binders, hormones, gender affirming surgery and dysphoria are all discussed in the book in a sensitive way.
These two aspects of the plot were the most interesting for me, and the second half of the book saved the first half, which is why I've given it three stars.
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