Does it change you dramatically, or is it something that you just kind of can push past and continue thinking of yourself in the same way that you have always thought of yourself? It really affects so much of their material lives, even though the idea of race and these categories are so flimsy. Mix and match the filters below and the years above to explore nearly 2,500 recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics. more expansive yet also deeper, a multi-generational family saga that tackles prickly … As with her … . Elena Burnett and Jolie Myers produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, USA Today, GQ, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Bustle Praise for The Vanishing Half: “[Bennett’s] second [book], The Vanishing Half, more than lives up to her early promise. It is a clear and direct descendant of that literary heritage and is a strong entry when compared to its ancestry. And you had to kind of shoehorn yourself into one of those spaces. . . For protesters in cities across the country, the past is the present. 'The Vanishing Half' Counts The Terrible Costs Of Bigotry And Secrecy Brit Bennett's triumphant new novel follows two light-skinned black sisters whose lives … And I didn't want to do that. Bennett says that narratives of "passing" often include a lot of moralizing, but she wasn't interested in telling that sort of story. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. The Vanishing Half is about identical, African American, twins. It’s the story of light-skinned Black identical twin sisters who grow up inseparable in a light-skinned Black community in Louisiana. . Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, USA Today, GQ, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Bustle Praise for The Vanishing Half: “[Bennett’s] second [book], The Vanishing Half, more than lives up to her early promise. . HBO acquired the rights to develop … Four years later, Bennett introduces a new cast of characters, and like her debut, The Vanishing Half examines sisterhood, black identity, and parenthood with compassion and conviction. There is an aspect of that that reveals how flimsy those categories are. Brit Bennett says it has been "surreal" to publish her post-civil rights era book this week. The Vanishing Half (Kobo eBook) By Brit Bennett. It debuted at number one on The New York Times fiction best-seller list. On the fictional Louisiana town where her story is set during the Jim Crow era. I got the idea for the book from a conversation I had with my mother, who told me very offhandedly one day about a town she remembered from her Louisiana childhood, where everyone sort of intermarried so that their children would get lighter with each generation. The main characters wonder what defines happiness. But at the same time, these decisions that they make and how they identify themselves materially affect their lives — whether it's the job that they have, or who they marry, or what happens to their kids and the opportunities their kids are afforded. Stories of passing are often these moralizing stories. The Vanishing Half is a historical fiction novel by American author Brit Bennett. So, you know, I think for Stella, I was interested in the way that she is constantly running from her past and also the way in which she is constantly having to learn how to perform race in a different way — in a way that is often unacceptable to the other white people around her. Both are haunted by personal and collective traumas of the past, and the book explores whether it’s possible to erase the past, in the name of a better future. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR TIME MAGAZINE'S #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY NPR LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick … NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. So what does it mean to not exist in either? One sister lives as a black woman, while the other passes as white. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person''s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. On resisting the question of "is it good or bad to pass?". . And the scripts that she has learned within her Jim Crow upbringing in Louisiana are not applicable to when she becomes this sort of wealthy white woman in California. As with her … As with her … You know, how she comes to think of herself, how this changes her relationships and her family, the choices that she's making, how they affect her marriage. As with her … The Vanishing Half: A Novel #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE* VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR See details. There were white spaces and there were colored spaces. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. For protesters in cities across the country, the past is the present. One sister lives as a black woman, while the other passes as white. 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013. 'A Chosen Exile': Black People Passing In White America, Identical Twins Become Divided By Race In 'The Vanishing Half', 'The Vanishing Half' Counts The Terrible Costs Of Bigotry And Secrecy, Ordinary Black Lives Are What Matter In 'The Mothers'. Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, USA Today, GQ, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Bustle Praise for The Vanishing Half: “[Bennett’s] second [book], The Vanishing Half, more than lives up to her early promise. Des milliers de livres avec la livraison chez vous en 1 jour ou en magasin avec -5% de réduction . Number-One New York Times Best Seller. Brit Bennett says it has been "surreal" to publish her post-civil rights era book this week. One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year. . I wanted to kind of explore the idea of a place like this. I was far more interested in that than in the idea of punishing her. . . If you can transgress them through performance, if you can perform whiteness and become white through that performance, then what does it actually mean to be white or black or anything? The Vanishing Half is written in a more conventional tight third person, shifting between characters and generations – primarily Desiree and Stella and their daughters, one "blueblack" dark, one blonde, one smart and grounded, the other spoiled and lost. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. . The Vanishing Half is a novel written a century after the Harlem Renaissance. I was not interested in punishing Stella, I was not interested in condemning her. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. 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