The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennet

 

The hype about this book is true. Once I started reading, I could not put it down easily. I've never thought reading about uncomfortable truths across all kinds of discriminations and violence could bring me excitement and joy, but this book did. 

I tried to learn as much about the time (60s - 80s) the book passed through to understand the characters better. The chapters going back and forth in time helped me to focus on the importance of those era. My own big fault is that if the time is set pre 1990, I tended to blend them all in as a big one past. Even bigger fault is to think of the big blob of the past as equivalently to "90s" which compared to 2000 is a past. Something different, but nothing much and not bad. When the world changed every second, faster than it has in the past in the 90s with technological advancement, I treated prior advancement a slow changes that were never really realized till recent. How wrong was I? Besides the clothes, I don't think I ever took interested in the change in the world. I don't deserve to comment on humanity change and the years it took to accomplish all.

I learned about light in between the dark and white.

I learned about the horror of discriminations that destroyed a human soul and the generations of the family.

I learned about the courageous actions that were  disregarded as a showy act to make a statement. Yet people taking even more courage to adventure out to dreams for themselves and the family.

I learned about the romance of people in agony of never being a true self.

I learned to face and look at complexity of life than to avoid it with simplicity.

Brit Bennet's narrative is flawless as she transit between characters and times. I was able to relate to every character because she told each character's story so personally. I came to love all characters and desires that were different to each other and to myself. 

From her website, I found two sentences that best summarized this book.

"emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing."

 "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."

As an immigrant myself, I could relate having a split identity: Identity from home and the identity in America. Beyond the cultural split identities, I and we are always changing. Who we were to who we want to be or who we have to be. In the land where so many identities are sought to be embraced (even though it has its own difficulties and cruelty), I think this book speaks to many people to help them think who they are, why they are, what they can choose to be and how powerful their choices impact the future of society. I also think the book has power to unite everyone to bond over the courage it takes in making through the day.