The Vanishing Half

If you're like me, you read every list that comes out entitled "MUST-READ BOOKS!" It took me too long to realize those lists are largely influenced (and often generated) by publishers and people motivated to sell specific titles. But, I'm a sucker and I often choose my next reads based on those lists. This book - and, the next book I'm going to review - were on so many lists of the must-read books of 2020. And, you know what? Those lists were right.A Vanishing Half is about twin girls who run away from their small Louisiana town when they're 16 years old. The town itself doesn't show up on any map, but has evolved over the years to be home to very light-skinned Black people. A town so seemingly white, the people who live here look down on anyone with darker skin. The twins feel trapped, like so many teenagers do, and they leave town to head to New Orleans. What happens there defines each of their lives.The book begins as one of those twins, Desiree, returns to her hometown many years later. Child in tow, fleeing an abusive marriage, she finds herself back in her mother's house. They learn that no one has heard from Stella in years. She vanished off the streets of New Orleans. We learn as readers that she's passing as a white woman, living a life of luxury in California. No one - not her friends, not her husband, not her daughter - know her secret. It's a secret she feels will destroy everything.This book is about family, race, expectations, the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell to others. It's a beautiful read and deservedly on those must-read books, especially right now in America.