The Vanishing Half
1 journaler for this copy...
Arrived June 9, 2022 from Better World Books.
The Vignes twins were identical, born to a family in the small community of Mallard, Louisiana. The community was settled by a group of light-skinned blacks. Through the years the residents' pride was in the color of their skin. The twins' skin was suitably light for the town.
The twins were identical in appearance but not in personality. However, when they were sixteen they ran away together in hopes of making a better life. At first they found jobs together, places to stay together. But one day Desiree woke up to an empty space next to her, and all of Stella's belongings gone. In time she realized that Stella was not coming back.
Desiree is at the center of the story, but Stella features large, often only in memory. Desiree continues to do as well as she can but at one point, many years later, is forced to return home to her cold, hard mother, and to live there again, with her young daughter.
The daughter is much darker and is the subject of much gossip and ill-will. She grows up in the white city, unable to make any friends, and the story continues with her.
Meanwhile, Stella has made a home for herself, "passing" as a white woman and therefore unwilling to reveal her past to her new family and friends.
It's a black-and-white story, literally, with a thoughtful approach to racial identity.
The twins were identical in appearance but not in personality. However, when they were sixteen they ran away together in hopes of making a better life. At first they found jobs together, places to stay together. But one day Desiree woke up to an empty space next to her, and all of Stella's belongings gone. In time she realized that Stella was not coming back.
Desiree is at the center of the story, but Stella features large, often only in memory. Desiree continues to do as well as she can but at one point, many years later, is forced to return home to her cold, hard mother, and to live there again, with her young daughter.
The daughter is much darker and is the subject of much gossip and ill-will. She grows up in the white city, unable to make any friends, and the story continues with her.
Meanwhile, Stella has made a home for herself, "passing" as a white woman and therefore unwilling to reveal her past to her new family and friends.
It's a black-and-white story, literally, with a thoughtful approach to racial identity.
Journal Entry 3 by jlautner at Peacock Suites in Anaheim, California USA on Monday, September 26, 2022
On a shelf in the downstairs lounge.