The Vanishing Half- Review
Brief Summary: Twins, Desiree and Stella, are born and raised in a small town called Mallard, where mixed people lived with an extreme dislike for darker shades of people. Living in poverty with only their mother, and with dreams larger than the small town, Desiree and Stella decide to run away. While away, Stella vanishes from Desiree’s life and marries a white man, leaving behind her old life and her identity as a black woman. Without looking back, she leads her life as a white woman by even lying to her husband about her past. On the contrary, Desiree marries a black man, who later starts abusing her, leading her to go back to her old town Mallard and live with her mother. Their daughters, Kennedy (Stella’s) and Jude (Desiree’s) are the stark opposite of each other, much like the twins. As college students, they run into each other, and later finally reunite their twin mothers once again after several decades.
Now, I want to dig deeper into some of the amazing aspects of the book that left me quite speechless at times:
Title: The book’s title was, in itself, a masterpiece. On the surface, it might seem as though, the vanishing might just be referring to the twins, but it is not quite the case as it applies to almost all characters. Here’s a list of the one’s I could find:
- Stella vanishing from Desiree: This is one of the most obvious ones as Stella leaves her sister in New Orleans with no address or contact information.
2. Desiree vanishing from Stella: Wrapped up in her dreams and life, Desiree began vanishing from Stella’s life long before they even got to New Orleans.
3. Kennedy vanishing from Stella’s life: With her dreams and ambitions completely different from her mother’s, Kennedy vanishes from Stella’s life from an early age. Stella’s constant lies and mysterious past creates a sense of distrust in Kennedy towards her mother.
4. Stella vanishing from her husband’s life: Once the new neighbors start moving in, a new side of Stella begins to emerge in which she almost wishes she could be black and free. She quite literally vanishes from the house to meet her neighbors without telling her husband. There is no doubt that, that side of her personality has been suppressed around her husband.
5. Jude vanishing from Desiree: Jude, with her acceptance to USC, does not return home even when she can. She treats college as an escape and begins to build her new life away from home and Mallard. Later, she also leaves the funeral to escape with Reese in a river, symbolizing her desire to distance herself from her mother and the town.
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6. Jude vanishing from Kennedy: Existence of one is a terrible reminder for the other that their life is more complicated than they wished it to be. It is also a reminder of what could have been. Since circumstances are beyond their control, these two tended to stay away from each other, vanishing for years after a quick reunion.
7. Stella vanishing from her self: As a mixed woman, Stella had three identities (white, black, and mixed). She made a choice and lead her life with that. Externally, she vanished from her other two identities completely.
8. Desiree’s self vanishing from her: Desiree became a new woman when she returned home to her mother, helpless and broken. Mallard was the last place she wanted to return and live her life, but her self and desires had to vanish in order to survive and raise her young daughter.
10. Adele was a glue holding them together, the vanishing of her memories is like the vanishing of one-half of their stories: Adele, the mother, was one of the characters who knew her daughters when they were together and young. She knew stories of them together that even they both had forgotten. However, her having Alzheimer is symbolic of them permanently losing that half of their story —the ones of them before they left Mallard.
11. Mallard’s story vanishing as the town no longer holds the same name: When Stella returns, Mallard the town, no longer existed officially. It now only remained in the minds of people as a story. As such, the story of Mallard along with its history had also now vanished into thin air.
Character Analysis:
Desiree: She was the more predictable twin of the two. She found herself at a young age and was more of an open book. Her strength to not change herself to being white and staying true to herself was admirable. She wanted to do what she felt was right despite what the society thought. She married a black man knowing that it would make her social and financial life much more difficult, but she never allowed societal restrictions to hinder her choices. As such, she was not afraid to return back to Mallard. She had the strength to face difficulties and is more of a fighter compared to Stella.
Stella: To be honest, I did not like Stella at the beginning of the book, and thought of her as a selfish, unloving twin. However, upon closer inspection, Stella merely did what would have given her the best life possible. The choice of being white was not her’s, but rather forced upon her by the society that values white lives over black lives. As opposed to a fighter, she took more of an escape route, living her life hidden and behind closed doors, yet still accomplishing what she aimed to do. Her dislike towards other black people was not out of spite, but rather to protect herself. No one protected Stella and now she went every length to do so for herself, even if it meant disliking a part of her own self.
Jude: She was most likely one of my favorite characters and her relationship with Reese was precious. Growing up darkest in a town that is colorist, was not easy for her- yet she persevered and even became extremely successful later on. Jude almost feels like an extension of Stella- extremely hardworking and ambitious. She is what Stella could have been, had Stella had similar life opportunities.
Kennedy: Her character felt extremely chaotic. She was unsure of her life, and simply wanted a purpose and story. She also feels like an extension of Desiree- both wanting a life filled with bold adventures and interesting stories.
Finishing thoughts: I saw this book as such a great commentary on society today. It is so easy to blame each character for not doing this or “being selfish” by overlooking the root causes of such behaviors. Not everyone has the luxury of being good and having a good life. Stella received a good life and Desiree became a good daughter. Stella and Desiree were both an outcast of society, and they found two completely different ways to combat that.
