It’s a very short interview where Bennett shares how the book allowed her to see the “absurdity of race.” On December 2, 2020, Trevor Noah interviewed Brit Bennett on the Daily Show, starting at 21:00. Vox has an interview with Alisha Gaines, an English professor at Florida State University to talk through passing with a literary and historical lens.
Passing initially was shorthand specifically for racial passing. “A lot of these passing stories are often very moralizing… I didn’t want to punish Stella for passing… I was mostly thinking about what does her life look like after she has made this really big dramatic choice… and also the lives of those of her family.” And she speaks directly to what she shares in her writing about passing saying that the biggest way this book differs from other passing stories is that, She talks about what it would be like to live in a place, especially one like Mallard, and then leave that place and carry it with you. Watching the engaging interview conducted in a Covid-world, you get to hear Bennett reflect on writing, passing, place, experiencing history and her views on belly buttons. Internet Resourcesīrit Bennett has a fun and thought-provoking conversation with Elizabeth Day at Waterstones.
I recommend reading the book before the guide. Note that this guide, like all of the guides, may contain spoilers. The Vanishing Half is a novel I highly recommend as fiction and as historical fiction, to individuals and for a group discussion. I couldn’t imagine how Bennett could draw an ending that felt complete, and yet, when I got to the last page, I was entirely satisfied with the where the novel closed and where the characters were headed. As a reader I felt transported in time and place- especially to LA in the 1980s. Not only does Bennett share these lives, she is outstandingly skillful at merging the individual stories with the historical context. In particular it opens a conversation on the complexity of identity and how we all change in ways large and small as we absorb our lives and our lives absorb us. The novel progressively reveals more and more intimacies, including the many layers of each character alongside their relationships.
The Vanishing Half offers us this opportunity extravagantly, opening the door wide to share varied lives, very personally. Fiction provides the opportunity for us to empathize with individuals that we otherwise might never meet or even understand.
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