The Vanishing Half is the second novel by Brit Bennett. It centers around the identical twins Desiree and Stella, who despite their black heritage have a very light skin.One day, they witness the lynching of their father by a mob of white men. At the age of 16, they run away from their hometown and flee to New Orleans, where their paths split;However, Stella leaves Desiree with nowhere to be found. They both end up married, Desiree with an abusive, African-American man and Stella with her white boss Blake.
The novel received critical acclaim and was named one of the best ten books of the year by the New York Times. Moreover, it won the Goodreads Choice Award for the best historical fiction. A miniseries is in planning, after HBO acquired the rights to it.
The work contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abandon Shipping: A rare in-universe example. Kennedy's series role was in love with the main male character, but after her series death, all her fans forgot about her and the man's later wedding became the most viewed episode of the fictional series.
- Aborted Arc: The novel kickstarts with Easy chasing Desiree's long missing sister Stella. However, nothing comes out of this and he neither finds her nor officially gives up.
- Always Identical Twins: Stella and Desiree are identical twins and are physically indistinguishable. Later subverted, when they meet again after decades and Desiree notices that her own hair went gray, while Stella still has (dyed) black hair.
- But Not Too Black: The citizens of Mallard are all obsessed with this trope, discussing who has the lightest skin tone and exclusively marrying people who have a lighter skin tone than themselves. They are also incredibly racist towards people with actual black skin—everyone is shocked that Desiree clearly married a dark-skinned man, and Jude's classmates bully her for being dark.
- Central Theme: How much is identity something you get to decide, and how much is something other people and society decide for you?
- Disproportionate Retribution: It is never stated explicitly what Desiree and Stella's father did, only that it was rather insignificant—and it was enough for a white mob to bludgeon him to death, in front of his hiding kids.
- Domestic Abuse: Desiree's husband Sam beat her for years, until she found the courage to flee from him together with her daughter.
- Don't Split Us Up: After their father's death, Desiree and Stella's mother discussed to give one of them to some relatives. The kids protested and were eventually kept together.
- Dramatic Drop: When Jude finally sees her aunt Stella for the first time, she is so shocked that she drops the wine bottle she was holding. Chaos and a ruined carpet ensue.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: When Stella is shown a picture of herself as teenager with her sister, she is not only embarrassed, but outright refuses to admit it's actually her on the picture.
- Friendless Background: Jude. Once she moved to Mallard with her mother, as a dark-skinned girl in a town obsessed with being as light as possible, she faces countless bullying and doesn't have a single friend. The boy she has a crush on uses her for sex but otherwise ignores her.
- I Want Grandkids: Desiree is embarrassing her daughter Jude and her boyfriend Reese with that. Granted, as the latter is a closeted trans man, she can wait for a long time.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Stella, while easily passing as white, is incredibly scared that people might find out about her ancestry, as it's a time where interracial marriages are still frowned upon.
- Master of None: Kennedy. Her mother tried to enroll her in all kinds of activities, hoping she would pick up a talent, but to no avail.
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: An in-universe example. Kennedy is a semi-successful actor whose most popular role is that of a shy and friendly wallflower, whereas her true character is anything but.
- One-Drop Rule: The fictional town of Mallard is full of people of African American descent, but most of them have a skin color that is white enough so that they can pass as white people. However, the 1960's society still treats all of them as second-class citizens.
- The One Who Made It Out: Stella and Desiree escaped the small town hell that Mallard was for them, and fled to New Orleans. However, Desiree returns later.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Played for drama. While Desiree and Stella meet again, They are nothing alike at all and Stella actively tries to avoid further contact.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Near the end of the novel, Stella and Desiree's mother succumbs to Alzheimer's and forgets that the twins ever left.
- Single-Minded Twins: Stella mentions that when her and Desiree grew up, it was "like one mind in two bodies", with one sibling finishing the sentences of the other and Desiree answering questions directed as Stella.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Stella, who worked as a secretary and married her boss Blake. She lampshades it and is aware just how cliché that is.
- Trans Relationship Troubles: Jude's boyfriend Reese is a pre-operation transgender male (naturally, given the time they lived in) and can't bear the look of his breasts. This heavily impacts their relationship as he is extremely hesitant to be touched by or just undress in front of Jude.
- Unknown Relative: Stella tried to deny her living relatives from her husband and her daughter Kennedy, claiming that they are all dead. Only after asking multiple times, she tells Kennedy that she had a sister at all.
- Who Are You?: When Jude finds and finally confronts Stella that she is her niece, the latter answers with an utterly staggered "Who are you exactly?"
- You Are What You Hate: In her later years Stella becomes openly racist towards black people, moreso than her actually white neighbors and family members. She even drops the N-word once and supports the homeowners association trying to drive out the black family that moved in.
- You Know I'm Black, Right?: Shortly after learning of her heritage, Kennedy said something distasteful to her black boyfriend Frantz and afterwards tells him that she's partly black herself. He passes it off as a joke and she never admits it's actually true.
