Book Club August 4

 About a dozen Book Club members met to discuss Britt Bennett’s novel The Vanishing Half, exchanging thoughts on a number of topics literary, historical, and social.  One reader noted at the start that the novel might well have been titled “Passing,” because its central characters were attempting to “pass” as members of another race or sex; in that reading, Stella and Rees are particularly important, “passing” by huge efforts in social behavior or even surgery, and their characters are developed in depth; but in another sense the entire town of Mallard, with its preference for light skin, attempts to pass as racially other.  Other readers commented that these transformations are also “vanishings” because old identities are left behind or disappear; and when Desiree flees from her abusive husband, she too vanishes, absorbed back into the town she left as a teenager.

These reflections led to a number of comments on the pervasive racism of American society and the traditional themes of American identity.  The inter-generational trauma of racism finds violent expression in the brutal murder of the twins’ father, for example, and helps to explain Stella’s fears of discovery and Kennedy’s unfocused resentments.  All the characters seem to be engaged in the traditional American quest to discover or shape a new identity, free from the constraints of the past, but all these quests are shaped by the stresses of racism and oppression. Still, a few characters, such as Jude or Earl, accomplish their goals and represent the strength and integrity possible within (and beyond) Black communities.

Some readers noted weaknesses in the novel’s structure or style; in an effort to cover a number of current issues and locations, Bennett sometimes leaves characters and situations undeveloped: Stella’s husband seems a stereotype, for instance, and Stella’s black neighbors might deserve more treatment.  On the whole, however, the novel raised important questions about current American culture and exposed the high costs of racism in America, whether to individuals or to the culture as a whole.

Our next book will be The Ghost Map by Stephen Johnson. We will meet on Wednesday, October 6, at 11 am Central Time, via zoom. The link will open at 10:30 to provide for some connecting time prior to the book discussion. If you have any questions, please contact Kathryn DeGraff or Helen Marlborough.

We enjoy catching up with our fellow retirees and we welcome new members to the group. These zoom meetings have provided a great way for us to connect virtually with local and distant DES members.