Brit Bennett | Book Chatter

The Mothers
By Brit Bennett
Riverhead, 9780399184529, 2017, 304pp.

The Short of It:

Rich and full bodied. Like a fine wine but better.

The Rest of It:

It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance–and the subsequent cover-up–will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. ~ From the publisher

I have had this book on my TBR list since reading The Vanishing Half. But it wasn’t until I listened to a podcast by From the Front Porch, that I really took note of The Mothers. This book has everything. Nadia is beautiful and flawed and caught in a world of hurt over her own mother’s suicide. Although she comes from a very religious family, and attends church on a regular basis, she doesn’t make the best choices when it comes to love and friendship.

Nadia navigates life in a precarious way. She is her father’s daughter, loyal to a point but when he chooses to remove the memory of her mother from her childhood home, she strikes out in ways that can only come from pain. Her deep need for belonging leads her to Luke but her relationship with Luke is complicated by life. Life, in the form of an unwanted pregnancy.

What does it mean to love and be loved? How does that look for you or me? Nadia’s definition of love swings from one extreme to another and yet she is wise beyond her young years, intelligent and driven. I won’t lie, there were times when I wanted to slap some sense into that girl but at the same time I wanted to just hold her.

The BEST part of this novel is the group of church ladies who function as a Greek chorus of sorts. Always chiming in, providing additional information and once or twice providing nothing but fodder to chew on. I did not grow up with a lot of women around me, I would have loved to have this group of women looking out for me. Nadia sees the value to knowing them, but also knows when to pull away.

This was an incredibly satisfying read. Anyone would be hard-pressed to not relate to Nadia in some way. Highly recommend.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Vanishing Half
By Brit Bennett
Riverhead Books, 9780525536291, June 2020, 352pp.

The Short of It:

The Vanishing Half is a book that must be discussed.

The Rest of It:

Stella and Desiree are twins, living in the small (fictional) town of Mallard, Louisiana. This town is known for its black, light-skinned inhabitants. As young children, they witness the murder of their father by a group of angry white men, and from that point on, the girls, each affected in different ways, step out of their familiar surroundings to begin lives outside of Mallard.

At first, they do this together. Taking odd jobs, sleeping on floors and eventually making a place of their own to call home. But Stella wants more and eventually leaves Desiree behind to pursue what she feels is a better life. A life that should not be held from her, just because she’s black. Desiree is hurt by the abandonment but at the time, doesn’t fully understand Stella’s choices. All she wants throughout the years is to find her sister once again.

This story is told in several parts and jumps into the present day as we meet Jude and Kennedy, the children of Desiree and Stella. We also meet their significant others and as readers, we are brought into Stella’s world as she makes the decision to pass for white. One day, Stella is mistaken for white and just goes along with it. The concept of “passing” is one that affects more than just Stella as the story unfolds.

The Vanishing Half is a story about identity. Racial identity as well as gender identity (one of the characters, one of my favorite characters is transgendered). These characters are trying to find their way and their true selves and not without a lot of struggle. Some of Stella’s choices will anger you but Bennett wrote her in such a way, that you can’t hold her choices against her. She feels regret for her decisions but as readers we also see why she made these decisions to begin with.

I really liked how the story was structured and how balanced it was. I appreciated the decision to move the characters to California, particularly Los Angeles because as I can tell you, Los Angeles is accepting of a lot and it’s a place where people find themselves all the time. People can be whatever they want here, so having some of the story set in Los Angeles made sense. I really enjoyed the writing and I was lucky enough to be told about the Los Angeles Times Book Club interview with Bennett right after finishing the book so I got to hear her take on the book and it was just a great talk.

I highly recommend The Vanishing Half. Now, I really want to read her first book, The Mothers.

This book completes my summer reading list!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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