Why am I passionate about this?
One of the things I love most about fiction is the way it allows you to ābeā different peopleāto experience, think, feel, and behave from inside a particular temperament, worldview, or experience. My very favorite is adding the complexity of multiple perspectives to that magic trick so that you get to live inside two or more people who may be at complete odds with each other. Reading good fiction is an exercise in empathy, and reading good fiction from multiple viewpoints is empathy supercharged. Iāve loved that immersion since I was a little kid who believed there was nothing better than a novel.
Heidi's book list on immersing yourself in multiple perspectives
Why did Heidi love this book?
This novel is an immersive read with heaps of empathy for all its characters but especially for the two sisters whose perspectives are at the center of the story: the twin who disappears to live a secret life, passing as white, and the twin left behind.
We donāt get the perspective of Stella, the vanished twin, until 14 years after her disappearance, 150 pages into the book. By then, I was fully absorbed in the grief and unanswered questions of the people sheād abandoned, eager to finally know where sheād been all this time and to understand her complex motivations and the emotional and mental toll of relinquishingāand hidingāher racial identity, her community, her sister, and her past. I picked this book up and didnāt put it down until it was done.
11 authors picked The Vanishing Half as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE
'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize 2019
'Epic' Kiley Reid, O, The Oprah Magazine
'Favourite book [of the] year' Issa Rae
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten yearsā¦