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Bridging Racial Divides: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

3 Mar

I’ve been waiting to read a book like The Vanishing Half for a long time.

As someone who reads a lot of fiction, I’m very fussy about what I read. I’m always looking for a new and interesting way to tell a story, and this book certainly does that. On the surface, the book tells the simple story about a set of twin girls who live in a very small town named Mallard. The town is so small that it doesn’t even officially appear on a map, but we do know that they are in the Deep South. The girls are described as being of African American descent. And both the town they live in and the girl’s mother sees them as such. But when the girls run away from home at sixteen, Desiree continues to be seen as African American while Stella is able to pass herself off as a white woman. The two roads that these women take because of their seemingly differing racial identities lead them on two journeys that are both heartbreaking and wonderful.

I love the way that Brit Bennett frames the way that the girls are treated differently because of how they’re seen, how Stella deals with “passing” as a white woman, and how ultimately, the twins have to come back together in order to move forward. Bennett does a great job of describing what it’s like to have an identical twin sister, and how the Vignes sisters are two halves of a whole.

I think that this is a book that we need right now in 2021. The racial divides that have been haunting our country are stated so clearly in this book. I feel that this book tackles race in a new way that can make people realize just how important it is to talk about race openly and with compassion. As an Asian American woman, I have seen how people in this country have found a way to be even more openly racist towards people like me because of Covid 19 being called the “China disease.” We need literature like this to bring people together and in order to have honest conversations about race.

This book is available at the Hoboken Library through BCCLS in regular print, large print, as a book on CD, and on Playaway. It is also available as digital audiobooks and ebooks from eLibraryNJ and eBCCLS.

Written by:
Nicole Marconi
Library Assistant, Children’s Department

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A Heartfelt Portrayal of the Migrant Experience: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

20 Jan


The harrowing and perilous migrant experience is vividly portrayed in Jeanine Cummins’ bestselling novel American Dirt, an Oprah’s Book Club pick. Understandably, it’s being hailed as a new American classic and critics are comparing it to Steinbeck’s powerful Grapes of Wrath. It has a gritty and earthy feel, as the threatening elements of nature play a pivotal role, and the reader is immediately caught up in the poignancy, drama, and humanity of the compelling story and characters.

The protagonist, Lydia Perez, is living a happy middle-class life with her husband, a journalist, and their rambunctious 8-year-old son Luca in Acapulco, Mexico. After her husband publishes a scathing profile of Javier, the jefe of Acapulco’s newest drug cartel, her extended family (including her husband) are viciously murdered during a birthday celebration. Lydia and her precious son, Luca, are the sole survivors and although they are horrified and disoriented, they scramble to take refuge in order to survive. Lydia soon realizes that they must flee Mexico for the safety of the United States otherwise their lives will be forever fraught with danger. So begins their tortuous journey filled with constant threats, colorful, shady characters, and nerve-wracking episodes.

With their savings and scant possessions, their lives are instantly transformed into desperate migrants and they are forced to ride on the exposed rooftops of la bestia-trains that make their way north to the United States, the only place Javier’s dangerous grip doesn’t extend. As they join the countless forlorn Mexican and Central American migrants trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon learns that everyone is running from something. However, what are they running to and what extremes are they willing to risk in order to achieve their dreams and safe refuge?

Each page-turning chapter reveals more and more challenges and pitfalls as Lydia and Luca endure corrupt border patrol officers, ruthless migrants, dangerous drug cartel members, as well as rattlesnakes, coyotes, and nature’s blistering desert sun and unforgiving temperatures. How they persevere and overcome each threat and obstacle gives American Dirt its heart and compels the reader to root for these relentless and shrewd survivors. What will they discover in America and will they ever be able to put the past behind them? To uncover these answers, read Jeanine Cummins’ gripping exploration into the frantic lives of migrants who are willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope in American Dirt. A timely novel that is heartfelt and seems refreshingly real.

Available as an ebook and digital audiobook from eBCCLS. Also available in both Spanish and English as an ebook and as an English digital audiobook from elibraryNJ

Written by:
Ethan Galvin
Information and Digital Services Librarian

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