Brit Bennett’s second novel The Vanishing Half tells the story of Desiree and Stella Vignes, twins who grow up in Mallard, a fictional Black community in Louisiana. The twins run away at 16 years old—Desiree marrying and having a child with a man with comparatively darker skin and Stella passing for white. At first glance, the novel is reminiscent of canonical texts such as Nella Larsen’s Passing and Fannie Hurst’s Imitation of Life. Yet, Bennett omits the retributive conclusion found in both of these novels and instead, grapples with these difficult issues through a graceful and near-neutral lens. Her use of third person point of view to tells this multi-generational family saga, in some ways, reminds me of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko.