My book club and I may be a teensy bit too long in the tooth to be campfire girls. But nevertheless, on Saturday, we gathered round the campfire at our friend Pam’s cottage to discuss books, namely the first two books on our current Black Lives Matter reading list. We had a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day for it. A bit chilly. Okay.. very chilly. But we’re all hardy Canadian girls. So we managed.
I think I told you a while ago that one of my book clubs decided to dedicate this season of reading to Black Lives Matter. We met a month ago to discuss how we would do that, and to decide on our book choices. I’ll give you the full list at the end of the post. On Saturday, at our fireside gathering, we talked about two books. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad.
Let me explain a little about how our book club works. We have one meeting a year where we roll out all our choices and decide which books we will read. Each member brings two or three book suggestions. The group chooses which of each member’s options will be read, and then that member hosts the meeting the month their book is discussed. Everybody hosts, and everybody knows that at least one book that season will be their suggestion. The host member also decides the venue for their meeting; sometimes at a restaurant, sometimes at their house, quite often we order take-out with everyone chipping in on the cost. The host also leads the discussion. I prefer an organic conversation to the posing of questions model. But that’s just me, probably the result of thirty years of teaching English. I can’t be bothered to dream up anymore darned questions.
At our organizational meeting in August, one of the books we chose was the non-fiction Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. And since the book is described as a sort of 4-week course we thought we’d break it up and use portions of the book as a “companion” to the fiction we would be reading. As Sue, our organizer-in-chief said, the lessons learned in the non-fiction can be used as jumping off points when discussing the other books.” So on Saturday we talked about the first portion of Saad’s book. All about recognizing and examining our own white privilege and the various guises it takes.
I will say, though, that much of our discussion centered around Brit Bennett’s wonderful novel The Vanishing Half. We all loved this book. Many giving it a 10/10 rating which is unusual for us. We can be tough sometimes. I’m thinking of the award-winning book The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton which we trashed. Okay, maybe we didn’t trash it exactly, but it would have won no prizes if we’d been judges. Ha. You can read my post about that book here, if you’re interested.
The Vanishing Half is, as Parul Sehgal says in his New York Times review, part of a long tradition of American books about “passing.” About people of colour passing in white society as white. As Sehgal also says, “The story of racial passing is a uniquely and intensely American” story. With a history stretching back to Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, and to Nella Larsen’s 1929 “masterpiece” Passing. I have long been familiar with Langston Hughes and taught both his short stories and his poetry to my students. But I’d never heard of Nella Larsen. I’ve now added her work to my to-read list.
Brit Bennett’s book deals with twin sisters who grow up in a blacks-only town of Mallard in Louisiana in the forties and fifties. A town comprised of light-skinned blacks, originally settled by the half-black descendent of a former slave-owner. The girls are beautiful, smart, and very light-skinned. But, as Sahgal says, their complexions cannot protect them as long as they identify as black. A fact both girls know very well having witnessed the lynching of their pale-skinned father at the hands of white men.
At sixteen the girls run away. It is 1954. One twin, Stella, decides to “pass over”, marries a white man, becomes the mother of a blonde daughter, and lives a life of privilege in the suburbs of Los Angeles. There wealth insulates them from the race turmoil of the sixties. That is until an upwardly mobile black family moves in. Then the gloves come off. Desiree, the other twin, ends up in Washington, working for the FBI as a finger print expert. Against the backdrop of Martin Luther King’s movement, and his assassination, she marries a black lawyer, becomes the mother of a black child, and eventually runs back to Mallard to escape her abusive husband.
Bennett’s story moves back and forth in time, using multiple narrators. Beautiful, smart, and cautious Stella who, surprisingly, is the twin who passes over. And rebellious, gutsy Desiree, the twin who escapes her abusive marriage and brings her dark-skinned child back to a town which accepts her, but never her daughter. The daughters of the twins, who are so very different, and who have lived such very different lives, are also narrators. Both are searching for belonging and, in a way, for their own identity.
As Sehgal says in his review, Bennet is masterful in her exploration of the “complicated desire” to pass, and its “alienating costs.” For what are the choices? Living a lie, abandoning your life and identity for white privilege, accepting a kind of “orphanhood,” in constant fear that your lie will be discovered. Or continuing to live with the racism that the characters in this book experience, as indeed people of colour experience every day.
I don’t want to go on. There are so very many things I could say about this book, but I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it… yet. I know that my superficial summary sounds a bit glib. But this book is anything but glib. Just know that the conflict in the novel, both internal and external, is more subtle and thus more devastating than I have described. The casual, daily racism more disturbing for being casual and daily. The horrific killing of the twins’ father, which the reader only catches glimpses of, plays a central role in both their lives. And the characters, both sympathetic and unsympathetic, are much more complex.
Reading at least part of Saad’s book Me and White Supremacy didn’t really affect how I experienced Bennett’s novel as I was reading it. I was too caught up in the story as I read. But it certainly has affected how I am reflecting on the novel now.
I think the gift of reading both books together is our growing awareness of the daily battle of being black in today’s society. And the growing awareness that, while that daily battle continues, we have lived our lives mostly unaware of the privilege that our white skin affords us. What was it that Penelope Lively said about reading? That books “take you out of yourself and put you down somewhere else from whence you never entirely return.” Books stay in your head. And that is a good thing.
This morning as I sat at my desk, drinking my tea and puzzling over how to begin to write about Brit Bennett’s book, I heard a wonderful interview on CBC radio’s The Current. The host Matt Galloway was interviewing Ghanaian-American writer Yaa Gyasi about her latest book Transcendent Kingdom. Galloway asked Gyasi how it felt to be a black writer in today’s political climate. She responded that she thinks that “literature can change people’s lives.” And that while non-fiction can teach us much, can tell readers how to be anti-racist, fiction by black writers about black protagonists can drop readers right into the midst of a racist environment. And help them to better understand “the lived experience” of being on the receiving end of systemic racism.
I think that if we as a book club know more about systemic racism, and understand a little more about that “lived experience” by the time we’ve finished our reading list our time will have been well spent.
What a lovely day we had on the lake at Pam’s cottage on Saturday. Wrapped up well against the chill. Swathed in smoke at times when the fire smoldered. Surrounded by trees and birdsong. And by good friends. Intelligent, questioning, supportive, open-minded women whom I am very proud to know.
Now it’s your turn my bookish friends. Have you read either of the books my book club discussed round the campfire? Want to wade into the discussion?
Links to recommended books: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. Passing by Nella Larsen.
And the rest of the books we’ll be reading this season: How to Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi. The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan. Not all the books on our list center around the BLM movement. We’re also reading Crow Winter by Canadian Algonquin Anishinaabe writer Karen McBride. And as a change of pace, The Children Act by Ian McEwan and The Power by Naomi Alderman.
P.S. A word about affiliate links. The links within the text of this post are to Bookshop.org, which funnels a percentage of its profits to independent bookstores across the States. But since they do not ship outside of the U.S. I have included the Amazon links to all my recommended titles above. As usual, if you make a purchase after clicking any of my links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
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27 thoughts on “Book Club Round the Campfire”
I am just finishing up Vanishing Half. It is extremely compelling. I would be very surprised if it didn’t wind up as a movie! I am really glad to hear that your book club has dedicated your reading list this year to BLM. Grass roots efforts like this just might effect the change that all the top-down/academic/political work can’t manage. I would suggest that you read Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi’s first book. Actually, I recommend that you listen to as an audiobook to get the full impact of the multiple narrators. One of the best books I’ve “read” in a long time.
I found I couldn’t put it down when I read it. I’ve been looking at both of Yaa Gyasi’s books. Listening to them is a great option. Hope you are okay down there, Lisa, with all the fires.
Very pleased to read your summary of The Vanishing Half and that you enjoyed it so much if that is the right word to use for this novel. I recently watched a BBC programme about African writers which I found very interesting and for me thought provoking. On another note I shall have to go back and read your post on The Luminaries. When the book came out I read various reviews and didn’t think it was for me but have recently watched the BBC serial and found it excellent to the point that I will give the book a go. So many books to read and so little time!!!
My group found that The Luminaries needed a REALLY good editor. I couldn’t finish it, and I tried twice.
If you haven’t read it , I can recommend Small Island by Andrea Levy . It’s a few years since I read it but it’s excellent .
I must look that book up, Wendy. I think a friend recommended it as well a while go.
Oh my goodness, I really want to sit around a bonfire now! Nothing like cuddling up in a warm blanket – I guess a fake fireplace on my TV will have to do for now 🙂
Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin
Bonfires are the best. Especially in the fall.
I enjoy reading your reviews and have read several books based on your recommendations. I immediately went to our library site to see if The Vanishing Half was available. The library has 16 copies, all are out, and there is a waiting list of 70 people, so it is obviously a popular book. I am looking forward to reading it.
Thanks, Kate. Hope you enjoy the book. We all loved it.
Your book club around the bonefire seems wonderful
I’ve read The Vanishing Half-an amazing book,I love it-and a couple of books you have on your list as well. Agree with Lisa,Yaa Gyasi’s Homecoming is an excellent book
I’m reading my fourth Elif Shafak’s book, Three Daughters of Eve
Dottoressa
Actually, your recommendation was one of the reasons we chose to read The Vanishing Half. 🙂
Wow, thank you very much. I’m flattered and so glad that you like it
Excellent post! So true about fiction/literature
Thanks, Laura.
Your book club sounds wonderful and the discussion of The Vanishing Half makes me want to read it. As an educated, white woman I have a lot of privilege to face. Of the books on your list, I’ve only read McEwan’s The Children Act, which is a fascinating but sad story. The movie of the book with Emma Thompson was excellent.
I’m currently reading and loving ex-UK Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman’s Clothes and Other Things that Matter, which is a memoir organised in chapters based on significant items of apparel. Did you or Frances recommend it? If so, I’m very grateful.
Ah… The Children Act was a wonderful book, wasn’t it? I didn’t recommend the Shulman book, but I must look for it. To help get me through the winter when we can no longer meet on patios on around bonfires. 🙁
Thank you for your thoughtful post Sue. I love how your Book Club is doing this and incorporating the fiction with the non-fiction. I am going to share that idea. Also, love your outdoor camping venue!
I joined one book gathering to study the book “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo. It is an excellent book to get discussions started and we learned so much about white privilege. I am now reading “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson (it is an Oprah recommendation) – what an eye opening book about caste within the United States. I am glad I am reading it, it makes things so clear and is very sobering.
Next on my list is now “The Vanishing Half” thanks to your Book Club!
I heard Isabel Wilkerson interviewed on CBC radio the other day about her book Caste. Really, really interesting.
I always love your book posts, Sue, and this is especially dear to my heart, as it involves 1) a group of women 2) bonfires 3) racial justice themes. I hadn’t heard of either of these books, but will add them to my ever-growing list. I am doing 2 programs designed to make me aware of my white privilege and racial disparity – one 6 months long with a group from my church, and one 30 days long with my best friend. I’ve never said “wow, I never knew that!” in my whole life as much as I have the last 3 months. You did a great job reviewing the books without giving anything away….
Thanks, Mary Katherine. Never too late to learn and change our minds, eh?
I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy more that snuggling into something warm, gathering around a campfire with a group of friends, and talking about books! You and I are definitely kindred spirits and your book club sounds wonderful. I haven’t read either of the books you talked about, but I’m adding them to my reading list!
I know, eh? Although as the most experienced camper there I had to take the fire in hand to keep it from smoking. Ha. Hubby laughed at that because he always builds the fire when we’re together.
My book suggestion would be “The Book of Negroes” by Canadian author Lawrence Hill. Published in 2007, it is a fictional
account of Black Loyalists from the USA, given freedom and resettled by the British in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately life remained extremely difficult for most.
By chance or fate my friend moved to Shelburne, Nova Scotia and on my first visit I learned that this was the location many blacks were moved to and where some descendants remain.
Book of Negroes was on our BLM reading suggestions. But the book club read it a couple of years ago, so we didn’t include it for this year. But it’s a wonderful book, isn’t it?
thank you for the recommendation on susie steiner. i really enjoyed homecoming and am about to read her next. her writing reminded me a little of stan barstow, whose writing i have always loved.
have just ordered the vanishing half.
Hope you enjoy The Vanishing Half as much as we did, Noreen.
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