The Librarian's Husband's Book Club discussion

When did you notice cracks between the twins begin to form?

Do you understand why Stella made the choice she did?

What did Stella have to give up, in order to live a different kind of life?

Was it necessary to leave Desiree behind?

Do you think Stella ultimately regrets her choices?

What about Desiree?

Just a few random answers to get the party started:

I think it was absolutely necessary for her to leave Desiree behind and to cut off all emotion regarding her past - therefore she couldn't allow herself to feel regret. Her life became dominated by fear.

Desiree for me is more difficult because she lost a piece of herself and so never really overcame that in some ways. I would like to think she had a stronger relationship with her mother but I am not sure that is true. I'm interested to hear what others think.
I love Desiree - I just cant help but feel a little sad that her life was not all it could have been.

I'm not super far into the book, but Desiree is doing a flashback, and even then, there is a bit of a crack. The flashback shows Desiree explaining life.

The cracks between Stella and Desiree begin to form even before they runaway from Mallard a community composed of light skinned black individuals and move to New Orleans . It was Desiree’s idea to leave the town and Stella followed. They eventually take separate paths when Stella chooses to “pass” as white, while Desiree chooses her Black identity. Their differing life choices create emotional distance and secrecy between them. As stated by the author ,“You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood.”

I think Stella made the decision to pass as white for not only her desire for better opportunities in life , and white privilege but as an outcome of the trauma of seeing her father murdered by white men and possibly fear of being treated badly. Ironically, her fear of having her secret revealed keeps her running from her past and living a life in constant fear. Her choice comes with a heavy price: loss of family, culture, her twin sister, her identity and her constant fear of her secret exposed. In order to pass as white she had to give up her sister, Desiree. Her sister would expose her past and her true identity. I feel that a part of Stella regrets her decision to leave her sister but her desire to be white seems stronger despite the heavy burden of living a lifetime of fear and secrecy.

Desiree makes the opposite choice: to embrace her identity, marry the blackest man she could find and eventually move back to Mallard with her daughter, Jude. Desiree’s perception of her father dying did not affect her in the same way as it affected Stella. “Maybe she would have been able to endure all this if it weren’t for everyone’s obsession with lightness.” “But none of that mattered when the white men came for him, so how could she care about lightness after that? “ I think Desiree regretted being separated from her sister initially . She sacrificed a life of opportunity for a life of hard work and living in a town she dreamed of leaving.

Wow--some really good insights based on a few questions. In both cases, the women made decisions to try to live the best life that they thought they could. Which begs the question---who do you think was more successful? Which sister ultimately lived a better, happier, more fulfilling (or what ever modifier you personally think is most appropriate) life?

Great question - I think Stella wants to believe that she had a better life passing as white, but she's definitely feeling an emptiness at the end of the book. Desiree's happiness is seeing her daughter succeed and being with a man who adores her, even if her coming back to Mallard was rocky.

What do you all think of the other vanishings? Reese? The town of Mallard itself?

I agree that Desiree lived a more fulfilled and successful life. She was able to embrace her identity, she left an abusive relationship and found a healthier loving one. Her daughter achieved success . I think she forgot about her sister or at least let her go in a sense and she did not seem to want to find her even when her daughter told her she met her. She was able to stay connected with her mother until her mother died. I feel she received the closure her sister Stella never achieved.

I tend to agree. One sister ultimately embraced who she was and the other tried to be someone else. The former found peace and contentment, the latter struggled to maintain the persona she created.

I hadn't thought about other vanishings---that's an interesting observation.