Vanishing Half and Polenta with Shrimp

 I know this book was the hot topic over a year ago on all of the book forums but I just got around to it this year.  My book group read Vanishing Half for our April read and it was perfect for a good discussion.   For the one person who doesn’t know, this book is centered on twins in a small town in Louisiana called Mallard.  The population is fair skinned but still considered black.  The story starts with one sister returning home with her daughter who is very black and then jumps backward to tell us what happened previously.  We find out the twins ran away at age 16.  One twin got married and had a daughter and is returning to escape her husband.  The other twin is gone.  She is passing as white and started a new life never to return to this old life.  The book runs from 1968 to the late 80s.   The book takes us to California, to NYC, and back to Louisiana.  I listened to this book on audio which was fabulous but I also own a hard copy so some of it I went back and read again.  

Our book group loved it and our discussion was rich.  Overall I really enjoyed the story, the characters, and the settings.  I do think there were some unanswered questions or maybe it is just parts of the plot I wish had been explored.  For example, i wanted to know more about Reese?  I get that Reese was also passing as someone else but I would have liked more.  I also wanted more of Early and Desiree.   

Overall a great discussion for a group and a good read. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

I kind of wanted to make Shrimp and Grits to go with it because that always makes me think of Louisiana.  But, I'm not a big grits fan so instead I did Shrimp and Polenta.  I love soft Polenta!  I make it all the time in the winter.  It is the perfect comfort food.  Sometimes with roasted vegetables and sometimes with tomato sauce.  For this recipe, I had some fresh shrimp I grilled up, chopped up some tomatoes, added a few diced tomatoes, garlic, onions and put it all in a pan together for a few minutes.  Poured it over the soft polenta and covered it with shredded parmesan.    

For soft polenta, it is a 4-1 mix of polenta to broth.  I used Vegetable broth for this one and brought it to a boil.  Poured in the polenta and let it cook for about 15 minutes stirring it pretty frequently .    at the end I add some heavy cream.  A little more than a splash but it is up to you and how creamy you want it. 

Delicious! .