8 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 2010 | 4/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Split is the debut novel of Swati Avasthi, an Indian American writer and teacher. This young adult fiction book was written in 2008 funded by a grant from the University of Minnesota where Avashi had studied. The manuscript underwent eight revisions and was finally published, after an auction, by Knopf in 2010. The book has received a plethora of awards such as the 2011 International Reading Association Award, the 2011 Cybils award, a 2010 Silver Parent's Choice Award, and the New Mexico State Book Award. It has received mostly positive reviews. The book has also received eleven nominations for state awards and it has been published in four languages.
Contents
The story was inspired by Avasthi’s experiences while working at a domestic abuse law clinic. Avasthi was inspired by an encounter with a mother and her two young children, a boy and a girl, who went through a traumatic and abusive experience. The book is written in the present tense and narrates the experience of a teenage boy, whose father physically abused the boy's mother. As he grew up the boy would later abuse another young woman.
Plot
The main character in the novel is Jace Witherspoon, who lives with his parents in River Forest, Illinois. He fights with his father, who causes physical harm to his mother and abuses him. When Jace protests against his father’s brutal treatment of his mother, his father beats him up severely and throws him out of the house. Badly injured, Jace then moves in with his brother, Christian, who had also left home five years earlier, and had stayed at many places like Hyde Park, before settling in Albuquerque. The brothers then work out a strategy to see that their mother is rescued from their father’s abuse. Between the brothers, there is lack of trust and quarrels, which results in Jace telling his brother about his own misdeed of having “half-strangled” his ex-girlfriend.
Reviews
The book received critical acclaim and many awards. In addition to e-mails from readers, Avasthi also received messages from abuse victims who say the book has inspired them.