Review: SPLIT by Swati Avasthi

SPLIT is a quick read. A light read. I'd like to say it was fun read but that seems somehow inappropriate given the book's central theme of domestic abuse.

The story is about a family where the father domineers by virtue of his fists and anger. The elder son escapes only to find his estranged younger brother at his door, five years later.

The Book Description describes the situation thus:

Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face..., $3.84, and a secret. He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind—his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend, who is keeping his secret.


Excerpt:::
He slams the door, then glances over his shoulder at the light in Professor Coe's study next door. Paranoid-at-all-hours Prof Coe moves to the window and opens it. Everything slows down and changes: my dad is sauntering, not storming; his grimace downgrades into a casual smile. He bumps my mother out of the way with his hip and leans into the car.

"Come back, and I'll kill her." His tone is controlled— taut and calm. Except for his grip on the door, he could have been saying Drive safely.

The blood runs out of my face. My breathing shallows, and I glance at my mother. Her eyes are shocked wide. This is my dad at his most dangerous. I've only seen him like this one other time, the time she tried to leave him before.

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SPLIT is not the sort of book I usually read. You see, I don't generally pick up books set in the present, and I'm not especially interested in books that deal with the serious problems of teens in the present— and so the fact that I could not put it down makes me conclude that Swati Avasthi's writing is really good, if not downright addictive.

And Avasthi does a superb job of portraying how this abuse effects the relationships of these young men and their ability to move on with their lives. And yet, I found myself drawn more to the secondary characters than to Jace and his older brother, Christian. There was the mother, for whom I felt both sympathy and anger. She became the focus of not only Christian and Jace, but me as well, as the question cropped up as to whether she could escape the demon that was their father, And there were the girlfriends (and potential girlfriends) that really brought home to me the consequences of being brought up in an abusive household.

This is a very good read. You should know though that there is violence and adult situations that may not be appropriate for sensitive readers.

Pam~

SPLIT

by Swati Avasthi

4.09 Stars from 3,259 GoodReaders

Reading Information:
Word Count: 68,444
Page Count:  288
Accelerated Reader:  4.1 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 136277
Lexile: HL610L