Split

"Fightology Lesson #8: Relax when the hits are coming because it hurts less."This book is nothing short of phenomenal! As we are introduced to our narrator, Jace Witherspoon, he is travelling from Chicago to Albuquerque---in search of shelter and sanity. Jace is one of the strongest characters I have come across in quite a long time. I don't say this because he only makes great choices and he's a natural hero. I say this because he is breathtakingly honest when it comes to his flaws. His brokenness and his vulnerabilities make him a hero to readers.Jace comes to Albuquergue to find his older brother, who fled their abusive home years before him. But Christian has made a new reality for himself. He put himself through university, has a new life and a girlfriend, and he's changed his last name to erase the past he fled. He is less than welcoming when Jace shows up at his doorstep with his face smashed in and no place to go.Christian's girlfriend, Merriam, who is also a teacher, was a wonderful calming character in the midst of the chaos. After getting over the initial shock of Jace's presence, Merriam was the mediator between Christian and Jace. Though Jace took quite a while to warm up her, he eventually liked her 'meddling' and concern.I could not believe the raw honesty of this book. I was compelled to read on and on...like one is compelled to rubberneck as they drive by the scene of an accident. Jace's honesty is so brutal; not only when he's talking to others, but also when he is internally ruminating. It's fascinating to see him come to terms with the physical abuse he fled and the heavy secrets he carried away with him. He is determined to become a new person--one who looks and acts nothing like his father--yet feels somehow stuck in the role in which he senses he belongs. This is the reason he can't quite allow himself to get close to Dakota, the girl who helps him get a new job in a bookstore in Albuquerque.With Merriam's gentle persuasions, the brothers begin to form a new kind of reality. Christian, though, is unwilling to talk about the beatings he took from his father. Christian has truly put the past behind him. In his new life, the old life just did not happen. The wall he built for himself begins to crumble, though, with Jace's arrival into his carefully crafted life.Avasthi has woven a remarkable story of physical abuse in a family setting. Not only that, she has perfected the relationship of brothers flung into this terrible reality. The guilt, the silence, the covering up and the taking on abuse for others. Everything is just so real that it splits you down the middle. It was such an emotional rollercoaster of a read. I couldn't read it fast enough. There was so much riding in the balance. The highest stakes, for this reader, was the relationship between the brothers. Such an important relationship, that of siblings. I had to find out if Christian and Jace would make it. I needed to know.I really don't want to give too much away. Buckle up, because this is a ride you have to take. It's a serious and believable ride. One that will let you see exactly what goes on behind the closed doors of a house ruled by the iron fist of an abusive parent/spouse. You have to read Split.

This book is a story about a father who abuses his family and the two sons who are brave enough to leave. Jace is the focus of this book and at sixteen left his abusive home to go see his brother that he had not seen or heard from in years. Jace leaves his mother to take the beatings and wonders if he can start a new life after leaving her at home.This book is geared towards teens and it is a story that needs to be told even tho there are tons of books on the subject not as many geared towards teens as there probably should be. As an adult reading this book I did get bored at times but Jace never overly annoyed me so the book got 4 stars from me.Christian for me was not developed enough tho and this probably would not bother a teenager reading this or they may not even notice it at all but he just does not make sense. Where does all his money come from? He is a student and the book mentions him having to go to work once, maybe twice but not where he works or anything. He is a med student tho that is doing rounds yet he is home an awful lot. That just didn't feel right and it was never explained so I never really was able to get into his character.Overall the book was good for the target audience and I would recommend it to teens but probably not adult readers.

Jace is thrown out of the house by his physically and emotionally abusive father, so he rooms with his older brother. It's an awkward pairing since they haven't seen each other in a while. Still a teenager, Jace is thrown into a lifestyle of near-independence. He has to find a job, earn money, and be without the guidance of parents, which isn't the worst thing. His father is crazy and his mother is trapped to the point that she might not be able to see what life could be like without the abuse. Despite the state of his mother, Jace and his brother believe that maybe she'll pull away and join them. This would all have to be done in secrecy and with finesse so that their father wouldn't be tipped off, or he might hurt her even more.This book was so intense. The father and his threats against them, particularly the mother, is spine-chilling. There's also the emotional drama of seeing Jace figure things out about himself and his family life. I highly recommend this contemporary YA.

Not a book I would say I enjoyed or that was fun to read but it was a good read and a good story with compelling characters that were well written in a situation that isn't/wasn't good but is probably something that could happen, probably does happen in real life, sadly. Abusive home life, kid runs; goes to stay with his brother who got out years before. Neither of them have a real idea of how to relate to each other or how to be a family that isn't abusive. I can't say I enjoyed reading it. It was sometimes a hard read, but it was a good read and the ending was strong and compelling and was not a hollywood ending. I'm not going to say more because I don't want to give anything away.

Surviving well those tenous teenage years can be probelmatic by virtue of the emotional pressures coupled with the physical changes associated with growing up. Now add a powerful, and abusive father, and an emotionally weak mother coping with a long-term abusive relationship, and you have a powerhouse of a story of a young man survivng even though it means leaving (Split) his home, seeking refuge, continuing with school and sports, wondering what will become of his mother, falling in love, standing tall, wondering if he is destined to repeat his upbringing. One asks, "Why do people stay in abusive relationships. . and what toll does this take on children of abuse?" How do young people recognize, survive and even overcome.

Split is an incredible story about a broken boy who tries to figure out how to live after his abusive father kicks him out. He ends up at his older brother's door, a brother who got out when he had the chance and left Jace behind because "[their father] hadn't started on [Jace]".This is not a sappy love story about the abused boy finding a girl. This is Jace's story of how he tries to cope with life, and more importantly how he copes with himself and what he has and hasn't done.I don't think I can put into words how much this book affected me. I don't think I can say much about this book at all, it rendered me completely speechless.There's is good reasons why this book has won multiple awards. Avasthi pictures a devastating and heartbreaking life of abuse victims and how they cope with life when they've gotten out. Jace's inner conflicts and disappointment in himself is absolutely disgusting, because they shouldn't be there. No child should live with the thoughts in his head or the memories he sees when he closes his eyes. He is trying so hard to make everything right and he fights for a normal life, while still trying to save those he cares for. It's gut-wrenching.It feels wrong to say that this book will be a favorite, because you can't love this book. You can love the writing and you can love the characters. But you can't love the story. That's just wrong.I think I'll always remember this book, it's left a deep imprint on my very being and it will on you too. No one who reads Split will be left unaffected.