Review: Split by Swati Avasthi

Mar 24, 2010 by shanyn

Title: Split
Author: Swati Avasthi
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: March 9, 2010

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Book Summary:
Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $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.

At least so far.

Worst of all, Jace realizes that if he really wants to move forward, he may first have to do what scares him most: He may have to go back. First-time novelist Swati Avasthi has created a riveting and remarkably nuanced portrait of what happens after. After you’ve said enough, after you’ve run, after you’ve made the split — how do you begin to live again? Readers won’t be able to put this intense page-turner down.

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Review:
Split was a very powerful, emotional read. The main topic is domestic abuse, and the author (Swati Avasthi) did an excellent job of showing the different aspects.

Our main character Jace often has inner dialogues, considering how he grew up, where he is now, and what may happen in the future – it made his voice very clear and showed true progression (one of my favorite things to read about in books).

Because the plot was based on domestic violence, it was a little hard to read emotionally. After I was about halfway through the book, I refused to stop reading because I was getting worked up about what was going to happen to the people we were learning about (my heart was literally pounding at one point).

Swati does a great job of balancing the emotion and the story – I did not feel like my emotions were being played with for the sake of a novel, which I feel sometimes happens when you use a serious topic like this as the basis for a book. Both the plot and the characters were well built – I would be interested in another Swati Avasthi novel (or even a follow-up to how the characters in this book are doing)!

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