Split by Swati Avasthi

Split was, in my opinion a very real, honest and a sometimes horrific account of a teenage boy who grows up in a home with an abusive father. The problem with the situation, beyond the obvious, is that the father is a sitting judge in Chicago where the family lives. And he has convinced his wife and two sons that if anyone ever were to find out the family secret - in his position, he would be above the law (because he is the law). He has everyone so scared that they are paralyzed. The father started the abuse on the mother but when the oldest boy started to step in to protect his mother he was so brutalized that at 17 he ran away and adopted a new identity (after his father found him and put him in the hospital). The second son, Jace - who this story is about, follows that same path and begins to step in to protect his mother and thus begins his torturous abuse. It culminates in a huge fight and the son being thrown out, his mother secretly gives him the address of the older brother (who she has been secretly keeping in touch with) to him and him driving cross country to New Mexico to attempt a new life with the brother. The mother promises to follow soon after. It is this promise that drives the boy, and eventually both boys to go on. This all felt so realistic to me on so many levels. The families fear of the father, the brainwashing by the father, the confusion of feelings for the father. Everyone in the family is trying to come to terms with the fact that the father can be good at times and how can they possibly care about him when he is sometimes the monster that he is?? The idea of not wanting this abuse to be all that defines them in life and also the necessity of talking about this situation after years of secrecy and avoidance, the constant worry about their mother and the worry that they could possibly perpetuate the violence. I thought it was excellent!