The Split Review

"The Split" is about Ally who after being dumped by her girlfriend ends up jobless and homeless and is forced to move back into her hometown with her father. Bereft, she takes the cat with her.

General Impressions

Let's start with: I love that cover.

This is a book very much about the aftermath of a tragedy, about what happens when your life changes suddenly and you struggle to adapt.

This would have been very much a forgettable novel for me except for one thing: Ally and Em were a lesbian couple. Not only Ally is a lesbian but most of the characters in this novel are queer. That is not a small or unimportant detail, that is what made this book worth reading for me.

Laura Kay wrote about queerness and the importance of having a supportive queer community in a way that only a queer person could. Ally's (and everyone else's) identity was never put into question by others, there was no casual discrimination or mentions of queerness as a tragedy or waste of beauty or life. It was lovely to see being LGBTQ as joyous and absolutely normal.

Ally was a huge mess for most of the book and the author was able to create a good balance between allowing her to deal with her pain and pushing her to do something with her life. Something else I really liked was that this story addressed the pressure there is to have your entire life sorted out in your twenties and how it's okay when you don't or when your plans change. That is true for both careers and relationships: things can be transient and meaningful at the same time and that is not something to mourn but be thankful for.

The only thing I wish had been further addressed in this book was infidelity in the face of committed relationships, because it is never directly addressed up until the end. Cheaters got off lightly in my view...

This is not my favourite genre, but I'm so, so happy our stories are being told at last. I'm already looking forward to whatever Laura Kay will gift us with next because I know it will be brilliant.

Thank you to Quercus for sending me this copy.

Rating: 3/5