Read what Lori has to say about
Split
Split started out as something very different – a series of vignettes or
portraits about the mother (the character who vanishes in the book). They
were of the mother sun-tanning at a friend’s flat and ignoring her daughter,
of her disappointment when a new washing machine arrived, of her feelings
about being pregnant. As you can tell, it didn’t start off as a Young Adult
novel. It was about a woman’s life. The real vignette, the one from my own
life, was the sun-tanning one. When I was little, my parents had had an
argument, and my mother went up to the third floor flat of a friend to sun
bathe. She was lying out on the tiny balcony, way up high, and I kept rolling
skating under her, trying to get her attention. But she wanted to shut the
family out that day and she ignored me. When I went home, my father was
doing the funniest thing – sweeping the kitchen floor. I told him that my
mother had been ignoring me and he told me to just leave her alone. Then
he swept the crumbs up into the shovel and that was that. The oddity of
that day, which was never repeated, must have stayed with me. I guess I
wondered what would have happened if she had taken her anger, or her
unhappiness of that day, further and left altogether. Split is the story of a
mother who does that.
In this book, I was able to use a lot of my own father’s background, his
growing up in Germany during the Nazi era – not a pretty time! The first
time I visited his family home, he did show my sister and I a hole down in
the root cellar where he said they could hide if they had to, for any reason.
This hole, which terrified me in real life, became the central symbol in the
book. Every member of the family is hiding out in a sort of hole, hiding their
emotions from one another. Their communication skills are extremely poor,
if they exist at all. That’s not too untypical of some families, sadly. When I’d
finished writing it, I was surprised to discover so many references to stairs
and ladders – the cellar, the boxcar, the Catholic church, Mount Royal, and
others. I suppose the act of climbing up or down works as a metaphor for
discovery and Sandra certainly discovers a lot about herself and her
parents over the course of the story.
When I first sent this book out, it was in a much different form, with the
vignettes still in it. An early editorial response put the idea of writing it as YA
in my mind, which is what I eventually did, reworking it for my second book
at Lorimer. I also took out the section that was written from the mother’s
perspective, in the form of a long letter to Sandra, explaining why she left. I
then had to weave all the details into the narrative, from Sandra’s
perspective, which was tricky since Sandra doesn’t really know why her
mother left. I also developed the sub-plot of Sandra’s relationship with
Danny more, drawing her away from him and into her own person more. To
me, the book is very much about a girl who learns to rely on herself, rather
than other people, which is important in life. She also learns how to
connect, in a healthy way, with another human being.
Readers have had various reactions to the ending. Some want more
closure, some like it the way it is. Without giving the ending away, let’s just
say I felt it was as far as I could take it. It’s not exactly ambiguous but it
does allow the reader to imagine what might have come next.
Split is a good testament to the art of tenacity. It took 15 years to write and
get right – and then publish. It’s odd that it’s the first book I ever wrote, but
only the second published, although I’m sure that’s not an unusual story.
Split
Split started out as something very different – a series of vignettes or
portraits about the mother (the character who vanishes in the book). They
were of the mother sun-tanning at a friend’s flat and ignoring her daughter,
of her disappointment when a new washing machine arrived, of her feelings
about being pregnant. As you can tell, it didn’t start off as a Young Adult
novel. It was about a woman’s life. The real vignette, the one from my own
life, was the sun-tanning one. When I was little, my parents had had an
argument, and my mother went up to the third floor flat of a friend to sun
bathe. She was lying out on the tiny balcony, way up high, and I kept rolling
skating under her, trying to get her attention. But she wanted to shut the
family out that day and she ignored me. When I went home, my father was
doing the funniest thing – sweeping the kitchen floor. I told him that my
mother had been ignoring me and he told me to just leave her alone. Then
he swept the crumbs up into the shovel and that was that. The oddity of
that day, which was never repeated, must have stayed with me. I guess I
wondered what would have happened if she had taken her anger, or her
unhappiness of that day, further and left altogether. Split is the story of a
mother who does that.
In this book, I was able to use a lot of my own father’s background, his
growing up in Germany during the Nazi era – not a pretty time! The first
time I visited his family home, he did show my sister and I a hole down in
the root cellar where he said they could hide if they had to, for any reason.
This hole, which terrified me in real life, became the central symbol in the
book. Every member of the family is hiding out in a sort of hole, hiding their
emotions from one another. Their communication skills are extremely poor,
if they exist at all. That’s not too untypical of some families, sadly. When I’d
finished writing it, I was surprised to discover so many references to stairs
and ladders – the cellar, the boxcar, the Catholic church, Mount Royal, and
others. I suppose the act of climbing up or down works as a metaphor for
discovery and Sandra certainly discovers a lot about herself and her
parents over the course of the story.
When I first sent this book out, it was in a much different form, with the
vignettes still in it. An early editorial response put the idea of writing it as YA
in my mind, which is what I eventually did, reworking it for my second book
at Lorimer. I also took out the section that was written from the mother’s
perspective, in the form of a long letter to Sandra, explaining why she left. I
then had to weave all the details into the narrative, from Sandra’s
perspective, which was tricky since Sandra doesn’t really know why her
mother left. I also developed the sub-plot of Sandra’s relationship with
Danny more, drawing her away from him and into her own person more. To
me, the book is very much about a girl who learns to rely on herself, rather
than other people, which is important in life. She also learns how to
connect, in a healthy way, with another human being.
Readers have had various reactions to the ending. Some want more
closure, some like it the way it is. Without giving the ending away, let’s just
say I felt it was as far as I could take it. It’s not exactly ambiguous but it
does allow the reader to imagine what might have come next.
Split is a good testament to the art of tenacity. It took 15 years to write and
get right – and then publish. It’s odd that it’s the first book I ever wrote, but
only the second published, although I’m sure that’s not an unusual story.
Reviews of Split
Canadian Review of Materials
Montreal Review of Books
Quill and Quire
Link to Lorimer Homepage for more reviews
Canadian Review of Materials
Montreal Review of Books
Quill and Quire
Link to Lorimer Homepage for more reviews
