In Lori Weber’s Split, Sandra’s life begins unravelling when her mother abandons the family, leaving Sandra saddled with her alcoholic father and his parasitic friend. Sandra wants to forge ahead with her life, but she is angry at her mother’s unexplained departure and her father’s apparent lack of interest in getting his wife back. Sandra embarks on a haphazard plan to find her mother. Weber’s story poignantly and effectively illustrates how devastating the effects of a parent’s abandonment can be on a teenager, and how an adolescent must adopt an adult role when the remaining parent is dysfunctional. mRb