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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Split Screen shows teens aren't zombies, February 1, 2007
This review is from: Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (Hardcover)
Brent Hartinger writes great teen novels: they have strong plots with unforeseeable twists; they're filled with clever dialogue and funny one-liners; and most important, they're stocked with good-hearted (though occasionally wrong-headed) characters who remind readers of what they love about their own friends--their brilliance and loyalty, their passion for their beliefs, and their ability to remember one's good points and still catch one's failings.
Hartinger delivers on all these strengths once again in his new novel "Split Screen." It's the third in a series, but it's a sequel with an innovative spin: it tells the same story twice from two points of view, demonstrating that even best friends experience things differently, and that life's big questions--like who to love, and when to be brave--don't always have just one right answer.
The book follows "The Geography Club" and "The Order of the Poison Oak" to tell the stories of high school student Russell Middleton and his circle of cool but less-than-popular friends. In previous books, Russell and his pals formed a gay-straight alliance to make their school a safer, more open place and then managed to survive summer camp with nothing worse than bruised hearts and itchy rashes. "Split Screen" catches up with them in the fall of their junior year as they sign up to work as extras on the set of a horror movie filming right in their hometown.
When read one way, the book tells Russell's story of boyfriend and parent troubles: just as he's anticipating a Thanksgiving visit from his steady guy, his unsteady ex begins trying to win him back, sending Russ into an emotional spin. And to top it off, Russell's parents come unhinged from reason when they (belatedly) find out that he's gay. It's a mess.
But flip the book over, and the same events are told in a different version by Russell's good friend Min, a brainier-than-thou girl who tries to live her life according to staunch principles. She aspires not just to honesty but to forthrightness, and that sort of candor is causing her problems. Min's new girlfriend (who's completely awesome and totally sharp) is set on being two different people: one version for Min and another entirely for her friends at school. It's also a mess.
Hartinger excels at giving Russell and Min distinct voices and at making their similar struggles unique: Russ is pulled more by his heart whereas Min follows her head--he worries most about being misunderstood or hurting someone; she's terrified at her uncertainty when her clear ideals jam up against life's murkier situations.
This novel's greatest strength (from among many) may be that Hartinger gives both his main characters truly perplexing dilemmas. One could see them choosing either way--the old boyfriend or the new, a path of compromise or one of confrontation--and sympathize with the reasons behind the decision. Rather than present his teen readers with simplistic answers, he instead suggests that the act of deciding is itself the main event: Life can't be lived on autopilot, and no one can choose better than the person in the cockpit.
"Split Screen" brings a great deal of fun, but it also digs deep into exactly the sort of questions that teens face as they go about the hard work of growing up. It's a romp with good friends, and it's a book that gives a lot of respect to the right and responsibility of young people to make important choices for themselves.
Recommended for readers ages 12 and older.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, April 24, 2007
This review is from: Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book more than I did "The Order of the Poison Oak", and just slightly less than "The Geography Club" (books that also feature the characters in Split Screen.) The reason why I didn't enjoy it as much as "Geography Club" partly has to do with the original always being one's favorite, but that "Split Screen" wasn't long enough. Yes, we do get two full stories but I'd have been happier with one expanded tale focusing on Russel. I admit, I didn't find Min's story as interesting, but she's never been one of my favorite characters anyhow.
That aside, Hartinger's writing has grown stronger and leaner without sacrificing quality or character development. Plus, the unique aspect of a low-budget zombie film is a fun catalyst and the brief glimpses we get of the filmmaking experience are illuminating. I think most people will enjoy this book, and considering Russel's dilemma with his parents, I'm hoping we get another.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just Another Teen Romance, November 21, 2007
This review is from: Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (Hardcover)
SPLIT SCREEN is composed of two different stories that occur during the same time period. The stories are told by two friends and occur during a few weeks preceding and the week following Thanksgiving while they are working as extras on a movie that is being filmed at a nearby high school. The first story is called ATTACK OF THE SOUL-SUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES and is told from the perspective of Russel, a gay high school student. Basically what happens is that Russel's ex-boyfriend, Kevin, wants to get back together with him and uses the filming of the movie as a way to try to re-kindle their relationship. Russel has a new boyfriend named Otto that he met during the summer. However, Otto lives hundreds of miles away while Kevin goes to the same school that Russel does. Russel spends the story trying to figure out who he should date. There's also a side story about Russel's parents learning about his sexuality.
The other story is called BRIDE OF THE SOUL-SUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES and is told from the perspective of Russel's bisexual friend, Min. Min has her own relationship issues with a girl named Leah that she meets on the set of "Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies". She likes Leah and Leah likes her. However, Leah is a popular preppy girl at her school. Leah likes her life, but none of her friends know that she is a lesbian. Her life would be in complete chaos if she would "come out". So, Min struggles with trying to begin a relationship with Leah while struggling to fit in Leah's perfect preppy high school life without giving up her own standards.
The novelty of SPLIT SCREEN lies in the fact that you read one story and then you have to literally flip the book over to read the other story. By doing so, you get a fuller picture of the events that happen.
I had never heard of GEOGRAPHY CLUB or THE ORDER OF THE POISON OAK. In fact, I had never ever of Brent Hartinger and was completely unfamiliar with the types of stories he writes. In fact, the promotional material I had read led me to believe that SPLIT SCREEN was supposed to be a young adult action-mystery novel set on a horror movie set. The promotional literature did mention that one of the characters was gay and another was bisexual, but from what I had gathered their sexuality wasn't going to be a prominent part of the book. That was some of the most misleading promotional material I have ever read because SPLIT SCREEN is definitely NOT an action-mystery story. Instead, it's a teen romance composed of two tales: one about a gay teenage boy and the other about his female bisexual friend. Their sexuality is the focal point of each one of the stories. I knew after reading the first couple of chapters that SPLIT SCREEN wasn't going to be the type of book I was led to believe. However, I have this nasty habit of reading any book I begin all the way to the end. After having finished reading the book, I wish I could give it a glowing review, but I can't do that. Other than the novelty format of having two-books in one as a flip book, SPLIT SCREEN really isn't that different from most other young adult romance books. I found the writing rather ordinary and most of the time the story failed to capture my imagination. The characters I most enjoyed were Russel and Min's other friend, Gunthar, and Min's love interest, Leah. They seemed more realistic to me than the feature characters.
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