The Separation

Disclaimer: If you've heard of Animorphs and you're thinking "Aww, how cute," maybe you should read my introduction to the first book to see how wrong you are.

THE SEPARATION

Animorphs #32
by K.A. Applegate

Summarized Plot:

While morphing a starfish to get an earring out of a tide pool crack, Rachel gets cut in half by a mischievous boy and ends up becoming two Rachels. But the two halves of her are also polarized: a mall-crawling, airheaded, cowardly one with a sense of duty and an ability to plan, and a psychotic, violent, courageous one with an ability to attack and no decent foresight or memory. The Animorphs are trying to destroy an Anti-Morphing Ray built by the Yeerks, but their issues trying to deal with a Rachel too afraid to fight and a Rachel too out-of-control to take orders end up overshadowing the mission. But soon, through each of their failures to function as a whole person, they realize they need each other as much as they hate each other, and Ax and Erek come up with a way to blend them together again . . . as long as they can be convinced to carry it out and accept their opposite as part of themselves again.

About this book:

Narrator: Rachel

New known controllers:

• None

New morphs acquired:

• Jake: None
• Cassie: None
• Marco: None
• Rachel: Starfish
• Ax: None
• Tobias: None

Notable:

• Rachel makes it clear in this excerpt that she can morph while wearing earrings, just like she can with skintight clothes. This suggests that jewelry can be incorporated.

• Ax knocks Mean Rachel out temporarily with a blow to the head. Knocking someone out with a blow to the head is not safe and it is not likely to cause loss of consciousness without being followed by deliriousness or possibly lasting harm. In other words, "just knock her out" is a very unsafe thing to do to temporarily disable her.

Best lines:

Cassie: "We have a problem."
Rachel: "We do?"
Cassie: "Jake, we were at the mall. Some girl shoved Rachel and--"
Jake: "Oh, man, what did you do, Rachel? You have to learn to restrain your--"
Cassie: "She cried."
Jake: "What?"
Cassie: "She cried. And ran away. And cried."
Marco: "Who cried?"
Cassie: "Rachel."
Marco: "Rachel cried? You mean a little wetness, like maybe something was in her eye?"
Cassie: "I mean like 'Boo hoo, that girl was so mean.'"
Marco: "No."
Cassie: "Yes."
Marco: "No. No. The sun does not rise in the west, the Chicago Cubs don't win the World Series, Scully never, ever believes Mulder, and Rachel does not cry. These are the things I know."
Cassie: "Boo. Hoo."

Erek: "I can't stay long. I just came to update you guys on the mission."
Mean Rachel: "To the Yeerk pool! Let's get some flamethrowers!"
Erek: "I gotta stop hanging around with you people. You people are just plain strange."

Nice Rachel: "I remember it was chilly. I had, like, goose bumps?"
Marco: "I used to read those books."
Ax: "Rachel had books in response to cold?"

Nice Rachel: Jake had touched something still alive and strong inside me: duty. Stupid word! Stupid idea! No, not a stupid idea. But definitely a stupid word. I mean, it sounds like "doody." I mean, puh-leeze. I had to go and get killed because of something that sounds like you're talking about what dogs do on the lawn?

Next book: The Illusion, Animorphs #33