A Splitting Of The Mind
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Splitting Of The Mind |
| Author(s): | shoved2agree/GaiaMDMA |
| Date(s): | 2007-08-11-2011-04-18 |
| Length: | 144,502 words |
| Genre(s): | angst, AU |
| Fandom(s): | MCR |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | lj masterpost; on ao3; on wattpad |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A Splitting Of The Mind is a Frank/Gerard AU written in the first person by shoved2agree in which Gerard has been institutionalized. It was posted in installments on LiveJournal and later reposted to the AO3 and Wattpad. The author included warnings for past rape, PTSD, schizophrenia, mental illness, adult themes, swearing, blood, mentions of gun violence, hallucinations, sex, and character death.
As of 2017, it is the seventh most kudosed work and has the eleventh highest hit count in the Frank/Gerard tag on the AO3.[1]
Author's summary: Gerard Way sees the world differently. Alone and institutionalised, Gerard claims that he is being hunted, and that his mind holds the key to existence. Does Gerard really hold such a powerful secret? Or is he just insane like everyone else in the institution?
Fan Reactions/Reviews
2009 rec in mcshearts:
Great story about Gerard and Frank in a mental institution. Gerard's schizophrenic and afraid to speak or else "they" will find him. Frank has been raped and is afraid to touch anyone. It's so sweet and good. It's a WIP right now and the author updates only sporadically but it's completely worth the wait.[2]
The livejournal post for the epilogue had 338 comments. Examples:
Even though the ending was bittersweet, I really liked it. It just ended...right. Because, seriously, there was no way Gerard was ever gonna get out of the asylum and live a normal life, with or without Frank and, honestly, his character was just to awesome and driven to just grown old and die in an institution.[3]
dude ive been reading this story from the beginning. AMAZING. absolutely amazing.[4]
My stomach is in absolute knots and my heart is in my throat. This was absolutely one of the best stories I have ever read. I loved it, but I hated it, too. I did not want Gerard to die. I am just devastated.[5]
In 2011 several participants in a theblackparade.net thread about Top 5 favorite slash/fanfic? listed the story.
2012 LiveJournal rec:
One of my favourite fics of all time. This is just such a mind fuck and the plot is just so brilliant and completely original and I want to just have this as a book because I'd read it repeatedly.[6]
On goodreads, the story has 4.73 out of 5 stars, 128 ratings, and 11 reviews.[7] Example comment:
It's so beautiful and so fucking sad; good god. JUST READ IT.[8]
On Tumblr and Twitter in 2017, fans still post about crying over the fic. See a splitting of the mind and asotm tumblr tags. However, the fic has also been criticized as problematic in its portrayal of mental illness. Possibly because the fic came so highly recommended, a few fans who didn't like it reacted strongly:
listen. the truth of it is that anyone who says asotm is good just plain does not know what good writing is. like it’s literally not well-written. it’s fake-deep and pretentious and people think that if something ends in tragedy and tries to be profound then that means it must be good writing.[9]
I hate A Splitting of The Mind. It is one of the worst fics I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. [10]
This has persisted into the 2020s, with the most common perspective on ASOTM seeming to be dislike, but the TikTok fandom appears to disagree.
i lose respect for people when i learn they like asotm. this isn’t an indirect it’s just in generalmetaleaterz[11]
if you genuinely like asotm and think there’s nothing wrong with it please unfollowthis1swhy[12]
CAN WE LEAVE ASOTM IN THE PAST THAT IS LITERALLY THE WORST FANFIC TO HAVE EVER BEEN MADE I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT THISiKissFrank[13]
Related Fanworks
- A Splitting of the Mind. gif by deanpendragon on tumblr (February 17, 2013)
- Frerard; A Splitting Of The Mind, fic trailer by quincy on YouTube (March 6, 2013)
- a splitting of the mind poster graphic for lovely gerudeway ( ◡‿◡ ♡) by shibesdan on tumblr (January 5, 2015)
- I Know Things, Remember? - fanmix on 8tracks (February 10, 2015)
- A Splitting Of The Mind fancomic by kattarina1 (January 25, 2017)
- I bet I am doomed to sit here with these morons in this group session forever., fanart by palnia on tumblr (June 23, 2017)
References
- ^ Out of 8049 works in the Frank Iero/Gerard Way tag as of 13 August 2017. The fic has 1656 kudos and 41830 hits.
- ^ comment by buttertooth, Archived version, 4 January 2009.
- ^ comment by sakurashakedown, Apr. 19th, 2011. archived.
- ^ anonymous comment, Apr. 19th, 2011. archived.
- ^ comment by baysholdren, Apr. 25th, 2011. archived.
- ^ rebeccs13. Fic Rec List, Archived version, posted to livejournal 15 Oct. 2012.
- ^ A Splitting Of The Mind by shoved2agree, Archived version
- ^ Isabella's Reviews > A Splitting Of The Mind, Archived version posted Jul 15, 2016
- ^ untitled tumblr post by jerseymisery, Archived version, 11 July 2017.
- ^ untitled tumblr post by fanzonereviews, Archived version, 24 June 2015.
- ^ Tweet (11 Oct 2020)
- ^ Tweet (13 Jan 2021)
- ^ Tweet (17 Feb 2022)