Customer Reviews

Push: A Novel

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

"Push" is a dynamic, living novel that has documented trials and tribulations secretly experienced by many families. The writing is fierce, heart-breaking and harsh, yet can be so true as it documents an ugly story.Themes of poverty, power and control, sexual exploitation, poverty, domination, racism etc. ring through the poetry and Ebonics used by the author to make the piece more realistic. The setting is stilted with bare stone buildings, shelters, schools, hospitals placed in ghetto surroundings that provide little stimulation for growth and development. The main character, Precious, shows a strong willingness to survive and overcome her deplorable circumstances with only one main supporter, her teacher, who believe in her. Getting an education will save her from the abuse and destruction of her parents, enabling her to make an effort to break the cycle of darkness and repression for her own children. The book is a masterpiece.

This book was incredibly difficult to read due to the graphic manner in which the subject matter was relayed. But this same graphic manner made the book that much more powerful of a read.

Sapphire does a great job first having us identify the main character, Precious Jones, as other, someone separate from us, and then slowly pulling us in to get to know her. This technique allows us to recognize that someone in reality whom we identify as other can become someone we know and understand independent of our own personal situations.

Note to readers: make sure to read the poem in the beginning before and after reading Push and see how your understanding of that poem changes.

I was very surprised to find the way this novel was written. There is a lot of profanity and grafic recounts by the narrator, of scence of incest. It is also hard to follow at times because it is written as the main character, Precious Jones, would speak. As one would assume someone who could not read or write and was very under educated would tell a story. Misspelled words, bad grammer etc.

All in all, it was a decent story but very short. Only about 150 pages in length. I didn't feel satisfied when I finished it. I felt like the story could have continued for a while longer in order to have a better conclusion.

Push was easy yet hard to read. I enjoyed reading through Precious's eyes and her first person narrative was well done. However, the details of the abuse by the mother and father's abuse of an infant was haunting and sickening. I had to skip it. The poetry was my favourite part.

Warning. This not a fun book. The heroine goes through all kinds of graphic hell. After reading Push I felt like taking a bath becuse you really do wade through the mud. Push is not a great book but it does have powerful emotional punch that has stayed on my mind long after I put it down.

"Push" had its ups and downs. Disturbing and motivating. It pretty much grabbed my attention. The estory reflected the dispair of a child who had to find her way out the hell of her existence.
I was left with a few questions. Did Precious see all at the age of sixteen? Did Abdul give Precious the strengths to overcome her miseries? Was Precious ending the pattern of abusive relationships in her family?
"Push" is unfinished. Precious is a character of power, she needed to be more explored.

In light of the movie coming out, I picked up the book Push. It is a quick read, 1 week or less. However, it packs a lot of punch in those few pages. It is provoking, disturbing, moving and graphic. And, it is worth the read.

I am not sure how they will capture on film the powerful messages, the depth and the vunerabilty that the writer conveys. It is a riviting piece of work.

This author wants the reader to be precious and when this author finishes the reader will become precious. The reader will feel her tears and her pain. The reader will feel when precious is raped and incested against. And at the end of all these feelings you will feel better about yourself and precious. You see because the reader will realize that my enough may not be your enough and your enough may not be my enough. But thank God he blessed all of us to know when enough is enough. Then we as a woman,mother,sister or child will stand up and do whatever is necessary to succeed. To change what can be changed. Life is change, Change is life. Precoius did the best OF HER ABILITY to change her lifeand that of her son Abdul.
I'm feeling Sapphire with this one and if you the reader are feeling what I am saying Holla Back topazzz6@aol.com
P.S. Blue Rain when you write down your feelings oh how much better you feel.

I just finished reading this very intense book about a young lady stuck in a world with absolutly no love. Push pulled me away from my normal thinking about the typical ghetto girl, and made me think of thier situations more clearly. The authors use of language really made me feel the emotional pain of the main character. The wondering why her and the disapointment of reality setting in made me frown and shake my head. Push is not far from reality for several innercity youth today. I recommend that parents read Push with their children - it can help give them an appreciation for life and education.

***CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!***

I just finished reading Precious (aka Push) by Sapphire and have thought for the last half hour how I feel about. I'm on the fence ' did I like it? Did I hate it? On the one hand, the story has potential. I felt sorry for Precious (who really didn't seem likable in the novel ' different from how I see her in the trailer for the movie) throughout the novel and was happy for her when she started to make a life for herself.

On the other hand (and there are quite a few of these), how could so many bad things happen to one person ' rape, incest, illiteracy, HIV, bearing a child, etc. One thing that bothered me was the writing style. Sapphire starts out the book as though Precious were reciting it (Precious is written as a stream of consciousness by Precious). The problem is that the language isn't consistent. Certain parts are totally comprehensible, and others are incomprehensible (and this is in the beginning of the book, not towards the end where Precious's literacy improves). Or there is inconsistency with certain words ' i.e. switching the word 'mother' to 'muver' within a few pages of each other. The voice throughout the book was just not genuine.

One thing that bothered me was when Precious was birthing her first child ' Mongo. In the hospital, as she's being questioned by a nurse about her new baby (keep in mind, Precious is 12 years old at this point), she tells the nurse that the father of the baby is her (i.e. Precious's) father. Would nothing have happened about this? Or was it so common for people to be in incestuous relationships that no one does anything about it? Wouldn't a nurse have to report this? But no, Precious goes right back to living with her (sexually and physically) abusive mother and then bears ANOTHER child with her father.

What??

The good parts are that she has values. She doesn't want to turn into her mother. She wants a life for her and her children. She wants to go to university. She wants to find love. It was nice to see that after growing up with no friends and no real family, Precious finds friends within her new school, who turn into her family.

When I finished reading the book, I felt like nothing had really been resolved ' and I really wanted there to be a conclusion, some closure. Precious is still studying to get her GED, but I would have liked to see what happens when she gets into the real word. Yes, she severed ties with her abusive mother, but she's still living in a halfway house talking about how she should get a place for her and her children, and she's still relying on other people for money ' not having a job for herself. And she's still learning to read.

In the end, I can't say whether or not I see Precious as being worthy of a recommendation to anyone. Personally, I can think of so many better books to read (ones that don't include the word 'pu**y' throughout). I don't see what was so earth shattering with this novel ' it was easy enough to read (Cormac McCarthy has better novels that make you really pay attention to the dialogue) but it just didn't seem believable that so many things would happen to one person. If you're looking for shock factor, then read this book. If you're looking for something with a resolution, something that makes you feel like you didn't just waste your time when you're finished reading, then read something else.