Push by SapphireISBN: 978-0-679-76675-9
Pages: 140
Back of Book Description:
Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible: to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem's casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and highly radical teacher, we follow her on a journey of education and enlightenment as Precious learns not only how to write about her life, but how to make it her own for the first time.
My Rating: A+
My Review:
I finished this book a few days before I was actually able to write this review. Minutes after putting the book down I sat in this same spot in front of my lap top ready to whip up a review. It was at this point that I realized, I had no idea how I felt about the book. I was quite sure I enjoyed it...I thought. How could I enjoy such a sad book? It would be in no way shape or form a spoiler for me to tell you this is not an uplifting story at the beginning, or even at the middle or end. It's very, real.
A day after attempting, and failing, to write the review, I was chatting on the phone with a good friend of mine, who also happens to be a book lover. I told her that I read Push in one sitting. She asked me what I thought of it and I told her it was quite good. I even compared it to a book that while very little like Push, reminded me of it somehow.
Push may not have been uplifting, but it left an impression. I will probably never forget this book. Ever. I would have to say that it will stay in my mind with When We Were Romans and The End of Alice. The problem with this is I loved When We Were Romans and hated The End of Alice. I guess that sums up how I feel about Push. It makes me cringe to say I loved it, but I loved it all the same.
I read this years ago. It is tricky to sum up how you feel about it since it isn't a very happy book.
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