Push

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, sad, and uplifting
Review: I just finished PUSH. I read it in a few hours while waiting to be called for jury duty! As soon as I started reading, I could not put it down. Sapphire pulls you into a world that to most is probably quite unfamiliar. The protagonist, Claireece Precious Jones, is a 16-year-old girl who is raped by her father and abused and molested by her mother. She also has 2 children by her father. The story is quite graphically written, with a lot of cuss words and blunt explanations. Sapphire tried to write it in an authentic way, to bring through to the reader the real voice of Precious. Not only is the story a shocking expose of abuse in a poor home in Harlem, but it is also a striking commentary on the failures of our social system that supposedly offers a "safety net" and "helps" poor/underprivileged people. The novel offers a viewpoint that is rarely given a voice...showing the depths of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and the invisibility of poor people of color. In addition to these weighty and dark subjects, PUSH also features some very nice poetry and, most importantly, HOPE for everyone who has ever suffered the way that Precious and her classmates at the alternative school suffered. The story is engaging and interesting...I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: So real, disturbing, sad BUT VERY VERY Inspiring!
Review: PUSH is such an easy read but so hard to get through without showing some human emotions. I found myself crying after every few pages while Precious described the most horrific life that any young girl (or boy) could go through.

Being sexually and physically abused by both her BIOLOGICAL mother & father, Precious still finds courage to PUSH and fight for her life. She wants to be a smart mother, not like the one she was given who threw her life down the drain.

16 years old, Precious has already given birth to 2 children from her own father. A baby girl (Mongo) at 12 years old and a baby boy (Abdul) at 16. Inflicted with the HIV virus, giver to her by her father, Precious still maintains a love for learning and wanting to BE SOMEONE. She doesnt let anyone or any system bring her down and categorize her into a sub-human culture.

Precious Jones is someone BEAUTIFUL and she lets everyone see that in the ways she gets through the trials and tribulations in her young life.

It would be nice for this book to become a movie, but I think this would be a hard thing for many of us to see, nontheless, read.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: this story might not be the best for everyone for the mature contents. In my opinion it is well written and makes a person want to get involved with the main character, Precious. As soon as i started this book, i couldnt stop reading it. Although i felt deply disturbed about what was going on, i had to keep telling myself that it was fiction. Precious is repeatedly raped and molested from the time that she was born. This abuse is Perpetrated by both her parents. She does not go to school normaly until the age of 15 after meeting Ms. Rain. The way this story is written makes it impossible to stop reading it, which is why i recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: Push is a haunting story of an inner city teenager, forced to endure sexual, psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her so called "parents" and her climb out of ignorance. She becomes a virtual slave to her overweight, slovenly mother and a sexual toy for her depraved step father. Precious attends school but is so far behind in her education, she literally becomes "invisible" as she sits in the classroom without moving from her seat all day. The author's use of slang and the crude spelling of words and sentence structure allowed me the change to identify with the level of intelligence Precious had. The book held my attention as I read page after page of her journey. It was really marvelous to see the progress Precious makes thru her journal writing she actually become "visible". Definately worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Novel
Review: This book was so sad!! I was really feeling sorry for the main character and wishing i could help her. Its different from all the other books i've read but it keep my attention till i was finished.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down!!
Review: Push is such a gripping novel that I hardly have words to describe it. This novel brought out many emotions in me-anger, sadness, laughter, disgust, heartache. I didn't know if I could finish this novel, it was emotionally hard for me to read but I had to know what happens to Precious. As I was reading, all I could think of was how many young children are in the same or even worse of a situation that Precious was in? The vulgar language hits you in the face but is necessary to tell this story. Sometimes the vulgarity will make you laugh, most of the time it will make you want to cry. Bittersweet ending but worth the read ten times over. Excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate
Review: One of the most disturbing books I've yet to come across, this novel is also heartwarming and ultimately brilliant! A word of warning--you will find yourself crying in places, and you'll also find youself getting incredibly angry, but then, that's what a good writer can do to us. Reminiscent of other novels that have great power like Jackson McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood" or Pelzer's "A Child Called It," this stellar performance by Sapphire will take it's place among the greats. Highly recommend, though not for the faint-of-heart.

Rating:
Summary: PUSH
Review: 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 [e-mail]
P.S. Blue Rain when you write down your feelings oh how much better you feel.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Novel
Review: "Push" by Sapphire is a great book. The author kept my interested and Precious (the main character) kept me interested also. I rated the book with 5 stars because it had a great beginning, middle, and end. Unlike some books i've read. It dosent start off boring or get "flat" in the middle and end. Sapphire really captures the read in this book and gives them a sense on how people deal with a not so good situation in the ghetto of New York. Another reason why I liked this book was because it wasnt "sugar-coated" or made the truth sound any better than it was. This is why I gave this book 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: With so many books out there about child abuse, psychotic parents, and the misfortunes of the "victims" it's hard to know what to read. But there are three that I've come across lately that are superb: A Child Called It, Bark of the Dogwood, and this one--Push. While all three are different (there's sequal to "Child" and "Dogwood" is at times even funny) they all share the same theme of abuse, neglect, and dysfunction. "Push" is by far one of the more graphic novels I've read, and it isn't for the faint of heart. That said, I'd also recommend "Bark of the Dogwood" and "A Child called It."