Push

Rating:
Summary: Push
Review: The novel Push, written by Sapphire, takes place in the poor, overpopulated streets of Harlem, N.Y, where illegal narcotics and alcohol empower, influence and control the youth to become addicted to illiteracy. Push takes the reader into the mind, thoughts and feelings of young African-American girl, Claireece Precious Jones.

Throughout this novel there are many different themes; courage and a strong will to learn and survive. There is also a continuous string running through the themes and it is the thread of all of the main character's flashbacks. Her flashbacks reveal to the reader just how awful things really are in her world, ever since birth. Another major themes is that she has an incredibly hard life, but through all of the things that happened, she holds on and stands up for her dignity. As the novel comes to an end the greatest theme is revealed, her immensely strong will to live and to learn and to make her life better for herself and her children.

Claireece Precious Jones has her first child, who is born with Down syndrome and is about to bear her second one. Both of the children are the result of her father raping her. Her life is immediately destroyed and her mother continues to abuse her. Precious hates the way she is, the way she was born and raised. She hates the fact that she is black, poor, fat and ugly. She becomes an outcast at school and is later kicked out because of her pregnancy. However, she has an opportunity to go to an "alternative" school, Each One Teach One and with the help of her teacher Ms. Rain, she learns how to read, write and also makes many friends. She learns how to communicate and express herself through writing in her journal, she learns how to live and how to love. She wants to become a better mother, and teach her children how to read, so they don't grow up to be like her. Although she experiences many harsh and grueling traumas in her life, she is a hard working and ambitious girl who overcomes all the obstacles she is forced to face.

Overall this novel is truly amazing, I enjoyed it tremendously. Although, it involves slang and vulgar language, I just could not put it down. One of the main reasons I enjoyed it was because of Sapphire has a vivid writing style, which leads me into a reality. Sapphire's inspiration for writing Push had accumulated from seven years of teaching in Harlem, and of 13 years of living in Harlem and the Washington Heights area of Manhattan. Sapphire also creates this unique character whose story arouses my interest in the struggle of African-American people against poverty and difficult family situations.

Claireece Precious Jones' story brings readers a message of hope and encourages me to have a positive outlook on life. It allows me to believe that I would never success without have a positive attitude. I really recommend it!


Rating:
Summary: The Light
Review: Throughout life every individual comes across challenging and sometimes overwhelming obstacles. As time progresses, one learns to overcome these challenges; I consider this "the light". In the novel Push, by Sapphire, the protagonist struggles through many challenges such as abuse, illiteracy, and acceptance. In addition, "the light" relates to the way the main character goes through realizing the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse from her family. Moreover, being ignorant about homosexuality, the lack of basic educational skills, and an overall acceptance of being different. I feel this novel is highly motivational for young adults and people in general because it teaches the reader to push through different aspects of life, which are considered to be difficult or overbearing. Therefore, I rate this novel four stars because the story can relate to people of different lifestyles. If anything this novel teaches the reader to accept and try to understand different people and their motives for doing things the way they do. I also rated this novel a four because the writing style, which was interesting and highly unusual in most writing, types. This unique writing style and language gave me a strong perspective and a detailed insight of Precious Jones' life and thoughts. To be more specific, the book is written the way the words are pronounced from the character. For example the word father is spelled "favher". This takes the reader into the mind of the protagonist. Although the format makes the book more interesting, I do not recommend this novel to a beginning reader. It may cause complications and a few misunderstandings. This is by far one of the best books I have ever read.
In Push, a young teenager, Precious, is faced with many unusual situations where she comes to realize and accept the fact that she needs special attention especially with her educational struggles. Starting at a very young age, Precious, is repeatedly sexually abused by her father and her mother. Most teenagers go home to a comforting and loving environment but in Jones' case this is not evident. She faces not only physical abuse, but emotional and verbal abuse. On top of everything, she is impregnated by her biological father once at the age of 12 and a second time at the age of 17. Throughout the novel she is constantly trying to improve her life by attaining higher education in hopes of finding a job and providing for her children. This shows that anything is possible, if only one is willing to try. Sure the novel is considered to be fiction, but al the actions that take place can relate to anyone's life. Overall, I really enjoyed Sapphire's (author) work even though it was the first book of hers I had read. I would definitely read more of her books and support her ideas.