Push

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: This is a great book every man woman and child should read it, it's for everybody. Well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: right on the money
Review: as a social worker in an urban area, I could relate very closely with the tale of Precious Jones. The accuracy of the story to real life clients I have met was amazing. This should be required reading for anyone considering social work as a career.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Novel
Review: " Push" an excellent novel written by Ramona Lofton Sapphire. The dialect used in this novel made me feel as if I was at a play actually listening and watching the events as they take place. Above all the use of Ebonics helped me to understand how illiterate the main character Claireece Precious Jones was however, as the novel continue the use of Ebonics decreased as Claireece education increased. Shapphire use excellent adjectives to describe the gruesome events that took place in this young girl's life. Events such as being sexually and mentally abused by her mother and stepfather or the embarrassment of still urinating on herself at the age of sixteen. Shapphire use of adjectives and sentence structure makes the novel easy to read and comprehend. "Push" is one of those novels that once you start reading it, you can not stop.
This is the best book I have ever laid my hands on. I would recommend this novel to anyone. Although it is fiction, it is extremely realistic. This novel describes in full details actual events that many can relate to or know someone who can. "Push" is the type of novel that will make you laugh and cry all on the same page. Besides, it is one of those novels that you can read over and over and never become bored. Each time I have read "Push" I had a different opinion on the characters and the actions of Claireece parents. Thus far, no book can compare to "Push".

Rating:
Summary: Prolific!
Review: I read this book in one sitting...No words can describe the various emotions that coursed through me reading through Precious' struggle. It makes us realize the ugliness of abuse, particularly incest, in one of the most graphic voices possible...Written in a classic voice, a definite must read, but not for the light-weight reader...In such a short novel, Sapphire did a great job of covering a LOT of ground...

Rating:
Summary: pushed to review
Review: Push by Sapphire is sad, chilling and shocking. Precious, a twelve year old girl, is abused and raped by her parents. By the time she is seventeen she already has two children by her father. She has her first child, a girl with downs syndrome, and a second, a boy who has the disease HIV. When she is old enough she leaves that living hell hole and starts to get her life back on track.

This book felt extremely real because it was written like a journal. The way she writes in it is also so lively because she writes as if she really is illiterate. Overall it is an unbelievably awesome book that everyone should go out and get. "I was so moved by this book, that I baked cookies for fourteen straight days without sleeping, and sold them at a fundraiser to raise money to buy a copy of the book for everyone on my block."

Rating:
Summary: A mind job
Review: The author gets you involved in the main character by writing the way she talks and showing her improvements along the way. Your heart will go out to Precious (leading character)and her children. I wouldn't mind a sequel to this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Twisted Story
Review: Let me just tell you this story is twisted and sick. Your stomach will turn and your mouth will drop from the very first word to the last. Your eyes will be glued to this story of a stout girl's struggle since the young vulnerable age of three. She has been molested and gave birth to two children by the age of sixteen. She has an indisposition on top of it all. You get to watch how this illiterate woman amazingly finds the courage to go back to school and the strength to better her life. The author Sapphire gives you a taste of Precious' life with the spelling errors and vulgar language. I chose the following quote to give you an illustration of the flavor of this story.

"Mama cant fit into bathtub no more.
Go sleep, go sleep, go to sleep, I tells myself.
Mama's hand creepy spider, up my legs..."

I could read this book one thousand times and be on my toes every time! I strongly advise you to read it too!

Rating:
Summary: Got saddness?
Review: This book is really good. It is one of those books that are hard to put down. If you like books that are sad and full of drama... you will like this one. It is about a black teenager growing up in New York. Her father continues to rape her and her mother tries also. Her father gets her pregant twice. She decides she want so get her life together and starts to go to school, right when her life is about to change for the better she finds out she is HIV positive. It is so good, and it is also a fast read. If you look sad fast reads, this is perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Push by: Sapphire
Review: Adolescence is a difficult time for girls. Their bodies begin developing, and maturing. They face changes within their bodies physically and mentally. Claireece Precious Jones ( also known as Precious) endures incomprehensible hardships throughout her adolescent years.Day by day she is faced with an abusive mother, and a father who constantly rapes her. I compare the settings of her life same as the life of Dave Pezler's in A Child Called "IT". She realizes she needs to change her living conditions, and start a better life for herself.

Growing up, Precious feels small and insignificant emotionally, but dumb, overweight and ugly physically. Her self esteem has deteriorated as she was growing up by her jealous, antisocial mother. She begins to have thoughts of suicide, thinking it's her only way out- "But I don't know how to die. Ain' no plug to pull out. 'N no matter how bad I feel my heart don't stop beating and my eyes open in the morning." Her life seems to be a repititon for unimaginable,repulsive events. She feels unwanted throughout her whole life, and hates her mother, her father, her teachers, and most of all herself-"Don't nobody want me. Don't nobody need me. I know who I am...ugly black grease to be wipe away, punish, kilt, changed, finded a job for."Feeling deprived of her education, she states"The tesses paint a picture of me an' my muver-my whole family, we more than dumb, we invisible."

Pregnant with her second child, by her father, she is forced to drop out of high school, and attend alternative school."I always did like school, jus' seem school never did like me" Precious has remained completely illiterate. The context of this book really displays that. However,with the help of her teachers and fellow students who have undergone experiences as horrid as her own, she begins new understandings of words, friendship, and,most importantly herself.

Although Precious is a character very hard to relate to, she is portrayed as a beautiful individual in my opinion.The author allows its readers to see how a young girl gets through the trials and tribulations in her lifetime.Sapphire's use of language in the text strengthens Precious as a character. Precious is portrayed very " real."Precious's tone of voice used is crude, and full of sarcasm and hate. I very much recommend this book! The contents is a bit controversial to understand but the story of the life of Claireece Precious Jones seems truly authentic. It is a bit intense, but it is a story that has to be heard, and one that you will walk away remembering.

Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting!!
Review: " Push" by Sapphire is a really intense book dealing with a teenager, her abusive parents, and her struggle to make it some way in life. I really don't like reading but this book caught my attention through the first page and carried me though the end with ease. Precious, who is the main character, must "push" her way through life despite the many obstacles she encounters from her being illiterate to having to raise a child at 15 on her own.

This book also deals with rape and molestation, which I think will catch anyone's attention. The author has done a great job here in being descriptive about Precious Jones life. Sapphire describes exactly what is being sexually done to the main character by not just her father, but her mother as well. The way that the author chose to describe this girl's life made me feel as if I wanted to do something to help her but I had to remember that it was just a book.

There is someone who finally does see Precious as a person who has hopes and dreams like us all and helps her to get in the right direction. Precious Jones life after meeting Ms. Rain became a lot easier, although her life is still not on the same level of a regular teenager. She acquires new people and friends who are there to help see her along while she pushes on in her life.

I do recommend this book to anyone, teenagers and adults. I must warn that it does get graphic and can make you feel a bit uneasy, but this is what also makes the book great. This is the type of book that pulls you into it from the first page and keeps you interested through the end.