Push

I read Push when I was in the 9th grade and reading it a second time still didn't change my view on how awesome this book was. It deals with child abuse so if that's a trigger for you then I suggest you don't read. My review may contain some spoilers.

The story is about a girl named Precious that is failed by the system. She is 16 years old, still in middle school, has a 4 year old daughter, pregnant again, abused by her mother, raped by her father (who is the father of her children), she is poor, illiterate, and HIV positive.

Precious is still a child herself yet she has to overcome all of this and try her best to push forward with the cards that life has given her. I couldn't imagine dealing with all of these things at the age of 16 and to me that made Precious strong.

The only reason why I didn't give it a full 5 stars is because I had a hard time believing that the schools truly didn't care. Growing up in Queens, NY I understand that the public school system isn't great, but Precious was purposely urinating on herself, she wasn't speaking, and she would come to school with semen stains on her shirt. Did anyone not report this? Things like this are supposed to get reported. Also she gave birth at 12 years old... why weren't the police called?

Oh lord. I've seen people reading this book all the time, so finally I decided to read the novel myself. Wow. the novel is highly graphic, trying to depict the African American stereotype in a new light. I have yet to see a fictional character whose life sucks sooo badly! Precious Jones is the epitome of failure in every sense. But shes a survivor, and that gives people the strength to carry on...even if their lives are as crappy as hers. It took a while to get through all the illiterate writing (Sapphire writes the way Precious thinks and speaks) and the graphic, disgusting details of her life. It wasnt the best book I've ever read, but I finished it in a day, so it was something I needed to keep reading.

Few debut novels are as assured and accomplished as Sapphire's Push. The story of a young, African-American girl's coming-of-age in the Harlem projects in the era of AIDS, it is a searing indictment of a society that would rather forget its poorest citizens. The book follows Precious, an obese teenager that is trying to navigate hope and a future between being a teenage mother against her will and abusive parents that are keen on destroying her. Despite the odds, Precious breaks free to make a life of her own within the system but without it's baggage, but unfortunately by then it's too late for her to correct the past she's left behind.