Helpful Score: 13
Fantastic book meant for the mature reader. This is the story of an illerate girl who is molested by her father and bears two children because of it. It is told from her perspective, including through her broken grammar. The story is one of her growth and change and determination to survive. I liked it a lot because it doesn't go down the road you'd expect where it ends all perfectly with the "rags to riches" type story. This is a very different read! If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, I recommend this.
Helpful Score: 9
Great book for anyone who likes the gritty reality of some women's lives. It's raw and disturbing but not without hope. Be prepared to be angry, shocked, sad and enlightened. Great writing.
Helpful Score: 6
Shocking but riveting story of an inner city girl's abuse and education. I read this in one sitting, and months later it still haunts me.
Helpful Score: 5
This is a difficult and brutal read but totally worth it and an amazing work.
Helpful Score: 5
A little difficult to read. Somewhat disturbing, however I highly recommend it!
Helpful Score: 5
OMG I loved this book. Couldn't put it down. It's a quick read, and shows the struggles of a young illiterate woman who birthed two of her father's children on her way to making something of herself. Hidden Jem, completely worth reading.
Helpful Score: 4
Push was difficult to read because of the subject matter and the way it was written. I believe the author wanted us to think like Precious and the words were written how she spoke. She had a horrendous childhood and her parents were disgusting, vile human beings. Instead of crumbling under the abuse, I really admired how Precious fought to make her life better.
Helpful Score: 3
Awesome read. It was really gritty and raw and stuck in my head long after I finished it.
Helpful Score: 3
Certainly puts things in perspective, doesn't it. Precious has seen the worst of the worst and yet she still has hope. Sometimes it takes a book like this to remind the reader how good they really have it. And there are true stories like this- of children being molested and beaten by their parents, being forced to grow up FAR before their time, of being pushed through school illiterate and unsure how to learn- all across this country.
Helpful Score: 3
A book that you will never forget after you have read it.
Helpful Score: 1
If you can't stand the truth, don't read this book. Although it is a work of fiction, know that there are a lot of young black girls that live this kind of life.
Helpful Score: 1
WOW. This was a fast read, but not a "light" read by any means. Definitely a book that will remain with me for a long, long time. Great book!
Helpful Score: 1
Raw,gritty look at one girls life in Harlem. A very in your face look at abuse and what it takes to crawl out from under it. Interesting look at how a helping hand can work. The writer doesn't hold back from allowing you to peek inside the often unbelievably cruel world of some children. This book will make you shake your head and re-think every time you see someone "not quite right". It should be a must read for teachers!
Helpful Score: 1
This book is written in the first-person narrative of a girl who is illiterate. It's very hard to follow, because she obviously doesn't speak or spell correctly. But I got through that. What bothered me the most was that the book just ended with no resolution whatsoever. I'm not necessarily looking for a happy ending in every book I read, but AN ending would be nice. Would not recommend this book to anyone.
Helpful Score: 1
I actually saw the movie before I got a chance to read the book. The story itself is very touching. The book itself is a good read if you can get past the way its written, which is in first person narrative. The main character is illiterate which makes the writing a little annoying to read. I was tempted to just give it up but it was a quick read and I was able to eventually ignore the way it was written.
I imagine this book will become required reading for many college lit classes. It has some great themes and a unique voice. But, even without analyzing it, it's still a great book. It's hard and raw and feels more real than not.
You know what book I would compare it to? The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. That one left a similar impression on me. It's another book with a strong and unique voice and of course, it has sadness. The subject matter is totally different, but it left a huge emotional impression.
That is the strength of Push, for me. The emotional impression is really key. I've read several Jodi Picoult books and while they are well crafted, I have trouble connecting to the characters emotionally. Push allowed me to emotionally connect with Precious. She didn't hide the emotions and I don't believe she focused on them too much, either. It's just a really fascinating book to me.
You know what book I would compare it to? The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. That one left a similar impression on me. It's another book with a strong and unique voice and of course, it has sadness. The subject matter is totally different, but it left a huge emotional impression.
That is the strength of Push, for me. The emotional impression is really key. I've read several Jodi Picoult books and while they are well crafted, I have trouble connecting to the characters emotionally. Push allowed me to emotionally connect with Precious. She didn't hide the emotions and I don't believe she focused on them too much, either. It's just a really fascinating book to me.
As everyone (I think!) knows, this is the book that the movie Precious is based on. It is an excellent novel, told from the perspective of Precious Jones, an abused teenager who has been kicked out of school because of her pregnancy (this takes place in the mid 80s).
With a deep-seated need to better herself, Precious begins to take classes at an alternative learning center, where she finally (at age 16-17) learns to read.
The life Precious has led is horrific and heartbreaking, but her spirit is amazing. Still, the story is not a happy one, but rather can be considered deeply inspiring.
With a deep-seated need to better herself, Precious begins to take classes at an alternative learning center, where she finally (at age 16-17) learns to read.
The life Precious has led is horrific and heartbreaking, but her spirit is amazing. Still, the story is not a happy one, but rather can be considered deeply inspiring.
Very difficult to get through, but some may really like it.
So glad I read the book instead of seeing the movie
This book was very intense and I found it disturbing to read through some parts. I'm a total grammar police so the first half of the book was bugging me since the narrator is illiterate and it was written as if the character herself "wrote" it. I don't think I can read this book again or see the movie a second time. Once was enough for me.
his was a quick read but certainly not an easy read. It really angers me to no end reading what was done to this poor girl. Abuse from so early on from BOTH parents.
I am not sure I liked the style in which it was written, the misspellings was at times hard to read. The language is crude to say the least but fits with the mind of Precious and her surroundings.
The ending was for me abrupt, I was expecting a bit more of tellling how she got to where she is today. I am thankful that she was able to overcome her terrible beginnings and fly like a bird.
I am not sure I liked the style in which it was written, the misspellings was at times hard to read. The language is crude to say the least but fits with the mind of Precious and her surroundings.
The ending was for me abrupt, I was expecting a bit more of tellling how she got to where she is today. I am thankful that she was able to overcome her terrible beginnings and fly like a bird.
The book was pretty good. I had seen the movie "Precious" before getting ahold of the book. The book was pretty consistent with the movie, minus the part of Precious' mother also molesting her, and it went a little futher into the future of Precious life after she found out she had HIV. In the movie, the story ended with her finding out she had HIV. The movie also showed Precious beening reunited with her first child by her father, who has Down Syndrome, where as in the book Mongrol, the child's name, is stated to be in an institution. Overall, the book was good. I did not really feel like it had an ending, and wonder if Sapphire will produce a 2nd book telling the rest of the story.
The writing style of this book can be hard to read sometimes as the main character is writing from her perspective and is somewhat illiterate...especially in the beginning. Shocking storyline as you don't expect abuse at this level.
Very disturbing but honest portrait of various forms of child abuse. It was initially hard to follow because it is written in the language of the illiterate main character but got better and she progressed through her literacy classes. The author really pulls you in and you can find yourself on an emotional rollercoaster regarding the abuse the characters in this book endured.
Most people will be familiar with this story on account of the masterpiece motion picture "Precious," which won numerous awards, including the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two for Best Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique and Geoffrey Fletcher for Best Adapted Screenplay, making him the first African-American to win a screenplay award at the Oscars.
Almost beyond belief, it was the acting debut for the actress who played the lead character, Gabourey Sidibe. Casting director Billy Hopkins reportedly chose her after an open-call audition at New York City's Lehman College. Gabby was chosen over 300 others.
That said, although this book was billed as "young adult" literature, I hope that's not true, in the case of teenagers, at least, because this is about as graphic and disturbing as one can imagine, and is certainly not for children. I wanted to like this more than I did, honestly, as the movie was superlative, one of the rare instances where the film is superior to the book, but it was so over-the-top that I really didn't enjoy it. I think the best description I've seen so far is "unapologetically raw." That's it in a nutshell.
This tragic novel that makes Charles Dickens's characters seem mild in comparison tells the story of Precious, an illiterate sixteen-year-old who is still in junior high school. Precious has been abused in every way a person can be abused, by her parents, including her mother who constantly beats and berates her, and her biological father who ... well, by whom she has had two children, the first at twelve. I'll leave it there, but the book doesn't: the descriptions are utterly graphic and nauseating, to the degree that I had to skip some of the passages - it's that disgusting.
I want to say that this is nothing more than the figment of someone's deranged imagination, but I know it's not. I know this happens in real life, and I want to acknowledge that.
What I did like is that Precious is not portrayed as a victim, but as a survivor, despite everything that's thrown at her, literally. She has a disabled daughter with Down Syndrome, probably the result of an incestuous relationship, she's illiterate and years behind in her schooling, but she still desires to learn, and her home life is the stuff of nightmares to a maximum security prison inmate.
She finally finds someone who believes in her, in the person of Ms. Blue Rain, a teacher at her alternative school where she's sent when she's expelled after the principal discovers she's pregnant for a second time. Precious makes tremendous strides in her education and life, getting away from her abusive mother... until the next hammer drops.
Perhaps what I liked best was the utterly accurate description of how the system consistently fails the most vulnerable in our society, the impoverished and under-educated who lack the ability to fight back. Precious falls through the cracks at almost every turn, is failed by her family and the system charged with protecting her, and is given up on by almost everyone, including her elementary school teachers.
When she sits almost catatonic in her second-grade classroom to try to avoid the cruel bullying, which she is subjected to almost incessantly, which no adult does anything about, and fail to even notice, one administrator tells her teacher to just ignore her, and "focus on the ones you CAN teach." In that regard, this story is very much a critique of the environments where so many black children are disadvantaged, and why they feel that they have no place in a society which cares nothing for them and does nothing to protect them.
Almost beyond belief, it was the acting debut for the actress who played the lead character, Gabourey Sidibe. Casting director Billy Hopkins reportedly chose her after an open-call audition at New York City's Lehman College. Gabby was chosen over 300 others.
That said, although this book was billed as "young adult" literature, I hope that's not true, in the case of teenagers, at least, because this is about as graphic and disturbing as one can imagine, and is certainly not for children. I wanted to like this more than I did, honestly, as the movie was superlative, one of the rare instances where the film is superior to the book, but it was so over-the-top that I really didn't enjoy it. I think the best description I've seen so far is "unapologetically raw." That's it in a nutshell.
This tragic novel that makes Charles Dickens's characters seem mild in comparison tells the story of Precious, an illiterate sixteen-year-old who is still in junior high school. Precious has been abused in every way a person can be abused, by her parents, including her mother who constantly beats and berates her, and her biological father who ... well, by whom she has had two children, the first at twelve. I'll leave it there, but the book doesn't: the descriptions are utterly graphic and nauseating, to the degree that I had to skip some of the passages - it's that disgusting.
I want to say that this is nothing more than the figment of someone's deranged imagination, but I know it's not. I know this happens in real life, and I want to acknowledge that.
What I did like is that Precious is not portrayed as a victim, but as a survivor, despite everything that's thrown at her, literally. She has a disabled daughter with Down Syndrome, probably the result of an incestuous relationship, she's illiterate and years behind in her schooling, but she still desires to learn, and her home life is the stuff of nightmares to a maximum security prison inmate.
She finally finds someone who believes in her, in the person of Ms. Blue Rain, a teacher at her alternative school where she's sent when she's expelled after the principal discovers she's pregnant for a second time. Precious makes tremendous strides in her education and life, getting away from her abusive mother... until the next hammer drops.
Perhaps what I liked best was the utterly accurate description of how the system consistently fails the most vulnerable in our society, the impoverished and under-educated who lack the ability to fight back. Precious falls through the cracks at almost every turn, is failed by her family and the system charged with protecting her, and is given up on by almost everyone, including her elementary school teachers.
When she sits almost catatonic in her second-grade classroom to try to avoid the cruel bullying, which she is subjected to almost incessantly, which no adult does anything about, and fail to even notice, one administrator tells her teacher to just ignore her, and "focus on the ones you CAN teach." In that regard, this story is very much a critique of the environments where so many black children are disadvantaged, and why they feel that they have no place in a society which cares nothing for them and does nothing to protect them.
This book had been recommended to me by a friend. The writing is raw and unapologetic, the story required a strong stomach at times. It is hard to think of people doing such horrendous things to each other, we hear about it all the time, but this book brings those things front and center. The ending is not what I thought it would be - very bittersweet. I don't see myself ever reading it again, but Precious's story will be with me forever. Push is a short read, but very well worth it
I enjoyed this book. It is for a mature reader though as it includes very graphic language and content. It was both sad and moving. Enjoyable and quick read.
Book sounded like the "same old, same old", except for the ghetto poetry. A story of an obese abused child/teen in the "system", however she climbs out only due to her own perserverance, not any help from social workers til after her gives birth to her second child by her "father". Precious' desire for a higher education to keep her and her babies out of the trap of welfare is beyond admirable. I don't get the "hoopla" over this, unless it's the movie that made it popular and not the book. Contains graphic sexual abuse and language.
This story is very hard to read because of the sad reality of the protagonist (abuse, illiteracy, incest) but it's well worth your time. Outstanding!
This book was hard to read & yet hard not to. The story of a "young" woman who struggles to overcome a horrific childhood and odds that are stacked against her. A narrative with language definatley meant for an adult reader.
Can't wait for the movie, very sad but a good read
The movie "Precious" was great, but it can never beat the tone and heartbreak set forth by the author in this book from which the movie was made. Precious is an illiterate 16-year-old girl who lives in Harlem, and is pregnant for the second time by her father. The abuse that this girl, who no one really ever acknowledges, is so bad that only when Precious meets a new teacher with some radical new ways of teaching and helping her, does she see some hope for her and her children's futures.
The author, Sapphire, makes the abuse so real that I cringed and cried reading this book. Some parts are offensive in nature and language, but it's what really happens to some people every day that shouldn't happen at all. I think it's a must-read.
The author, Sapphire, makes the abuse so real that I cringed and cried reading this book. Some parts are offensive in nature and language, but it's what really happens to some people every day that shouldn't happen at all. I think it's a must-read.
As a Social Worker I could relate to the story easily. Unfortunately cases like this happen everyday. I've worked with many young people in similar situations. I,too,have been heartbroken by the lack of support for these young people by our system. At least this book has a happy ending & proves what can happen when people care about others. I especially loved how the book showed Precious' progress. It's a great,quick read & will be an eye opener for many. Can't wait to see the movie!
In this case I had seen the movie before reading the novel. The novel goes into even more depth of the pain. It is excellent reading but difficult to bear.
PUSH, which has recently been turned into an amazing movie called 'Precious', is a brutal, sometimes almost overwhelming, novel by the amazing writer Sapphire. Telling the difficult, yet all-too-real, story of an overweight, illiterate teenager in 1980s Harlem (abused emotionally, physically, and sexually by her mother, and given two babies by her own rapist father), PUSH sheds light on a universal story of suffering, struggle, and finally hope. The novel is written as if Claireece "Precious" Jones herself is speaking and writing it, so it is definitely unconventional and hard-going at times, but worth the effort put into reading it. Even if you've never been through the kind of horror Precious herself has lived through (and I pray you haven't), you will still be able to relate to her and identify with her journey toward self-discovery and conquering. While PUSH may be unflinchingly realistic in its portrayal of abuse and language, this is a must-read for everyone of a mature age.
the book was excellent. It was a heartbreaking story, but Precious tried to overcome the odds.
This book was very difficult to read due to the subject matter. Very disturbing in some areas. Nevertheless, I applaud Precious for overcoming the worst to make something out of her life.
PHENOMENAL! The book can make you sooooo angry at these fictional characters, one can get so pulled into the plot and the character of Precious. This took me only two hours to read, it was one of those books you just cannot put down.
Engaging book- hard to read at times.
This book was heart wrenching and sad but an eye opener. I enjoyed it immensely.
Very sad and graphic book. I was under the impression that it was written for young adults. In the end the character was inspirational.
Heartbreaking and darker than the film, a very fast read.
Disappointed in the book. Too much reptition and story line slow.
