Push: A Novel

I found the book disappointing. I guess I fell for the hype of the movie which I didn't see. I was happy that the character was able to move on and make something of herself but the book was not my cup of tea.

I think this was an excellent book, however I was pretty disappointed in how short the novel was, I read the book in 3 hours. I think more details could have been provided on more of the characters.

Also I understand that the author was attempting to demonstrate how illiterate Precious was in the book, but I often got lost with the wording and phrases, and was almost like a jigsaw puzzle trying to interpret what the writer was saying. I have met some pretty undereducated people in my life, but I think the author's depiction on illiteracy was overly exaggerated.

Excellent accounting of this climbers life - his childhood that shaped his climbing career and his lifetime goal achieved. Highly recommend reading it especially if you have ever wondered why a climber climbs!i

I can relate to certain situations in the movie Precious. Very sad to see reality all over again. This was a very heat felt movie expecially the part when precious found out that she was HIV positive and talked about it in front of her classmates. So sad to know that in the world of today, worst things are happening to inocent children. This movie only opens up to some of the horror that goes on in the world of children today. The movie it self may not have been real, but the content of the movie happens everyday. May God grant his mercy on the children of today that they may rise above the pain and horror and bring the evil of the world to justice.

Sincere autobiopic of an expert climber. The text is laced with humility relevant to the slings and arrows of life and climbing. You don't have to be a climber to get a thoroughly enjoyable read from this book.

This is a graphic, compelling, heartbreaking, yet ultimately inspiring look at one poor black girl with every disadvantage in the world blossoming with the help of education and a few positive adult influences in her life. A great book club book.

This heart wrenching novel was hard to read not only because of the dreadful spelling and grammar but also because of the numerous horrific, vulgar, and explicit crimes committed against poor Precious Jones. At age 16 Precious is illiterate but wanting and more than willing to learn. Not only has she been molested and beaten by both her biological parents, birthed two children by her father, but she has also contracted HIV from him :( We only follow a portion of her journey in this novel and it filled me with so many different emotions. This book of course made me angry and sad but it also made me smile and filled me with an immense amount of joy when Precious surpassed the limits of what folks expected of her. She is truly an exceptional student and young adult. Hopefully people learn a little something from this story and think twice before giving up on someone or assuming a person will never make anything out of themselves. I imagine that this novel can also be a motivational tool for those who have gone through anything similar or anyone who wants to overcome hardships or not let the horrible things that happened to them in their past dictate or ruin their future. This is definitely worth reading but not for the faint of heart.

Really enjoyed this book! Fantastic biography with honest insights and revelations of thoughts and feelings through some serious adversity (relationships, climbs, terrorist kidnapping...). I especially found the candid discussion of his relationships with his climbing partners (Kevin Jorgensen, Alex Honnold, and Chris Sharma to name a few heavy hitters) to be very honest and beyond the typical superficial biography, while also not being mean at all, just open and refreshingly honest. This is not quite up to Krakauer and that’s the reason for 4 out of 5 but that’s pretty solid and Krakauer is a high bar. Anyway, I definitely recommend this book.

Also, as of this review writing, the top rated review on the store is something from 2013 and doesn’t appear to have anything to do with this book. Aha! So, MANY of the reviews for this book are for the book Push by Sapphire (a VERY different book)!

This story is a picture of what many young people suffer behind closed doors. Yet she somehow prevailed. It is also a good thing that there are people that love and care for others, and will help you along the way. The book may be a challenge for some to read do to the language, but if you can get past that, and see the story for what is is, you may be inspired to do more with your own life. Are you the angel that can help someone, boosting positive self image, and being a role model.

Push is the story about a young girl named Clarieece "Precious" Jones that deals with a mountain of adversity: from sexual abuse from her father, physical and verbal abuse from her mother as well as a society that puts the odds against her. With the help of a very determined alternative school teacher named Miss Rain, Precious discovers her worth and makes a great attempt to turn her life around.

Some of the darker aspects of the novel reflect common occurrences that unfortunately exist in today's society. There are numerous people that deal with sexual assault on a regular basis, especially sexual molestation from their own family members. One of the most devastating aspects is the denial, or ignorance, that arises when the person who is being abused tries to speak out. In Push, Precious tries to bring her mother's attention to the fact that the only reason she has two kids before turning 17 is because her father is raping her. The mother seems to become jealous more than anything - continually calling her daughter a slut, and a whore, despite the fact that it's the father that is the problem. Even when a guidance counselor tries to bring the mother's attention to the abuse, the mother believes whole-heartedly that Precious had a great childhood and that anything bad that had happened was in no way the mother's fault. WHAT!? How can someone even have that thought process!!

Thankfully, once Precious begins attending the alternative school she lands herself in a wonderful group of friends that become a strong support system for her. Immersing herself with other women that have experienced hardship, she becomes involved in writing, and poetry, as means to express herself, as well as joining and HIV positive support group as well as an Incest Survivors support group. While she didn't have the proper support structures growing up, she now has the stability she needs to help her grow.

Another aspect of the book that unfortunately does exist in today's society is how Precious is kept down in her school - prior to attending the alternative school. Many of the teachers don't seem too concerned with Precious's silence in school, the bullying she suffers from classmates and some of the personal issues she developed. Precious even recalled times where she received A's from teachers for doing nothing besides showing up, and keeping quiet in class. It's unfair to students to employ teachers that just arrive for a paycheck, and aren't too concerned with teaching students, especially ones that may need it the most.

While the novel reveals the worst of people, it also exposes the best. Miss Rain, Precious's teacher at the alternative school, takes an avid interest in Precious welfare and her education. Encouraging her to write whatever she is thinking, feeling, or doing she manages to help Precious build her skills in reading and writing, as well as her confidence in herself. Miss Rain is the epitome of what teachers should be for students. Always encouraging them to strive for better and never believing that a student is beyond help, or worthless.

Overall, Push is a worthwhile read that allows people to view an alternative (and darker) lifestyle than what they themselves may have experienced. Interested in the plot, but not willing to read the book - check out the movie Precious based on this book.

not for the squeamish of the easily offended, this starkly realistic approach to the story of a forgotten, abused and illiterate child's journey to a not forgotten, not abused, not illiterate young woman who becomes a most insightful and confident artist whose journals and poetry will set your heart on fire is a MUST read !!!not only is it a tribute to the human spirit, but to the efforts of an extraordinary teacher/mentor as well,,,thank you, sapphire for this most startling glimpse into the life of a human being we all see and encounter, but rarely ever know...

In the beginning I could not understand it but quickly became totally involved with the character and could not stop reading. It was so gripping I could not put it down and felt so emphatically for Precious it was unnerving and heartbreaking yet thrilling and grotesque. I would recommend this to any child abuse survivor and survivors of emotional abuse. Not a read for someone who lives in denial or has never discussed, read or has been exposed to literature of such abuse.
I have nothing but respect for Precious.

Claireece Precious Jones is a 16-year-old girl who lives on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. She is completely illiterate and pregnant with her second child by her father. Her father is married to someone else, but he comes around sporadically to take their money, demand sex from her mother, and rape Precious. This has been going on as long as Precious can remember.

Precious' mother is livid at Precious for `stealing my man.' Precious' mother never leaves the apartment and requires that Precious do all the cooking and cleaning. She is profoundly abusive to Precious - emotionally, physically, and sexually. This, too, has been going on as long as Precious can remember. Later in the book, Precious resists her therapist's request that she try to recover her first memory of her mother. Precious avoids this because she already knows quite well what her earliest memory of her mother is - "the smell of Mama's [vagina] in my face."

Push, told almost entirely in the first person, is brutally frank. There are no euphemisms in this book. Far from it. And yet, this remarkable book by Sapphire is an uplifting revelation that will fascinate and surprise you. It will leave you feeling good and wanting more. Pick up this book and read it. It will repay you a thousand times over.

I come to this book as a therapist who has long specialized in treating adult survivors of childhood abuse. I wish I could recommend Push to many of my patients, but I am hesitant to do so because they would find the book much more difficult to read than would a person with a normal childhood. Why? Because Precious' words and descriptions are so likely to trigger unwanted memories and even flashbacks in readers with a serious history of abuse. In fact, I hesitated to include the brief quotation that ends my second paragraph (above), but I did not know a better way to telegraph the quality of this book to potential readers.

There is no third-person description of Precious and her life. All is conveyed via Precious' thoughts, wonderings, and internal comments about her own experience. Precious does not describe her abuse; she tells us what is happening inside her.

As a therapist, I am awed by Sapphire's ability to evoke, entirely from a subjective point of view, the psychological and clinical phenomena of child abuse. As I read this book, I could see Precious' shame, confusion, flashbacks, depersonalization, derealization, escape into autohypnotic fantasy, self-injury, time loss, voices, and body memories. But these are my objectifying, third-person words. Precious gives us the experience of these phenomena from the inside, immediately, in her own words, feelings, and wonderings.

Oh yes, Sapphire is a poet. This book is poetic, too.

As with other reviewers I was a little uncomfortable with such graphic details in this book however this book was one of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down once I started and finished it in one day. Such a sad but triumphant story. We all know abuse happens everyday but to read just how deeply it can go is just appalling. I admire and salute the strength and courage Precious has endured throughout her life. Precious is a true inspiration and goes to show with determination there is hope for us all.

If you get uncomfortable easily this is not the book for you. I was amazed at the blunt language but after reading the book I understood the language used. I finished the book in just a few hours because I could not put it down. I found myself crying and yelling at the book because I could not believe what I was reading. The author took me into the story even at times when I wanted to walk away. It was an amazing book, while hard to read the story needed to be told.

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.

I read this book during a flight delay. Initially, it was slightly difficult to read due to the use "slang" as spoken in the voice of Precious. The horrible abuse heaped on this young girl was also difficult to get through, particularly from the ironic realization that her name is Precious but she was treated as anything BUT precious by her "parents".

The writing style of very reminiscent of Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple'. Its not a reading selection for young kids due to the graphic descriptions of her abuse at the hands of BOTH parents - sexual, physical and emotional.

For those who dismiss the book as purely "pornographic" have never spent time with abused people. Many times their viewpoint on a variety of subjects is clearly skewered to the point of being exaggerated, graphic and direct. For a frank look at the range of emotions experienced by those who feel their body has betrayed them during incestuous or rape situations, its easy enough to find by looking a show like 'Intervention'. Or look a little deeper by volunteering in many local groups for a first hand account.

Man, you thought the movie was hard to watch? Try reading the book. You won't be able to put it down, although at times you'll wish you could. Precious is a teenager pregnant by her father with their second child and trying to find a way out of the hell she is in. Her mother is just as abusive as her father. Through an inspiring teacher, she sees the world that education can open up for her. From the first sentence, the author, Sapphire, puts you directly into the mind and experiences of Precious, and it's an uncomfortable place to be. An incredibly gritty book, it stayed with me long after I read it. (I read it before I saw the movie.) I think the hardest thing for me was to realize that although this is a work of fiction, this is clearly reality for lots of women in the world. And that's a scary scary realization.

The movie based on this novel is reaping attention and praise, but it wouldn't exist without Sapphire's literary marvel. Claireece Precious Jones is not the kind of protagonist you're used to reading about: a hugely obese and pregnant (again) incest survivor who is 16 but can't read. When we first meet her (and her unspeakable horror of a mother, who dispenses filial abuse of every imaginable kind), Precious is understandably numb--just going through the motions of daily life, including attending a Harlem middle school where she's been promoted to the ninth grade but is invisible to her teachers. Remarkably, Precious isn't bitter but retains a guarded sweetness. An insightful remedial specialist at the alternative school Precious lands in becomes her guardian angel and she learns not only to read but also to write poetry and paricipate in the larger world. Slowly, she begins to be cautiously hopeful, and so do we, but her future remains uncertain at the end of the book.

Precious is such a fully developed character that you almost can't believe she's not real. And the sad fact is that she has many real-life cousins who won't encounter a savior. If you see a teenager like Precious on the bus or subway, you (and I) usually look away. But after reading this book, perhaps we won't.

This book is not really well written or well developed. It isn't fine literature, but that's okay. Literature can also be important for its social message. In fact, maybe that's the most important aspect in some cases!

Push/Precious has some distasteful scenes, but the text itself is very accessible and readable. It is reminiscent of books like The Color Purple and I probably won't read it again, but it wasn't a waste of time. Too often society shies away from abuse and bad behaviors that we don't want to think about. In fact, people who speak out against abuse are often shunned or quieted. (I am an abuse survivor myself and believe me, people do NOT want to know that it exists!) But, that's why books like this are important... We can't close our eyes; we DO need to know.

I would recommend that people read this book or others like it to gain some understanding outside their comfort zones. When we ignore abuse, we silently condone it, so it's important to recognize that it is very real and very common.

I watched the movie Precious before reading this book. I know, that's usually a no-no in reading books that where made into movies 101. I was so touched by the movie, that I just had to read the book. The story is so gripping, sad and just really reminds you what goes on right under our noses in this society. It really affected me. The story is intense and the author does not try to sugar-coat anything. I suggest this book to anyone who likes human-interest stories.

This was a difficult book because of the horrific abuse this young girl endured; however I'm glad I read it and encourage others to do so.
I am looking forward to seeing the movie.Push

This book was truly amazing and powerful. I found myself going through a range of emotions as I read it : anger, pity, disgust, happiness, and at the very end optimism. Push is a novel that will make you think and as brutal and graphic as it is, you will not be able to put it down. I am glad I read it prior to seeing the movie because at least I'll be prepared for what I will see!

A very vivid social commentary on the failure of the social welfare system and the Reagan administration. If you are too young to remember the early 80's, or were raised in the suburbs this would be a good novel to read to get a glimpse into the inner city life during that time. Be aware of extremely rough language and emotionaly upsetting plot twists.

This is a captivating novel about the tragic life of a young girl as imposed by the hands of her bizarre, dysfunctional family. Her father has sexually abused her all her life and her mother has not only enabled the sexual abuse, but has heaped her own forceful, violent abuse upon the child. Shocking is a mild way of describing her mother's jealousy of her child's incestuous relationship with the father, who fathers two children with his own daughter. You watch Precious as she struggles to make sense of her life, to find an education in a broken educational system, and to find love and family in a broken society. The quest of Precious Jones to find a safe and credible place in the world makes one think twice about the history of the young kid you see struggling with life, acting out, and seemingly unable to conceive a better way of life. This young girl exhibits strengths beyond your imagination and it hurts to know there may be others out there who will not find that strength and will be lost. It is a fantastic, realistic novel and a little scary, because deep down you know there is a Precious out there.

Reviewed by Dilsa Saunders Bailey, author of Dreams Thrown Away

A Novel, Push by Sapphire (Paperback) (Push, A Novel)
This book is a must read book i read it in one day and about to read it again..preciious been through hell and survived and I can't wait to see how precious life turned out in this day...she is and inpiration to all how ever been beatean and broken...

WOW!!! THIS BOOK IS SO AMAZING. IT EXPLAIN THE MOVIE IN DETAILS TO THE FULLEST. THANK YOU SAPPHIRE AND the store. WAY TO GO MONIQUE FOR A GREAT PERFORMANCE AND FOR YOUR OSCAR NOMINATION. YOU GO GIRL!!! (*_*)