Book review: Push

I recently read Push by Sapphire. I read it because I fully intend to watch Precious and I wanted to read the book first. I'm really happy this was a book, because that allowed me to close it and forget about it for a couple of days.

First, a note about the way it's written. Initially, it was slightly difficult to read because it's written as if Precious herself was writing it. And since she's illiterate, it's full of words that are mostly spelled phonetically. I got used to it after a couple of pages, though, so it wasn't too hard. Once you get to the excerpts from her journal, however, it gets hard to read.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Precious is a 16 year old who has one child and another on the way. Her father is also their father. Her mother hates her because she "stole" her man from her, and she doesn't believe that he's been raping Precious--since she was little. Then again, her mother isn't going to be winning any mother of the year awards ever. When Precious was having her first baby, she was lying on the kitchen floor, with her mother kicking her in the head. The first baby is born with Down's Syndrome and goes to live with Precious' grandmother.

After Precious gets kicked out of school, for being pregnant, she begins going to an alternative school three mornings a week. Her teacher there is Ms. Rain, who is one of the first people to believe that Precious can improve herself. Ms. Rain and Precious' fellow students help her get a room at a halfway house, where she lives with her new baby. Precious gradually improves her literacy at school, even winning the mayor's award for most improved student in an alternate program. With the help of her classmates and some support groups, she begins to get her life back in order.

The book ends with the book the students in her class were writing. It includes essays and poetry that they have written about their lives. All in all, I think it was a good book. I enjoyed it, and I know I'll need to stock up on kleenex before watching the movie.