Several months ago I was approached by a coworker and asked if I had read Sapphire's Push. She had seen a trailer of for the upcoming movie and knew she just had to see it. When she discovered it was based on a book, she thought of me.

Push is not one of those novels that will appeal to everyone. It may offend some. It is a book that will drag out the reader's darker emotions: anger and sadness. It did for me, anyway. I read this book with tears in my eyes. I had a few choice names for the mother and father. My heart ached for Precious Jones. No child should have to endure what she did. No child. Ever. And yet it is also a story about hope and overcoming the odds. In that way, it is an inspirational novel.

My coworker insists that the novel is based on a true story, but I haven't been able to verify that. As far as I know, it is a work of fiction. However, before you take comfort in that, keep in mind that about 1 out of 4 girls in the U.S. are sexually abused (1 in 6 boys). Most sexual abuse occurs by someone close to the child, someone the child is supposed to trust. Precious' own story may be fiction, but many children throughout the world suffer in similarly every day. They endure not only sexual abuse and physical abuse. They fall through the cracks of our school systems, barely able to read and write, even by the time they are in their teens. I know. I've seen this first hand.

Sapphire tells the story using Precious' own voice, in Precious' vernacular. Words are spelled out phonetically, there are plenty of curse words, and certain phrases and concepts are repeated several times; while this might seem like it would be bothersome, it was not at all. If anything, the writing style gives voice to the character, putting the reader in her shoes if only for the span of the novel. It did not take long for me to fall into the rhythm of the story.

Precious is 16 years old at the start of the novel, pregnant with her second child. She had given birth to a daughter when she was only 12 years old. The father of her children is her own father, a man who has been raping her since she was a young child. She is extremely overweight and the butt of many jokes. Precious has a very limited world view which is expanded through the course of the novel. All her life she has been alone, friendless and with hardly any support from others. Her mother is downright evil, beating her daughter regularly. I could not drum up an ounce of sympathy for Precious' mother. I don't think I was meant to.

Kicked out of junior high because she is pregnant, Precious is told she must attend an alternative school. It is there where she meets Blue Rain, an unorthodox teacher who draws Precious and her classmates out. For the first time in her life, Precious feels like she belongs somewhere. She connects with her classmates and teacher. She experiences the kindness of others, something completely foreign to her. She also comes to realize she is not alone.

Precious is one of those characters I wish I could reach into the novel and hug, reassuring her that she is beautiful and smart, and that she doesn't deserve the abuse she has suffered. She is courageous and good at heart. She thinks so little of herself and yet there is a spark deep inside here that keeps her going. She isn't completely without self-confidence, though it is extremely fragile. She craves praise and eats it up when it is offered. Reading the stories of her classmates, I felt the same way about them. Each of them also had suffered much in their short lives, enduring pain and loss that no child should have to endure.

Blue Rain realizes right away that the young women in her class need to learn to believe in themselves. She could easily stick to the curriculum and prepare them for the GED. She wants to do more than that for them, though.

Precious can barely read or write at the start of the book, and, as the novel progresses, the reader can see the growth she makes in the narrative. While this is novel is a horror story in some respects, it is also an inspirational one. My heart broke for Precious time and time again. It also swelled at her successes, even the smallest of ones. Push is no fairy tale. There is no miraculous happy ending. Everything does not turn out perfectly in the end. What there is, however, is hope.

I couldn't help but think of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye as I read Push. Many of the same themes run through both novels. The Color Purple by Alice Walker also came to mind which turned out to be quite fitting given the novel is referenced frequently. Precious identifies with Celcie from The Color Purple.

I think it is important not to overlook the cultural aspects of the novel. Precious is a black young woman, living in the Bronx with her mother who is collecting welfare. Discrimination is nothing new to her. She does not trust the authorities nor most white people. She spends much of her time wishing she was lighter skinned and thinner. What happened to her would not have happened had she been white, she reasons. One of my favorite scenes in the novel is when she attends her first Survivors of Incest Anonymous meeting. She walks in feeling alone, as if no one in the room will be able to identify with her or understand the horrors she has suffered. She walks out with the realization that she is far from alone and that what happened to her, could have happened to anyone, regardless of race, size or economic background. Child abuse has no boundaries when it comes to culture. It affects us all regardless.

Push is one of those novels I can talk about forever if given the chance. I have given you a small taste of it here and hope you will give it a try. And if you are up for it, you might want to watch the movie too.

Movies based on books are rarely as good as their predecessors. We all know that. Some of you may avoid watching movies based on books you have read for that very reason. Others, like me, run to the movie theater (or the Netflix website) to see how those movies turned out.

Because of a summer movie with the same title, Push became Precious when it hit movie theaters. I couldn't wait the couple of days it would take for the movie to appear in a theater closer to my town, and so I dragged my husband to Los Angeles so we could see it at the ArcLight in Hollywood, where it opened its first weekend in limited release.

I have already talked at length about the book and so will not do so again in talking about the movie. All I really have to say is wow. Precious is quite a movie. The rave reviews you hear about Mo'Nique serving up an Oscar worthy performance as the mother is true. It was raw and oh so real. The final scene with Mo'Nique in the film is especially gut wrenching. Gabourey Sidibe who played Precious was outstanding in performance too. She had the same edge as the character in the novel, the same heart, and won me over just as quickly. I had been a little worried about the dream sequences going into the movie, but my concerns were unwarranted. While they were a bit more of a spectacle in the movie than they had been in the book, they were well placed.

The movie differs from the book in a few ways, including the ending--although the overall feel of the two was much the same. I really don't feel pointing out the differences matters as a result. I think the only complaint I have about the movie is that I wish I'd gotten a little deeper look at Precious' classmates. I understand though the decision not to go that route. Movies have time limits and not every detail from a book can make it onto the big screen.

The movie enriched my appreciation for the book and vice versa. Just as in the book, I watched Precious grow from victim to survivor. While her overall story is terribly sad, her courage and hope make her an inspiration. ( )

“My name is Claireece Precious Jones…My name mean something valuable–Precious.” She sounds like somebody who knows what they are about, knows that they are worth a lot and are proud of it. Quite the contrary though. Precious is illiterate, over 200 pounds, African-American, a welfare child, had a baby for her father at 12 and is pregnant for him again at the age of 16. She is constantly physically abused by her mother and sexually abused by her father. She imagines herself as a white blonde with a light skin boyfriend in order to escape the horror of her life.

During the labour of her second child for her father, a nurse says to her, “I want you to push you hear me momi, when that shit hit you again, go with it and push.” This moment becomes synonymous with what Precious has to do throughout her life in order to survive and escape the chain that is her mother. The will that Precious finds to push is realized when she meets a caring teacher at an alternative school who empowers her through teaching her to read and write. Precious takes her new found knowledge and power and pushes through the system, the horrifying memories of sexual and physical abuse by her parents, self hatred, and the limitations put on her abilities.

The story is triumphant and the writing is poetic. Nonetheless, make no mistake, this thin novel is not easy to read, it is very graphic, raw, and gritty about the life that Precious experiences, including the sexual abuse she endures. This book is not for the faint at heart and would require some form of debriefing or support for those who have had similar experiences.

This review was taken directly from my blog ( )

If you care about literacy, this book is not-to-be-missed. It's incredibly painful subject matter, but powerful and unforgettable. ( )

Thank goodness this novel was a short novel, What was the hardest for me was the absolute raw and brutal honesty with which the abuse was treated in this novel.

Precious attends school but is so far behind in her education, she literally becomes "invisible" as she sits in the classroom without moving from her seat all day and sometimes urinating on herself. The author's use of slang and the crude spelling of words and sentence structure allowed me the chance to identify with the level of intelligence Precious had. I hurt for Precious because she had no self-esteem. It was really marvelous to see the progress Precious makes thru her journal writing and the use of Ebonics decreased as Claireece Precious Jones’ education increased, she actually becomes "visible".

I could only empathize with Precious because one can see that her horrific mother and deplorable father have abused her through no fault of her own. I read in disbelief as her hopes and dreams are disturbed by her affliction to HIV/AIDS but with perseverance and determination Precious still finds courage to PUSH and fight for her life. However, it raises some excellent 'action points' about the state of "humanity" and the "system" (welfare, schools, etc). "Push" does not offer a storybook ending and you don't know what is going to happen to Precious after the book ends. Your left with a piece of Precious in your heart.

Even though I could not relate to this book I was still touched by it. This was a hard book to get through due to emotional and moral sensitivities but wanting to know how she was going to rise above her circumstances kept me reading. It's not something I'll read again and again...but it's something that I'll think about for a long time. ( )

I knew from the first I heard of this book that it wasn't for me. I found it too vulgar and too hopeless. I know this will be a favorite for many people and I wish I could like it but I don't. ( )