The Push
by Ashley Audrain
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Description
"A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, about a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for--and everything she feared. Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting, supportive mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter--Violet rejects her mother, screams show more uncontrollably, and becomes a disturbing, disruptive presence at her preschool. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. What he sees is an overwhelmed wife who can't cope with the day-to-day grind. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well. Then their son Sam is born--and with him, Blythe has the natural, blissful connection she'd always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth. Here, we see the making and breaking of a family in crystalline detail, and what it feels like when women are not believed. The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive pageturner that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about our children, and about what happens behind the doors of even the most perfect-looking families. . "-- show lessTags
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marcejewels The toxic unbelievable relationship between mother and daughter.
30
Member Reviews
The Short of It:
I had heard from many that this story was wild and it is. It’s like watching an accident happen in slow motion and you cannot look away.
The Rest of It:
Blythe and Fox can’t wait for their beautiful baby girl to arrive. After a difficult labor, baby Violet is placed on Blythe’s chest and it’s not quite the feeling she’s envisioned all her life. As a young girl whose own mother left her at a young age, Blythe silently vows to be the type of mother that she herself never had. But the constant feedings, the lack of sleep and honestly, the lack of a mother-daughter bond concerns Blythe. It concerns Fox too but he pins it on exhaustion. How could a mother not love her own child?
The thing is, Violet never seems to NEED show more Blythe. She is always reaching for daddy and doesn’t seem to notice the things he can’t provide like the around-the-clock nursing that only Blythe can manage. Years pass and this feeling that Blythe has can’t be shaken. There is something wrong with this child.
Enter Sam. If you have any doubts over your ability to be a mother, why not test the theory out by having another child? That’s exactly what Blythe does. She never shares her full intentions with Fox but secretly she wants to prove that she is a good mother and that a different child will see that. Sam is the baby she’s always wanted. He nuzzles into her, and doesn’t turn away like Violet did. He smiles when he sees her and looks to her for comfort. When she sees her son’s goofy grin, she smiles from ear to ear. While all of this is going on, Violet and her father also notice and Blythe is left wondering if there is something wrong with her to feel such dread whenever her daughter enters the room. How can Blythe not let this affect them? Then, the unthinkable happens.
What a book! This is a brutally honest look at motherhood. These characters are not depicted in a good light and some might think that Blythe’s aversion to her own daughter is way over-the-top but anyone who’s had a few rough years with a baby knows that it is right on the money. My daughter did not sleep through the night until age four and required two feedings an hour for years. So long that the doctor had her checked for a heart condition thinking she was expending too much energy and therefore requiring more food. This book triggered me in so many ways and yet I kept flipping those pages.
Many have described The Push as being compulsively readable. I agree 100%. It’s gritty and truthful and not at all pretty but it was impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage then you will want to read this one.
Also, Ashley Audrain has another book coming out in 2022, The Whispers.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less
I had heard from many that this story was wild and it is. It’s like watching an accident happen in slow motion and you cannot look away.
The Rest of It:
Blythe and Fox can’t wait for their beautiful baby girl to arrive. After a difficult labor, baby Violet is placed on Blythe’s chest and it’s not quite the feeling she’s envisioned all her life. As a young girl whose own mother left her at a young age, Blythe silently vows to be the type of mother that she herself never had. But the constant feedings, the lack of sleep and honestly, the lack of a mother-daughter bond concerns Blythe. It concerns Fox too but he pins it on exhaustion. How could a mother not love her own child?
The thing is, Violet never seems to NEED show more Blythe. She is always reaching for daddy and doesn’t seem to notice the things he can’t provide like the around-the-clock nursing that only Blythe can manage. Years pass and this feeling that Blythe has can’t be shaken. There is something wrong with this child.
Enter Sam. If you have any doubts over your ability to be a mother, why not test the theory out by having another child? That’s exactly what Blythe does. She never shares her full intentions with Fox but secretly she wants to prove that she is a good mother and that a different child will see that. Sam is the baby she’s always wanted. He nuzzles into her, and doesn’t turn away like Violet did. He smiles when he sees her and looks to her for comfort. When she sees her son’s goofy grin, she smiles from ear to ear. While all of this is going on, Violet and her father also notice and Blythe is left wondering if there is something wrong with her to feel such dread whenever her daughter enters the room. How can Blythe not let this affect them? Then, the unthinkable happens.
What a book! This is a brutally honest look at motherhood. These characters are not depicted in a good light and some might think that Blythe’s aversion to her own daughter is way over-the-top but anyone who’s had a few rough years with a baby knows that it is right on the money. My daughter did not sleep through the night until age four and required two feedings an hour for years. So long that the doctor had her checked for a heart condition thinking she was expending too much energy and therefore requiring more food. This book triggered me in so many ways and yet I kept flipping those pages.
Many have described The Push as being compulsively readable. I agree 100%. It’s gritty and truthful and not at all pretty but it was impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage then you will want to read this one.
Also, Ashley Audrain has another book coming out in 2022, The Whispers.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less
Ooohhh...this was entirely different than I expected and that's a compliment. I think it's better if you don't know much going into it. It's not a pulpy beach read, nor is it a thriller. It's...complicated, nuanced, and challenging.
This one would be a great book club pick and an interesting discussion. There are many bits ripe for discussion - mother/daughter relationships, what happens to a duo when a baby makes three, parent/child dynamics, sibling dynamics, child abuse, nature/nurture, child psychology, and even the complicated feelings and social contract of pregnancy.
Although I've read countless forgettable derivatives of the unreliable narrator by now, this one is more than most of its type. The Push is intelligent and gets show more credit for having something to say while still being engrossing and readable. Kudos for the cover art and the title too, both of which serve the book well. I finished it a few weeks back now and it's stuck with me since. It will not be for everyone, but the most interesting ones usually aren't. show less
This one would be a great book club pick and an interesting discussion. There are many bits ripe for discussion - mother/daughter relationships, what happens to a duo when a baby makes three, parent/child dynamics, sibling dynamics, child abuse, nature/nurture, child psychology, and even the complicated feelings and social contract of pregnancy.
Although I've read countless forgettable derivatives of the unreliable narrator by now, this one is more than most of its type. The Push is intelligent and gets show more credit for having something to say while still being engrossing and readable. Kudos for the cover art and the title too, both of which serve the book well. I finished it a few weeks back now and it's stuck with me since. It will not be for everyone, but the most interesting ones usually aren't. show less
Addictive, gripping, relentless.
The Push had me helplessly hooked and locked in a stranglehold from the very first chapter to the very last word. If I could’ve read it in one sitting I would have. Every time I had to put it down I was itching to pick it back up again. Every time I turned a page my eyes swooped from top left to bottom right in trepidatious anticipation of what horror was going to be hurled at me next.
Eighty five short chapters written in an easy-to-read style packed with hard-to-stomach content, The Push is Blyth’s story interspersed with the childhoods and motherhoods of her grandmother Etta and mother Cecilia, revealing a cycle of maternal abuse, neglect and malfunction.
For me, the reading was pure feeling. show more Nail-biting tension, escalating dread, heartbreaking sadness, knife-edge apprehension. The images came crowding in after I’d devoured the words and will stay with me for a very long time.
In a world where Violets and Kevins are all too real, The Push is a chilling and thought-provoking work of fiction where maternal instincts are not necessarily a given and not all children are the little angels we believe them to be.
An awesome debut.
Highly recommended. show less
The Push had me helplessly hooked and locked in a stranglehold from the very first chapter to the very last word. If I could’ve read it in one sitting I would have. Every time I had to put it down I was itching to pick it back up again. Every time I turned a page my eyes swooped from top left to bottom right in trepidatious anticipation of what horror was going to be hurled at me next.
Eighty five short chapters written in an easy-to-read style packed with hard-to-stomach content, The Push is Blyth’s story interspersed with the childhoods and motherhoods of her grandmother Etta and mother Cecilia, revealing a cycle of maternal abuse, neglect and malfunction.
For me, the reading was pure feeling. show more Nail-biting tension, escalating dread, heartbreaking sadness, knife-edge apprehension. The images came crowding in after I’d devoured the words and will stay with me for a very long time.
In a world where Violets and Kevins are all too real, The Push is a chilling and thought-provoking work of fiction where maternal instincts are not necessarily a given and not all children are the little angels we believe them to be.
An awesome debut.
Highly recommended. show less
This book. Wow. One of the best psychological suspense books by a debut author that I’ve ever read. Audrain has created a complex narrative in which Blythe shows us both motherhood and the effects of generational trauma. When Blythe becomes a mother to Violet, it’s not how she imagined it would be, and it doesn’t become that bond that others talk of. So she tries again and gives birth to Sam, who she connects with and adores. But when something happens..., and Blythe suspects Violet is behind it, no one will listen.
There’s so much more to the story that I want to talk about! This would be an excellent book club read or to pass along to friends. Highly recommend but maybe with a trigger warning for those with small children.
There’s so much more to the story that I want to talk about! This would be an excellent book club read or to pass along to friends. Highly recommend but maybe with a trigger warning for those with small children.
"Dicen que lo primero que oímos en el útero son los latidos del corazón materno. En realidad, lo primero que suena y hace que vibre el aparato auditivo recién formado es el pulso de la madre en la sangre que corre por sus venas y arterias. Vibramos al son de ese ritmo primordial antes incluso de tener oídos para oírlo. Antes de ser concebidas, existíamos de manera parcial en forma de óvulo en el ovario materno. Todos los óvulos que la mujer llevará dentro se forman cuando es un feto de cuatro meses en el útero de su madre, lo que significa que nuestra vida celular en forma de óvulo empieza en el útero de nuestra abuela. Todas pasamos cinco meses en el útero de nuestra abuela, quien a su vez se formó en el útero de su show more abuela. Vibramos con los ritmos de la sangre materna antes de que nuestra madre haya nacido...
Encontrarse con un libro que muestre la complejidad de las relaciones de familia puede ser difícil, pero Audrain lo logra. En esta historia tenemos una mirada intima a la mente de una mujer que buscar obtener una vida de ensueño: tener el marido perfecto que la apoya en su exitosa carrera como escritora, mientras residen en un bello departamento y ¿tener hijos? La disyuntiva de la maternidad nubla sus días porque aquí, el pasado no sólo es lo que te formo, es una cicatriz generacional que nunca abandona a Blythe
"¿Qué había hecho? ¿Por qué había querido tenerla? ¿Por qué creí que sería distinta a mi propia madre?"
Blythe Connor, protagonista de esta historia, es una mujer conflictuada por la maternidad. Si bien su madre la abandono cuando era niña, la verdadera herida es la falta de amor que siempre le demostró. Esto la ha llevado a buscar amor y aceptación fuera de sí misma, encontrándolo en los brazos de Fox, un prominente estudiante de arquitectura, cuyo cariño y familia pasan a suplir la necesidad de pertenencia de Blythe, dándole años de felicidad hasta que nace Violet.
"No quiero que aprendas a ser como yo. Pero no sé cómo enseñarte a ser distinta"
La llegada de Violet revoluciona el mundo Blythe, pero no en el sentido romántico de la palabra. Blythe no conecta con su hija, no siente el amor que le prometieron que sentiría y no cree que pueda superar la frustración que le causa ser madre. A partir de aquí, vemos a Blythe cuestionar su papel, su capacidad y su sanidad: está convencida que Violet no es una niña normal y Fox, su esposo, le asegura que todo está en su imaginación. (Btw, en esta cuenta odiamos a Fox, es la prueba de que puedes ser un buen padre y un esposo de mierda)
"Creíamos que nos conocíamos el uno al otro. Creíamos que nos conocíamos a nosotros mismos."
Es a partir de aquí que veremos el descenso y descenso de Blythe: sus problemas con Violet, su seguridad de que su hija es una psicópata, el amor que le da la llegada de su segundo hijo y el dolor de recordar su vida anterior. Todo esto aderezado con la historia de otras dos mujeres: la de la madre y abuela de Blythe.
Dar una vista atrás a las mujeres de la vida de Blythe no es gratuito: esto sirve para contextualizar a Blythe, para entender sus cuestionamientos sobre si hay algo mal en ella y en Violet, para que nosotros nos preguntemos si se puede ser una buena madre cuando no tienes modelos sanos…
"Una madre no cuenta con traer al mundo un niño que sufra. No cuenta con tener un niño que se muera. Y tampoco cuenta con criar una mala persona"
El libro es muy bueno y sería perfecto de no ser por el final más horrible de la vidaFrustradísima quede con que hicieran que Blythe sanara sus heridas respecto a la maternidad, e incluso se deshiciera de la idea de que Violet era una psicopáta, para al final decirnos ¡Que sí era una psicópata! De verdad, odie que hasta la autora manipulara a Blythe para hacerla sentir que ella era quien estaba mal para después decir “¿recuerdas que te dijimos que tú eras quien estaba mal? Bueno, olvídalo, sí tenías razón. No te regresaremos el dinero de la terapia” . Esta es una historia excelente para cuestionarnos lo que se espera socialmente de la maternidad, de la paternidad, del amor a los hijos, y de nosotros mismos. show less
Encontrarse con un libro que muestre la complejidad de las relaciones de familia puede ser difícil, pero Audrain lo logra. En esta historia tenemos una mirada intima a la mente de una mujer que buscar obtener una vida de ensueño: tener el marido perfecto que la apoya en su exitosa carrera como escritora, mientras residen en un bello departamento y ¿tener hijos? La disyuntiva de la maternidad nubla sus días porque aquí, el pasado no sólo es lo que te formo, es una cicatriz generacional que nunca abandona a Blythe
"¿Qué había hecho? ¿Por qué había querido tenerla? ¿Por qué creí que sería distinta a mi propia madre?"
Blythe Connor, protagonista de esta historia, es una mujer conflictuada por la maternidad. Si bien su madre la abandono cuando era niña, la verdadera herida es la falta de amor que siempre le demostró. Esto la ha llevado a buscar amor y aceptación fuera de sí misma, encontrándolo en los brazos de Fox, un prominente estudiante de arquitectura, cuyo cariño y familia pasan a suplir la necesidad de pertenencia de Blythe, dándole años de felicidad hasta que nace Violet.
"No quiero que aprendas a ser como yo. Pero no sé cómo enseñarte a ser distinta"
La llegada de Violet revoluciona el mundo Blythe, pero no en el sentido romántico de la palabra. Blythe no conecta con su hija, no siente el amor que le prometieron que sentiría y no cree que pueda superar la frustración que le causa ser madre. A partir de aquí, vemos a Blythe cuestionar su papel, su capacidad y su sanidad: está convencida que Violet no es una niña normal y Fox, su esposo, le asegura que todo está en su imaginación. (Btw, en esta cuenta odiamos a Fox, es la prueba de que puedes ser un buen padre y un esposo de mierda)
"Creíamos que nos conocíamos el uno al otro. Creíamos que nos conocíamos a nosotros mismos."
Es a partir de aquí que veremos el descenso y descenso de Blythe: sus problemas con Violet, su seguridad de que su hija es una psicópata, el amor que le da la llegada de su segundo hijo y el dolor de recordar su vida anterior. Todo esto aderezado con la historia de otras dos mujeres: la de la madre y abuela de Blythe.
Dar una vista atrás a las mujeres de la vida de Blythe no es gratuito: esto sirve para contextualizar a Blythe, para entender sus cuestionamientos sobre si hay algo mal en ella y en Violet, para que nosotros nos preguntemos si se puede ser una buena madre cuando no tienes modelos sanos…
"Una madre no cuenta con traer al mundo un niño que sufra. No cuenta con tener un niño que se muera. Y tampoco cuenta con criar una mala persona"
El libro es muy bueno y sería perfecto de no ser por el final más horrible de la vida
I’ve seen THE PUSH getting a lot of buzz on Instagram, and I can certainly see why. The subject matter is chilling and flat-out tragic, but I couldn’t quit reading.
The story is told in second person, with the narrator being Blythe, and the “you” she’s taking to, her husband, Fox. Blythe’s own mother, and her mother before her, were cold & neglectful. Was it mental illness, or simply a lack of desire to be a mother? Blythe wants to give her new baby, Violet, the love and affection she missed as a child. But, things don’t go as planned, and Blythe soon senses that something is wrong with Violet.
This book tackles the struggles of motherhood, generational trauma, and the “nature versus nurture” debate in a gripping way. My show more mind kept wrestling over Blythe and Violet’s characters, wondering if there really was something “off,” or whether it was imagined. Either way, what a devastating situation to be in.
THE PUSH is a remarkable debut novel from Ashley Audrain, and she’s definitely going on my auto-buy list. show less
The story is told in second person, with the narrator being Blythe, and the “you” she’s taking to, her husband, Fox. Blythe’s own mother, and her mother before her, were cold & neglectful. Was it mental illness, or simply a lack of desire to be a mother? Blythe wants to give her new baby, Violet, the love and affection she missed as a child. But, things don’t go as planned, and Blythe soon senses that something is wrong with Violet.
This book tackles the struggles of motherhood, generational trauma, and the “nature versus nurture” debate in a gripping way. My show more mind kept wrestling over Blythe and Violet’s characters, wondering if there really was something “off,” or whether it was imagined. Either way, what a devastating situation to be in.
THE PUSH is a remarkable debut novel from Ashley Audrain, and she’s definitely going on my auto-buy list. show less
“I would be different. I would be like other women for whom it all came so easily. I would be everything my own mother was not.”
Blythe is anxious about impending motherhood but determined to break the cycle of indifference and neglect that characterised her own relationship with her mother, and her mother’s before that. Violet’s arrival leaves Blythe awestruck, but within a week of the birth of her daughter, in pain and exhausted from lack of sleep, she is convinced she is doing everything wrong, that she cannot be a good mother, and that Violet knows it.
Exploring the question of nature vs nurture, the experience of motherhood, inter-generational trauma and mental health, The Push is a compulsive, chilling debut from Ashley show more Audrain.
“This is my side of the story.”
Unfolding from Blythe’s first person perspective, I think parents in particular will find something to relate to in Blythe’s early experiences of motherhood, whether it be a fleeting thought, or something more profound. For me those early weeks and months with a newborn are now mostly a blur, but I do remember the concern (that never really leaves you) about my ability to be good mother. Blythe’s initial anxiety therefore seems reasonable, especially as information about her own tragic background is revealed, but as Blythe begins to view Violet, barely a toddler, as an active agent of her angst, empathy slowly begins to drain away.
“I couldn’t tell you the truth: that I believed there was something wrong with our daughter. You thought the problem was me.”
Blythe’s husband, Fox, is at first largely supportive of his wife’s anxiety but he is certainly not willing to entertain Blythe’s idea that Violet is anything but a sweet, blameless child. Audrain capitalises on the ambiguity and as Blythe’s credibility wavers, the tension thickens. The uncertainty is a feature of the plot, it’s unsettling to not know if Blythe can be trusted, and the alternative, to believe her, is just as, if not more disquieting.
The Push has quite an impact, this is a disturbing, poignant, and gripping novel. show less
Blythe is anxious about impending motherhood but determined to break the cycle of indifference and neglect that characterised her own relationship with her mother, and her mother’s before that. Violet’s arrival leaves Blythe awestruck, but within a week of the birth of her daughter, in pain and exhausted from lack of sleep, she is convinced she is doing everything wrong, that she cannot be a good mother, and that Violet knows it.
Exploring the question of nature vs nurture, the experience of motherhood, inter-generational trauma and mental health, The Push is a compulsive, chilling debut from Ashley show more Audrain.
“This is my side of the story.”
Unfolding from Blythe’s first person perspective, I think parents in particular will find something to relate to in Blythe’s early experiences of motherhood, whether it be a fleeting thought, or something more profound. For me those early weeks and months with a newborn are now mostly a blur, but I do remember the concern (that never really leaves you) about my ability to be good mother. Blythe’s initial anxiety therefore seems reasonable, especially as information about her own tragic background is revealed, but as Blythe begins to view Violet, barely a toddler, as an active agent of her angst, empathy slowly begins to drain away.
“I couldn’t tell you the truth: that I believed there was something wrong with our daughter. You thought the problem was me.”
Blythe’s husband, Fox, is at first largely supportive of his wife’s anxiety but he is certainly not willing to entertain Blythe’s idea that Violet is anything but a sweet, blameless child. Audrain capitalises on the ambiguity and as Blythe’s credibility wavers, the tension thickens. The uncertainty is a feature of the plot, it’s unsettling to not know if Blythe can be trusted, and the alternative, to believe her, is just as, if not more disquieting.
The Push has quite an impact, this is a disturbing, poignant, and gripping novel. show less
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- Canonical title
- The Push
- Original title
- The Push
- Original publication date
- 2021-01
- People/Characters
- Blythe Connor; Fox Connor; Violet Connor; Sam Connor; Cecilia West; Etta (show all 12); Henry; Seb West; Helen Connor; Gemma; Jet Conner; Mrs. Ellington
- Epigraph
- It is often said that the first sound we hear in the womb is our mother's heartbeat. Actually, the first sound to vibrate our newly developed hearing apparatus is the pulse of our mother's blood through her veins and arteries... (show all). We vibrate to that primordial rhythm even before we have ears to hear. Before we were conceived, we existed in part as an egg in our mother's ovary. All the eggs a woman will ever carry form in her ovaries while she is a four-month-old fetus in the womb of her mother. This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother. Each of us spent five months in our grandmother's womb and she in turn formed within the womb of her grandmother. We vibrate to the rhythms of our mother's blood before she herself is born. . .
Layne Redmond, When the Drummers Were Women - Dedication
- For Oscar and Waverly
- First words
- Your house glows at night like everything inside is on fire.
- Quotations
- A mother's heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Blythe," she finally whispers. Something happened to Jet."
- Blurbers
- Jewell, Lisa; Edwards, Kim; Hannah, Kristin; Brown, Karma; Molloy, Aimee; Clegg Bill (show all 7); Vaughan, Sarah
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.6
- Canonical LCC
- PR9199.4.A9244
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