Push av Sapphire

Intressant skriven, stundvis väldigt grafisk och tar upp väldigt mörka teman såsom incest, våldtäkt och pedofili osv. Handlingen följer den 16 åriga Precious som är analfabet och bor i Harlem, New York. Läsaren bevittnar hur hon kämpar sig genom sitt hårda och orättvisa liv.

Detta är en relativt kort novell och har ett öppet slut. Läsaren vet hur det kommer att sluta för Precious men inte hur pass mycket hon kommer att åstadkomma innan. Önskar därefter att denna novell vore lite längre.

Rekommenderas enbart om läsaren klarar av att hantera dessa ovanstående mörka teman.

Life Skills

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I expected horror upon horror, which I got, but I didn't expect such moving, lyrical writing and a small ray of hope in the end. Bahni Turpin, the audiobook narrator, was outstanding as usual. ( )

Sad and extremely moving--belies much of the loud rhetoric about endemic character flaws among the poor.

Digital audiobook narrated by the author

I’ve wanted to read this ever since the Oscars ceremony that highlighted the film (which I have yet to see).

Precious Jones is a young pregnant black teenager, who is functionally illiterate and the product of an abusive home. But Precious has a fierce determination to care for the baby growing inside her and to better her life. She WILL learn to read. She WILL keep her baby. She WILL succeed.

The issues raised are horrific and difficult to read about and process. Brava to Sapphire for highlighting the plight of young people such as her protagonist. The writing is raw and brutal; the story is gripping and inspiring. My heart broke for Precious, even as I cheered her on.

I did have a copy of the text handy, as I typically do for audiobooks. But I didn’t look at it until I had finished listening. On opening that first page I am struck by the author’s use of vernacular dialect, and the kind of misspellings a person like Precious would resort to in writing her own story. I’m reminded of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and how listening to the audio of that work made it easier to absorb the story.

The author narrates the audiobook herself, and I cannot imagine that anyone else would have done a better job. ( )