I read the novel Push when it was published over 10 years ago. I wasn’t heavily into fiction and wasn’t drawn to novels like this one, but the intriguingly simple title caught my attention. I skimmed the first couple of pages and decided to check it out.
The novel is about an overweight, HIV-positive black teenaged girl named Precious Jones, pregnant for the second time with her father’s child. (Her first child has Down syndrome.) Yucky, I know, but it gets worse. Her crazy mother is molesting her. Precious is a rough-around-the-edges, foul-mouthed, inner-city (Harlem) girl who uses bad grammar and mispronounces words. She talks back and curses at teachers. She can’t read but likes “maff.” If I recall correctly, Precious was suspended from school and sent to an alterative school. She meets a teacher who helps her learn how to read, and her attitude changes.
Once you get past the character’s defensive, stereotypical attitude, and vulgar language (yeah, I know…why bother?), the book becomes absorbing. The book ends with Precious, who so far as lived a chaotic, pitiful life, is feeling joyful because she’s doing something as ordinary as drinking hot chocolate at a café with girls who care about her. She’s “alive inside,” and her degenerate parents haven’t broken her spirit.
I think I either cried or was close to tears as I read the last few pages. A used and abused young girl who initially saw no value in herself becames a cared-about person, and it made all the difference. The theme is about pushing oneself: to improve, to get out in the world, to do the right thing, etc.
Push was made into a movie and won the grand prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. It stars Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe as Precious, Mo’Nique as her mother, Paula Patton as the caring teacher, and Lenny Kravitz (!) as a nurse.
I don’t know how the movie handles the book, but either way, the subject matter is awful. The redeeming factor about Push is that it shows how the human spirit fights to survive (and thrive) even in the midst of unspeakable pain. That’s what I got from it.
