Push

I just finished reading Push by Sapphire.  I had seen the previews for the film Precious, and I was curious, so yesterday when I was at our local bookstore, I grabbed a copy when it caught my eye.  Last night about 11:30, I opened the front cover after I got through doing something else, intending only to glance at the first page and put it down.  By 2:00, I was about 2/3 of the way through it.  I only stopped then because I needed sleep.

It's not an easy read in the sense that it's light-hearted and fluffy.  The subject matter is, quite frankly, heartbreaking.  However, I am going to put this on my list of books people should read because of how that harsh reality and brutal content is dealt with.  The main character, Precious, comes from a background that makes most people's ideas of hell look like pastel paintings edged with tatted lace.  And Sapphire does not let you forget for a moment that her character is immersed in a reality that is horrifying on a daily basis.  

The beautiful part of the book, though, is that the brutality of that reality does not crush Precious.  There are times when it very nearly does, and I think that was nicely done, too, very realistic.  God knows there are situations that nobody is strong enough to endure alone, pressure points too great for even the strongest of souls to stand up under, and this character experiences some of those.  Ultimately, though, she transcends in spite of it all.  That is why I like this book.

I know it has been compared to The Color Purple.  If it hasn't, it will be.  It does, in fact, compare itself to that work.  In Precious, I see literary echoes of Celie, of the abused survivor who finds her own voice and her own life.  I think maybe she might be a Celie in the present, despite the novel being set some twenty-five years ago.  Her environment and her conflicts, some of them, anyway, are things Celie in her time and place did not have to face.

This is a novel that will stick with me.  I can't say that it is going to be entirely a pleasant companion, but I think it is important that I have read it.  I can also say that at the end of the work, I was proud and hopeful.  It's not often I can say all of that about something I've read, really, so I am rather glad I grabbed Push yesterday.  It was a whim that paid off.