"Push"

I just closed this book and put it back on the shelf between "The Measure of a Man" and "Jesusland" (alphabetized by author last name). I'm thinking---why can't I find this movie playing anywhere and why aren't more people talking about this book? It's been awhile since reading a heavy book like this. It definitely has parallels to "The Color Purple" and "The Bluest Eye" ---two really important books as well. Everyone won't like this book. It is written in broken English---written from the perspective of the narrator. After the first few pages you get past that (it's actually not much different than the broken English text messages we call communication or the six year old writings I read weekly). I enjoyed the book because it was candid. Because it didn't sugar coat one bad thing that happened to the main character Precious Jones. Sometimes, sitting in our plushly furnished, obsessively clean suburbia townhouse---I need a little dose of what someone elses reality might be. I definitely got it with this read. I stopped watching Oprah, on a regular basis years ago, but every now and again I notice she is talking about an interesting book. A few weeks ago this was the case when I was flipping through the channels and she was going on about "Push" . Luckily I am always at Borders, and the next day I found a half off copy of "Push" to go along with a half off copy of "Waiter Rant" (another book I found out about through mindless Oprah t.v. viewing---so far she's two for two). Since my blog is rated "G" (I think), I won't go into too many of the savage details that are Precious Jones young life--- but incest, rape, neglect, abuse, poverty, and disease are just a few of her struggles. It wasn't all bad---and I do believe that good can come from bad..."Fairtytales can come true, it could happen to you..." The best part of the book however, was not Precious' triumph over adversity (read that story before). For me it was reading about reading. Reading about writing. Reading about Precious Jones pushing through the struggles in her life through writing. Words are a powerful thing. I hope you are pushed to read...