The People We Don’t See

Precious Jones is the exact opposite of your typical literary heroine. She is overweight. She is black. She is poor. She is illiterate. She is sixteen and pregnant with her father’s second child. Push by Sapphire is the exact opposite of escapism. Push is the deepest, darkest of realities that no one wants to think about or look at. Yet, Precious Jones is the kind of heroine that every person aspires to be; the kind that fights to overcome all odds.

At sixteen, Precious is kicked out of high school for being pregnant. The school sends her to an alternative school that will help her earn a GED. In this school, Precious discovers Miss Rain and all the mending that writing and reading can bring to her soul. Miss Rain pushes Precious to do more, to be more and she is the one person that Precious has been longing for and needing.

Push is a quick read, but it is hardly the type of book that you can put down and not think about. Precious’ blunt descriptions of the abuse by her father and mother left me completely uncomfortable. However, the book is suppose to make you uncomfortable; the book pulls you out of whatever safe hovel you’ve been living in and makes you look really hard at the life of someone who has been sexually abused. It is ugly, uncomfortable and tragic.

While tragedy meets Precious over and over again, there is hope in this novel. Precious’ anger at her situation and her need to be more left me with hope. Throughout the novel, Previous always pictured her inside self as a beautiful white girl; but, at the end of the novel, Precious begins to see her outside as her inside, both of which are beautiful. There is movement toward acceptance with her image of self, yet rage over her situation. Precious is fighting and her journey is far from over.

I always thought I was someone different on the inside. That I was just fat and black and ugly to people on the OUTSIDE. And if they could see inside me they would see something lovely and not keep laughing at me, throwing spitballs…But I am not different on the inside. Inside I thought was so beautiful is a black girl too.

Push will definitely be one of my favorite all time novels. The way Sapphire forces the readers to look at someone who we spend our whole lives pretending not to is riveting and unsettling. Sometimes it’s good to be shaken up; it’s the only path to change.

The movie Precious is based on the novel Push. I have yet to see the movie, but after reading this book, it is definitely on my radar for must see movies.

Watch an excerpt of Katie Couric’s interview with Sapphire.

Book Source: Borrowed