Push by Sapphire - Review

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293209,00.html

This review was written in 1996 by Margot Mifflin, and was published by Entertainment Weekly, an American magazine which covers film, television, music, books, Broadway musicals and popular culture.

The review starts with a short summary of the plot, a brief outline of the main character, Precious Jones, and the situation she unfortunately resides in. Mifflin has a positive opinion about the book, but does criticise some aspects. She feels that the novel, the first from poet Sapphire, "is only partially successful: Precious' phonetic dialect and stunted vocabulary inevitably flatten segments of her story." I feel this may be an unfair criticism, as without this element to the novel, it would be untrue to the character of Precious, who is unable to read and is illiterate. This therefore has to be shown within the text, which is written through the eyes of Precious, and although it does make the text harder to read and understand, you do gain a greater sense of the character and life she lives through her own eyes. Mifflin also recognises that Precious does have the intelligence and awareness of life around her, often by making remarks about people she encounters, for example when she states that "crack addicts give the race a bad name."
Mifflin is sympathetic to the character of Precious, and says how "it sad to watch her revert to frustrated illiteracy when, after progressing by leaps and bounds, she's thrown a tragic, unexpected curveball." I feel this is true, because as you read the book, you see Precious developing into a person who is beginning to realise she can be free of the demons of her past and move on, but it is heartbreaking when it is revealed she is HIV positive. Nevertheless, Precious still goes on to grow as an individual and take control of her situation through her new skills of reading and writing, making the most of her life for the sake of her two children.
Overall, Mifflin rates this book a B+, as she feels "Push is an imperfect novel — the ending is lackluster and the dialect is iffy — but its affecting combination of childlike tenderness and adult rage leaves little doubt that Sapphire's talents as a poet translate artfully into her fiction." I agree with this to an extent, as I feel that the dialect is a prefect representation of the character, but I do agree that there is a good mix of childlike tenderness and adult rage, which gives a vast depth to Precious which ultimately makes her a lovable character who has been beautifully written and depicted.