Reviews with content warning for Death - The Push

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Push by Ashley Audrain

182 reviews

marisabenn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

What a debut, holy moly. One of the best opening and ending lines I have read in recent memory. The story is written with the beautiful normalcy of everyday language. It feels like you're hearing a person confide in you about their struggles. You get lost within the world, feeling like you're there experiencing and seeing these stories happen.

Not a 5 star read because I both love and hate the ambiguity. I wanted to know what really happened, but that's not how the story is meant to be.

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batcaves's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kelly_e's review

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dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Title: The Push
Author: Ashley Audrain
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: January 5, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Visceral • Unsettling • Complex

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Blythe is sure she will be the nurturing and comforting mother she never had. But in the midst of the exhausting early months, and incapable of connecting with her newborn daughter, she is convinced something is wrong with Violet. When she shares her concerns with her husband, he dismisses her claims.

When Blythe gives birth to her son, Sam, the situation is very different, and it's everything she always imagined a mother/child relationship to be. When their lives change on a dime, it will force them to face the truth.

💭 T H O U G H T S

The hype had definitely subsided when I finally picked up The Push, unfortunately it stilled influenced my reading experience and it ended up not living up to all my expectations.

What I like:
- I appreciated the honest insight and portrayal of the expectations versus the realities of motherhood, yet as a childless woman I didn't connect to the plot line.
- The plot line of multi-generational trauma
- Written as a letter, I thought the format was clever. And it was obvious that Audrain is a strong writer.

What I didn't like:
- The plot delivers quite a few stereotypes but I don't know that it leaves us a whole lot further ahead in our understanding, but rather upholds stigmas that can be detrimental to mental health awareness.
- I believe I'd have liked it more if the ending was different. For me, the ending felt like it was used for shock value rather than a natural resolution.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't call this a thriller, rather it's a psychological drama that is sure to spark discussion. But because the plot has been so overdone, The Push is easily forgettable to me.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a compulsive read
• bookclubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"A mother’s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime."

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fictionlostandfound's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The Push is a story of one woman trying to break the cycle of multi-generational dysfunction and trauma associated with motherhood, specifically the relationship between mothers and their daughters. But the cycle is harder to break when your concerns are dismissed as typical new mom jitters.

This psychological drama is a tense read that had me feeling uncomfortable from the very beginning as the author dives into the darkest fears of parenting with a first person narrative; instantly going where your mind refused to travel because it is so dark. This book left me emotionally drained, uncomfortable, and yet oddly satisfied. Would definitely recommend!

I highly suggest checking trigger warnings before diving in.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book....WOW. Okay.

So what I want to say first is that I think going into this book expecting a thriller is a mistake. Even on the inside flap, it says it's more of a psychological drama. *Drama.* Anyone who goes into this expecting jump scares and some mystery to solve is going to be disappointed. I, however, went into it without any real expectations, other than that I knew it would be fucked up because every single person I spoke to who read it told me so. There are definitely horror elements, I would say, but I wouldn't say that it's a true horror or thriller.

The writing was so rich and haunting, it had me horrified even throughout the mundane parts of it, which I think takes a certain skill - a skill that I certainly don't possess. I also really enjoyed the themes within pertaining to generational trauma, found family, and how our parents - even if they want us to be different than they are, sometimes can't help but rub off on us. I also loved reading from Blythe's perspective - what an interesting and flawed character to get to be inside the mind of!!

I don't want to talk too much about what this book is actually about because I think you're better off going in at least partially blind. Be mindful of triggers and take care of yourself as needed.

I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long, long time.

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lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

3 words: dark, unsettling, addictive

Short chapters made it easy to read.
Emotions were raw.
Writing was gripping.

I read this is one sitting. It's a disturbing read, but worth it. It goes into the unspoken realities of being a wife, but most specifically motherhood. I love an unreliable narrator and Blythe can be categorized as one. This is categorized as a psychological thriller, but I think it's more along the lines of psychological family drama. This is Ashley Audrain's debut novel, and I can't wait for the next books she'll write. I don't want to spoil it and it's better if you go in blind, so here's the last part of the blurb just to be safe:

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and about what if feels like when women are not believed.

Read it if you haven't already, but as usual, check trigger warnings first.

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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

4.75 because I needed just a little more from the ending. Otherwise—WHAT A TWISTY, CREEPY, SICKENING RIDE OF CREATION AND DEMISE.

I was hooked immediately and never let go. The writing was smart and breezy and blunt and chilling, the chapters were deliciously short, the characters were multifaceted and unhinged, the plot was searing, uncomfortable, explosive. Darkly fantastic.

“The Push” refers, specifically, to one tragic incident in the main character’s life, but to me it was also a direct metaphor for all of the different types of motherhood represented in the story. How much children shape our worlds, the very good parts and, in this novel’s case, the traumatic and the sinister.

If you haven’t already, pick this up ASAP. You won’t be able to put it down until the very last page.

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