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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Similar to We Need To Talk About Kevin, which I haven't read (but have seen the movie), I think this would put me off having kids if I wasn't already a mother. I liked that I began the book with a certain impression of Blythe, and then that impression quickly changed. I like when an author tricks me like that.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
This book did a good job of depicting what seems like a worst case scenario sort of motherhood, and it honestly kind of validated my worst fears about motherhood in general and generational wounds, but in a way that just bummed me out rather than feeling cathartic or something.
More importantly, it just wasn't that interesting. I didn't feel like there were enough of the psychological thriller elements that were promised, and I felt I was right to take the events that occurred mostly at face value.
More importantly, it just wasn't that interesting. I didn't feel like there were enough of the psychological thriller elements that were promised, and I felt I was right to take the events that occurred mostly at face value.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t remember the last time I experienced such fear and anger at the same time.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the reading experience of this novel but the whole time I could not stop thinking of We Need to Talk About Kevin (WNTAK), comparing the two. It was probably a mistake to have read both books within only a few months of each other as they are very similar in theme. Tonally they are different – Push is a thriller, rather than a literary novel, and so in exploring the theme it adds something new to the conversation. But the fundamental question the novel poses to you, the similarity of its second-person narration, and the protagonists’ personalities are all the same so it is a feeling of déjà vu .
That said, taking the book on its own merit I can completely understand its commercial success. It is a thriller novel – snappy, short chapters, an unlingering plot that moves at pace, cliffhangers and tension that pull you in and keep you in for the whole ride. But ultimately the setting is not high-stakes, so this writing that tonally reminds you of a crime story is effective for the paranoia we are supposed to feel. It could take a turn at any minute. It is building up to something that never comes – until the very final page.
The ending I loved. It worked particularly well on me as I had misjudged when the final page was so it came on me ten pages earlier than I was expecting. It’s one of those endings where you have to stare in disbelief at the acknowledgement page right after, knowing there’s nothing left. Then you’re left with it. It is the ultimate pay off for everything the book is leading you up to: a question.
The theme of the novel is interesting – whereas WNTAK is more focused on motherhood generally, Push is specifically about *woman*hood. We are told the stories of three different generations of women, and from the initial page of the book quoting When the Drummers Were Women, the idea we are all our mothers’ daughters and carry their blessings & curses is the central question. Can you shrug off generational trauma? Has Blythe? Is she any better a mother, a woman, than Cecilia – is Cecilia any better than Etta? And ultimately… is Violet any different to Blythe?
Even something as simple as the novel’s name just ties it all up neatly. Pushing your child out of the womb, pushing them away.
So yes, an enjoyable book overall. I hope I’m not being unfair to it by comparing so often in this review to We Need to Talk About Kevin, but they are so similar and actually for me, worked together well. I’m glad to have read the both of them, as each compliments the other and the topic they both address is important and richly fascinating.
That said, taking the book on its own merit I can completely understand its commercial success. It is a thriller novel – snappy, short chapters, an unlingering plot that moves at pace, cliffhangers and tension that pull you in and keep you in for the whole ride. But ultimately the setting is not high-stakes, so this writing that tonally reminds you of a crime story is effective for the paranoia we are supposed to feel. It could take a turn at any minute. It is building up to something that never comes – until the very final page.
The ending I loved. It worked particularly well on me as I had misjudged when the final page was so it came on me ten pages earlier than I was expecting. It’s one of those endings where you have to stare in disbelief at the acknowledgement page right after, knowing there’s nothing left. Then you’re left with it. It is the ultimate pay off for everything the book is leading you up to: a question.
The theme of the novel is interesting – whereas WNTAK is more focused on motherhood generally, Push is specifically about *woman*hood. We are told the stories of three different generations of women, and from the initial page of the book quoting When the Drummers Were Women, the idea we are all our mothers’ daughters and carry their blessings & curses is the central question. Can you shrug off generational trauma? Has Blythe? Is she any better a mother, a woman, than Cecilia – is Cecilia any better than Etta? And ultimately… is Violet any different to Blythe?
Even something as simple as the novel’s name just ties it all up neatly. Pushing your child out of the womb, pushing them away.
Spoiler
Ultimately I don’t think there’s any other way to interpret Violet’s estrangement from her mother than that she was pushed away, though of course the book leaves it purposefully to the reader to question. But whereas WNTAK purposefully ensures there is no answer to the nature v nurture debate as presented, I think in Push the question is answerable. The baselessness of Blythe’s beliefs about Violet seems so much more obviously a result of her own relationship with her mother, motherhood as a concept and women, and again this is a reflection perhaps of the genre – thriller – being far blunter in its writing than literature. We interpret the story through Blythe’s eyes, but she is not subtle in her assertions. She does not obfuscate. So I found far more ‘resolution’ in this book than WNTAK. The ending was less of a cliffhanger then but a 'fill in the answer'.So yes, an enjoyable book overall. I hope I’m not being unfair to it by comparing so often in this review to We Need to Talk About Kevin, but they are so similar and actually for me, worked together well. I’m glad to have read the both of them, as each compliments the other and the topic they both address is important and richly fascinating.
This page-turner is full of gritty details of parenthood. Is my child normal? Am I a bad parent? Did I see what I think I saw? I totally related to a lot of the difficulties and ways motherhood can make you doubt yourself. Thankfully, not all of them.