Reviews with content warning for Stalking - The Push

The Push was my perfect psychological thriller. It was so well-paced and incredibly written, I was hooked from the very first page. I raced through this one, with my insides tense the entire time, unsure where the story was headed (though, I was more fascinated by the characters themselves and less fussed about how the story might or might not shock me at the end, like I typically look for in a thriller). This book is heavy on the 'psychological' part of 'psychological thriller' and really functioned as a fascinating character study and rumination on motherhood and the mountains of expectations that come with the role of mothering. That was what made this book stand out from other thrillers I've read and enjoyed. This was just phenomenally done. This book earned every ounce of hype it got when it came out earlier this year, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this genre of novel.

Content Warnings

smehra's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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exorbts's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

-First off this book is not a thriller and I am completely fine with that since I didn't pick it up because of this aspect, I picked it up because I wanted to read about a mother-daughter relationship (not this kind Per se, but that didn't hinder my experience).

-It is a dark psychological drama of 3 generations of mothers and how each one of them affected her daughter's future and view of the world of motherhood, and it was absolutely scary to think about.

-I LOVED how this book discussed grief and loss in a heartbreakingly beautiful way.

-The ending was not to my liking

Spoiler

IMHO, it would have been more impactful and interesting if the mother's suspicions were wrong

but again I enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship discussion so much more to not think about the ending.

-There are some topics that really intimidated me like giving birth and the aftermath and repercussions on the mother's body and mental health, marriage(the wife-husband relationship).

-Overall, this book was slow, dark, twisted, mind-boggling, hard-hitting, and hard to put down with beautiful writing. A great experience.

P.S: a theory of the cover and how I interpret it: two faces that make a womb-that interpret motherhood\(mother/daughter)\(mother/mother)-. The overall picture of butterfly-that interprets the (Butterfly-Effect)of how a small action can result in large differences in the future.
so like how the experience of a woman as a daughter and a mother can influence the experience of her daughter.

Content Warnings

maviii's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.5

I mean....okay?? This could have been a lot better, I feel as through the author didn’t spend as much effort in the ending as she should have. I loved the concept as well as the main character, the writing style was a little annoying and I found myself skimming paragraphs at times. Overall a solid read, and an interesting novel with a twist on your traditional thriller.

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jesscoast's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.5

Chilling and harrowing. This novel examines nature vs nurture and intergenerational trauma passed from woman to woman. The story and prose are incredibly upsetting but intensely memorable and visceral, some passages hurt to read. Every worst fear is confronted. So many things are written that are rarely said or even thought. Shame, resentment, failed reinvention, broken trust are all examined. Yet somehow I couldn't put it down, reading each dark chapter was like a wreck I couldn't look away from.

Content Warnings

mommarex1221's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I read this in less than a day, which is something I've never done before. I could NOT put this down. Enthralling, well worth the read. I absolutely recommend it, although I would suggest that the content warning is reviewed, as there are a lot of triggering topics explored here.

Content Warnings

gem114's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

1.0

Oof. This book did not live up to the hype for me. For a psychological thriller, I did not find it very thrilling at all. I thought it was slow and predictable, and I kept waiting for a twist that never came. Maybe part of the issue is that I don't have kids so I couldn't relate to the motherhood drama? I'm honestly not sure, but regardless, this won't be going on my list of books to recommend.

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