Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Push

This novel was a quick and easy read. How the chapters are formatted make it easy to want to keep going to the next one. The author does an excellent job with setting tense and disturbing tones throughout the novel, while making you question if the narrator is reliable or not.

I enjoyed the uncertainty of whether we could trust the narrator or not. Obviously, we are inclined to see the world through the lens of the narrator, but knowing that the antagonist of the book is a child we think that the narrator then must be unreliable.

That her perspective is truly that of a confused, grief-stricken woman who has lost everything. But, the ending provides clarity and although we have been witnessing everything through the narrator’s perspective, it all seems to be truly confirmed by the ending sentence.

Overall, a great novel that keeps you turning the page and wanting to find out more while keeping an interesting perspective on motherhood and its darker manifestations.

Content Warnings

breanneporter's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

This is a hard book to rate; I devoured it, finishing in just over a day, but now that I’ve finished I’m struggling to understand what to take away from it… it follows our narrator, Blythe, as she recounts her experience of motherhood with her daughter, Violet, and her son, Sam, and her tale is interspersed with memories of her own mother as well as her mother’s history with her own mother. It is very dark, so be sure to check content warnings. More than the darkness, it is unsettling. I felt anxious reading it, but was compelled to continue. The pacing is fast, the chapters are short, and it’s very easy to be immersed in the narrative (even as it makes you increasingly uncomfortable).

I kept waiting for evidence of Blythe’s untrustworthiness as a narrator, something to redeem Violet, but I didn’t really get that… and the ending is (horrifyingly) validating to Blythe’s perspective, but there’s no recognition of why only Blythe was seeing this side of her / was the target of her derision for so long…. Idk.

I’m not sure I would recommend or say that it was an enjoyable reading experience but it was certainly an immersive and memorable one!

Content Warnings

alangmaack's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-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

1.0

Content Warnings

bon_xx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

claire_reardon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

I waited two entire months on Libby…for this? Maybe it was just the Tik Tok hype but I didn’t find this as crazy and captivating as everyone said it was.

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