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angemc21's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Pregnancy
jrrrck's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
thanks to netgalley & amazon publishing uk for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Push has a solid, if run of the mill, central psychological thriller set up. It features six different couples from the same prenatal group and the detective who is investigating a death that happens at one of the group gatherings. A theme throughout is pregnancy, motherhood, and partnership. There were moments where I felt like the writing inched towards something interesting, but the overall structure really fell flat. There were way too many POVs and timeline switches which meant the book overall felt muddled. There were several instances where the author was clearly obscuring information that otherwise naturally would be revealed (especially given the POV) in the interest of having an abundances of secrets and twists. There also was pretty much no character to connect with or like, which while it's fun to think about couples & mothers being flawed, it loses some degree of veracity when literally no one is liked.
The Push has a solid, if run of the mill, central psychological thriller set up. It features six different couples from the same prenatal group and the detective who is investigating a death that happens at one of the group gatherings. A theme throughout is pregnancy, motherhood, and partnership. There were moments where I felt like the writing inched towards something interesting, but the overall structure really fell flat. There were way too many POVs and timeline switches which meant the book overall felt muddled. There were several instances where the author was clearly obscuring information that otherwise naturally would be revealed (especially given the POV) in the interest of having an abundances of secrets and twists. There also was pretty much no character to connect with or like, which while it's fun to think about couples & mothers being flawed, it loses some degree of veracity when literally no one is liked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
shull3464's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Classism, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy
kdowli01's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Not to be confused with the book of the same name by Ashley Audrain. The Claire McGowan version I think had potential but, to me, was just ok.
CW: infertility, stillbirth
Synopsis: Six couples from a baby group get together for a barbecue. One person ends up dead. All the others have something to hide. Was it an accident or was the person murdered?
So....this just reminded me so much of Big Little Lies, or The Guest List, or the Hunting Party, or several others. Someone is dead and we don't know if it was an accident or murder, and in fact we don't even know who it was that has died until pretty far into the book. It felt creative when I read that previously, but it doesn't feel creative anymore.
I also thought some of the twists, even supposedly major ones, were just so blatantly obvious, it was disappointing. And I couldn't help but notice an inconsistency in who actually saw the event.
Anyway....on a good note, it was a very quick read, with short chapters and alternating POVs that was entertaining. The characters are also just awful, judgmental people, so it was fun to hate just about all of them. So not a total loss, but not one I'd go out of my way to recommend.
CW: infertility, stillbirth
Synopsis: Six couples from a baby group get together for a barbecue. One person ends up dead. All the others have something to hide. Was it an accident or was the person murdered?
So....this just reminded me so much of Big Little Lies, or The Guest List, or the Hunting Party, or several others. Someone is dead and we don't know if it was an accident or murder, and in fact we don't even know who it was that has died until pretty far into the book. It felt creative when I read that previously, but it doesn't feel creative anymore.
I also thought some of the twists, even supposedly major ones, were just so blatantly obvious, it was disappointing. And I couldn't help but notice an inconsistency in who actually saw the event.
Anyway....on a good note, it was a very quick read, with short chapters and alternating POVs that was entertaining. The characters are also just awful, judgmental people, so it was fun to hate just about all of them. So not a total loss, but not one I'd go out of my way to recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility and Miscarriage
katiescott's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility and Miscarriage
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pedophilia
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