PENGUIN The Push: The Richard & Judy Book Club Choice & Sunday Times Bestseller With a Shocking Twist

The book was rather interesting in that I thought it was about one thing in the beginning and midway through figured out it was about something different. Some in our book club thought it had a surprise ending. I personally figured out the ending.

“The irrational mother. The incapable woman.”This was a tough read for me. Not because it wasn’t done well - it *was* done well imo, but because of the emotional consistency of weight. It was heavy. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom. Or maybe it’s because I’m a woman. Or maybe it’s because the lack of care and concern for mental illness on all sides of the fence. Important things were collectively disregarded, ignored, or even forgotten on purpose between the characters, and I could only take so much at a time.“I could barely remember the mother I had been. Motherhood is like that- there is only the now. The despair of now, the relief of now.”l was emotionally infuriated over the societal misogyny we can't seem to recognize in our own world.“I couldn't tell you the truth: that I believed there was something wrong with our daughter. You thought the problem was me.“I felt so terribly bad for Blythe. She is brutally honest with nothing and no one to support her. So vulnerable, so alone. It’s heartbreaking.“I do not wish he and I were alone without her. She talks about him when he's not there. She tells strangers about him. Every once in a while, she asks if we can go to the park alone because she misses time with just me. We do, and we swing side by side, and get vanilla ice cream cones. We go home and he is waiting for us, safe with you. I do not quietly pretend that he is my only child.”I’m not sure if the other timelines blended into the book were necessary, or if they benefited the main story. I think I could have done without them.“I know you believe she did. But you've made it up. You saw something happen that never did. She didn't do it.”Something you should also know before picking this one up - it’s chapters are unconventional. There are 85 of them and the majority are single pages.

Avaliação do objeto em si: chegou para mim o produto descrito nas informações (tamanho) e na imagem (mesma capa). Chegou em perfeito estado físico, nenhum amassado.

The Push had me helplessly hooked and locked in a stranglehold from the very first chapter to the very last word. If I could’ve read it in one sitting I would have. Every time I had to put it down I was itching to pick it back up again. Every time I turned a page my eyes swooped from top left to bottom right in trepidatious anticipation of what horror was going to be hurled at me next.Eighty five short chapters written in an easy-to-read style packed with hard-to-stomach content, The Push is Blyth’s story interspersed with the childhoods and motherhoods of her grandmother Etta and mother Cecilia, revealing a cycle of maternal abuse, neglect and malfunction.For me, the reading was pure feeling. Nail-biting tension, escalating dread, heartbreaking sadness, knife-edge apprehension. The images came crowding in after I’d devoured the words and will stay with me for a very long time.In a world where Violets and Kevins are all too real, The Push is a chilling and thought-provoking work of fiction where maternal instincts are not necessarily a given and not all children are the little angels we believe them to be. An awesome debut. Highly recommended.

“The Push” is a captivating novel about four generations of women - Etta, Cecilia, Blythe and Violet. It’s a story about mothers struggling with motherhood and about the impact of actions on the next generations. It’s also a story of the high expectations and the pressure on woman and mothers, and about regrets and grief. It’s about all the feelings some mothers might feel but not supposed to feel (because it would be against this ideal image of a mother) but Audrain has the courage to address those feelings.Blythe Connor is pregnant with her first child, she is intent on being a perfect mother for her daughter, to give her all the love and comfort she never got from her own mother Cecilia.But after giving birth to Violet, Blythe sees herself confronted with a child, that behaves not like other children. But apparently nobody wants to see, what she’s seeing. So, can that be true? Does it only take place in her mind? Could she suffer from postnatal depression and needs help? Or is she projecting her deepest fears, to be a bad mother, on her daughter?Either way, her husband Fox dismisses constantly her feelings. He is basically gaslighting her. This left Blythe in a spiral of self-doubt and self-hatred.But the more her feelings grow, the less Blythe can connect with Violet which leads eventually to Violet‘s total resentment of her mother.After their second child Sam is born, Blythe experienced a totally new aspect of motherhood and is blessed with a deep connection to her son. But this bliss comes to a sudden end when fate strikes and brings Blythe to her knees.As I read this novel, I had to think about Paul Harding’s prize winning novel “Tinkers” about the three generations of men and how he absolutely failed to describe their linked relationships. This is something, what Ashley Audrain did perfectly. She shows this devastating and shocking connection between Etta, Cecilia, Blythe and Violet.Neither Etta, nor Cecilia wanted to be mothers but were pushed into this role, which influences their behaviour towards their daughters. But also Blythe didn’t chose motherhood for the right reason, not because she really wanted to be a mother but to please her husband as well as to show that she is capable to break the abusive circle and be the perfect warmly mother she desperately wanted herself.“I started to understand, during those sleepless nights replaying the things I'd overheard, that we are all grown from something. That we carry on the seed, and I was a part of her garden.”This psychological thriller is beautifully crafted, with short but gripping chapters. It’s a real page turner, I couldn’t put down (ask my sleep).