I just finished reading Push, by Sapphire. You may recognize the name of the book/author, because the movie version “Precious” recently premiered at several film festivals. It should be opening in limited release soon, and there is already a lot of Oscar buzz for several of the actors.
Thanks to some savvy marketing on the part of the filmmakers, you can no longer purchase the original book on Amazon. You can, however, buy the movie tie-in edition (sneaky!).
No matter the edition you purchase/borrow, it’s well worth the read. Definitely not an easy read, or even a particularly enjoyable one at times..but well worth the effort.
Although this book includes graphic descriptions of incest, it doesn’t feel exploitative. I sometimes feel as if incest is the ‘catch all’ disturbing twist in almost every dramatic movie, television show and/or book.
Can’t think of a dramatic end to your soap opera murder mystery? Throw in some brother-sister incest!
Need a shocking twist for the end of your movie? Throw in some mother-son incest!
What these overly dramatized productions seem to miss when they exploit our reaction to incestuous relationships is the scope and impact of the trauma associated with this type of sexual violence.
Push goes for graphic, but it certainly does not go for overly dramatized. If anything, I found that it approached the subject with a lot of nuance. I was especially surprised to see that Precious found the non-consensual intercourse with her father sexually pleasurable but deeply shameful. It was incredibly disturbing to read, but felt very important from a victim’s rights perspective.
I think that the purely physical reaction to sexual intercourse can be extremely distressing for a survivor to recall as some may have experienced some type of pleasure. In a way, their own body has betrayed them by reacting to an unwanted sexual situation. I think Precious’ experience, although fictional, is thus important in that it highlights an often neglected aspect of assault that needs to be addressed in order to mitigate the ongoing trauma.
Although Push is graphic and rather distressing, I’m glad I read the entire book. Precious is the kind of character who stays with you long after you finish the story, and you want to keep rooting for her success in her (fictional) life.
Highly recommend.
