What is the genre of the novel Push by Sapphire?
Sapphire wrote the novel Push (renamed Precious) in a fractured ghetto patois that grew out of the author's experiences as a remedial reading teacher.
What is the story of push based on?
( Push is based on a young woman the author encountered when she taught in a literacy program in Harlem and the Bronx.)
Is'push'based on a true story?
Sapphire's Story: How 'Push' Became 'Precious' The gritty realism of the film Precious is even more intense in the novel Push, upon which the film is based. Author Sapphire discusses the inspiration for her work — and her initial reluctance to allow her work to become a film.
What is the story behind the book Sapphire?
Sapphire's Story: How 'Push' Became 'Precious'. Originally called Push (but recently renamed Precious to coincide with the film), the book, by the writer known simply as Sapphire, tells the story of a dark-skinned, heavy-set, illiterate African-American girl who has survived multiple pregnancies by her father.
Is Claireece Precious Jones still alive?
Cutting ties with Mary FOR GOOD, but sadly in the 2012 sequel to the book Push called The Kid Precious dies of AIDS leaving Abdul in foster care after her and Mary's death!
Who was the book Push based on?
Movie fans know the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones — the pregnant African-American teen who was a victim of incest and abuse — from the provocative, award-winning film Precious starring Gabourey Sidibe. The movie was based on the novel Push by Sapphire.
Did Push by Sapphire inspire a movie?
Sapphire's Story: How 'Push' Became 'Precious' The gritty realism of the film Precious is even more intense in the novel Push, upon which the film is based. Author Sapphire discusses the inspiration for her work — and her initial reluctance to allow her work to become a film.
Is Push a fiction?
Push was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work of Fiction.
Is Precious Jones a real person?
"The level of abuse I suffered is not nearly as extreme as in the book, and there is no character in the story, not even the teacher, who is based on me." Rather, Precious is a composite character, she says, created from the real-life stories she encountered while teaching for seven years, from 1987 to 1993, in an ...
What happened to Sapphire from Push?
In 2011, Sapphire published a sequel, The Kid. It follows the life of Precious' son Abdul from the age of nine to 19. Precious herself has died following complications from HIV, but was accepted to college before her death. Characters Rita, Rhonda, Jermaine, Mary, and Ms.
Is the Push a true story?
The novel Push, by Sapphire (pen name of Ramona Lofton), later renamed Precious, is not based on a true story.
Is there a second Push movie?
Sapphire Releases Graphic Sequel To 'Push' : NPR. Sapphire Releases Graphic Sequel To 'Push' More than a decade after the novel Push was published, audiences can learn about the son of Push's heroine, Precious. The Kid shows how Abdul Jamal Jones fights for his future through love and art.
What did Precious mom make her do?
Personality. Mary is the cruel, narcissistic mother of the novel's main character, Precious, whom she subjects to constant verbal, physical and sexual abuse. She turns a blind eye to the sexual abuse Precious suffers at the hands of her father, Carl Jones, because she resents Precious for "stealin' her man".
Is Violet a psychopath in The Push?
Thus, it appears Violet really may be a psychopath and Blythe, vindicated. It's not the most unpredictable ending, but what's so haunting about it is the chilling truth that Violet is the culmination of generations of parental trauma.
How does the Kid by Sapphire end?
The story ended with Precious, now HIV-positive, promising to protect and love her second-born, the boy she named Abdul.
What is the novel Push by Sapphire about?
Her 1996 novel Push, for which she was best known, tells the harrowing story of Claireece Jones, called Precious, an obese, illiterate African American teenager living in Harlem who, having been raped by her father, is both HIV-positive and the mother of two children.
What is the Push book?
Push. (novel) Push is the debut novel of American author Sapphire. Thirteen years after its release in 1996, the novel was made into the 2009 film Precious, which won numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards .
What is the ISBN number for Push?
177 (story until 140, then class book) ISBN. 978-0-679-76675-9. Push is the debut novel of American author Sapphire. Thirteen years after its release in 1996, the novel was made into the 2009 film Precious, which won numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards .
Where is the alternative school in Precious?
Precious is furious, but the counselor later visits her home and convinces her to enter an alternative school, located in the Hotel Theresa, called Higher Education Alternative Each One Teach One.
Is precious illiterate?
Precious begins the novel functionally illiterate. She spells words phonetically. She uses a "minimal English that defies the conventions of spelling and usage and dispenses all verbal decorum" (Mahoney). She employs variations such as "nuffin'" for nothing, "git" for get, "borned" for born, "wif" for with, and "chile" for child. She also uses an array of profanity and harsh details that reflect the life she has experienced. Michiko Kakutani, a book reviewer for The New York Times, states that Precious' "voice conjures up [her] gritty unforgiving world."
What is precious about?
Precious is ultimately about Precious herself, about the unfairness of the world and the deep need humans have to be loved. And it does that all without condescension or triteness. This isn’t the story of every African-American family in the Bronx ghetto – but it is a story based in truth, and one worth telling.
Is Leblanc an inspirational story?
LeBlanc tells the story almost detachedly, never editorializing, never judging. This is not an inspirational tale of some inner-city kid being touched by a teacher and becoming inspire to enroll at Harvard Medical School and cure cancer.
What is the story of Push?
Push is about Precious Jones an illiterate 16 year old black girl living in Harlem. Her life is a waking nightmare. Her father rapes her and she has giving birth to 2 children with him. Her mother abuses her in every way possible physically, emotionally and sexually.
What is the movie Push about?
Push (or the movie tie-in title Precious ), by Sapphire, is an emotionally-charged look at a sexually-abused girl and her struggle to become literate and do better for her and her children.
How old is Precious Jones?
Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible: invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem's casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and highly radical teacher, ...
When was Sapphire published?
Sapphire, the novel's author, published the novel in the mid-90s but chose as its setting the late 80s. The AIDS crisis, characterized as it was by a demonization of queer people, poor people and people of color, was booming in American media.
Was precious Jones a victim?
Precious Jones was born a victim, and not by her own declaration. Precious Jones was born to an abusive mother who beat her and enslaved her to do her bidding, and a father who sexually abused and impregnated her.
Is the writing in a book a joy to read?
The writing in the book is a joy to read. It isn't, as most good writing is, just a vehicle to convey the material as much as a vibrant and necessary component of the story. The literary device of the writing changing, opening, blooming along with the story is remarkably well-executed.
Does Sapphire use language?
What is more, the writing improves as Precious changes her life. Sapphire is using language on many different levels. Using language in the strictest terms of communication, and she deserves award after award for this. If the spelling was perfect, the book would lack half of its impact, if not more.
Overview
Push is the debut novel of American author Sapphire. Thirteen years after its release in 1996, the novel was made into the 2009 film Precious, which won numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards.
Plot
Claireece Precious Jones is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old girl who lives in Harlem with her abusive mother Mary. Precious is a few months pregnant with her second child, the product of her father raping her; he is also the father of her first child (who has Down syndrome). When her school discovers the pregnancy, it is decided that she should attend an alternative school. Precious is furious, but the counselor later visits her home and convinces her to enter an alternative school, …
Style
Critics have gone in both directions as far as their opinions of the style in which Push is written. Some consider "the harrowing story line [to be] exaggerated," saying that it does not seem realistic to "saddle one fictional character with so many problems straight from today's headlines" (Glenn). Others have stated that while the dialect is problematic, Precious herself is believable because she "speaks in a darting stream of consciousness of her days in an unexpectedly evocative fashion" …
Sequel
In 2011, Sapphire published a sequel, The Kid. It follows the life of Precious' son Abdul from the age of nine to 19. Precious herself has died following complications from HIV, but was accepted to college before her death. Characters Rita, Rhonda, Jermaine, Mary, and Ms. Blu Rain all appear in the novel.
See also
• Precious, the film adaptation
• "Push", a song by Lenny Kravitz
Sources
• Bennett, Tegan. "Sapphire shapes a gem that is Precious". The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 January 1997, late ed.: 12.
• Freeman-Greene, Suzy. "Hard beat of Harlem; Books". The Age, 21 September 1996, late ed.: 7.
• Harmon, William et al. A Handbook to Literature. 9th edn. NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.
External links
• The Official Film Website
• Interview about Precious with the cast and director, as well as Sapphire herself, at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival:
Sundance Interview Part 1 Sundance Interview Part 2 Sundance Interview Part 3