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    Precious
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    Precious
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    Precious
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    Precious

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An electrifying first novel that shocks by its language, its circumstances, and its brutal honesty, Push recounts a young black street-girl's horrendous and redemptive journey through a Harlem inferno. For Precious Jones, 16 and pregnant with her father's child, miraculous hope appears and the world begins to open up for her when a courageous, determined teacher bullies, cajoles, and inspires her to learn to read, to define her own feelings and set them down in a diary.

    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 3, 2008
    ISBN9780739376225
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Precious

    4/5

    1,030 ratings105 reviews

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    • 4/5
      In a tone swollen with pain, anger, desperation, frustration, and—ultimately—determination, Sapphire tells the story of Precious Jones, a Black teenage girl growing up in Harlem with an evil, violent mother and a “father” who rapes her repeatedly, resulting in the birth of her two children. Somehow Precious manages to escape her home and find salvation at an alternative school and a halfway house. This novel, written from the semiliterate perspective of Precious herself, is difficult to read—partly because of the nonstandard spelling and usage (which improve as Precious develops her reading and writing skills) and partly because of the brutal, grim reality that her life represents. Through sheer resolve to create a better life for herself and her children, Precious finds beauty and poetry in her world and—we imagine—peace.Precious’ narrative ends rather abruptly, with implied but ambiguous hope for her future. The novel itself concludes with a series of poems written by Precious along with memoirs written by three of her classmates, whose stories are equally intense and horrific, demonstrating that Precious’ plight is by no means unique.
    • 4/5
      Clareece Precious Jones narrates her life of abuse and redemption.Oh my. This was an extremely difficult book to read. The raw language, brutality and just plain ugliness is very heart-wrenching. I was in the position of knitted brows and open mouth throughout most of the book due to its shock value. It was very difficult to grasp the cruelty. What I liked was that I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Precious, so I kept turning those pages. However, I'm not so sure I want to see the movie anymore - too much hardship and very disturbing. I don't think I'm interested in watching what I read.Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
    • 4/5
      A lot has been said about this book since it was published in 1996, but I'm only picking it up now. It's the story of Sapphire, a sixteen-year-old African American girl, and her coming of age in Harlem. Written from the first person perspective, the text is the speech and thoughts of an illiterate young girl. Her colorful speech depicts a life full of the worst life can dish out. But Sapphire perseveres and, with the help of a dedicated young teacher, determines her own path out of her miserable childhood.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars

      Push was difficult to read because of the subject matter and the way it was written. I believe the author wanted us to think like Precious and the words were written how she spoke. She had a horrendous childhood and her parents were disgusting, vile human beings. Instead of crumbling under the abuse, I really admired how Precious fought to make her life better.
    • 3/5
      Sixteen year old Claireece Precious Jones is suspended from school because she is pregnant with her second child. The public school system has failed her by leaving her illiterate. Her family has failed her by emotionally, physically, and sexually abusing her on a daily basis. She frequently daydreams to escape her grim reality. Her life turns around after she meets a teacher at an alternative school who believes in her and recognizes the injustice of her situation. Ms. Rain teaches her more than the ABCs. She teaches Precious self-expression and the meaning of love.

      The gritty story is at times difficult to read because of its graphic depictions of Precious's abuse as well as the various levels of dialect that is employed to serve as her voice. The struggle on the part of the reader adds a dimension of empathy that makes the story seem ever-more real.
    • 4/5
      Claireece Precious Jones, who goes by her middle name, is a sixteen-year-old black girl in Harlem kicked out of school when she becomes pregnant by her father for the second time. When a teacher suggests she looks into an alternative school, Precious meets a teacher who believes in her and friends who also have difficult pasts.The book is written in first person dialect by Precious, who is just learning to read and write so I felt like the character's voice was in my head talking to me. Some of the things that happen to her are horrible and graphic, and definitely let anyone know who may have a trigger with sexual abuse. However, her story is powerfully told and sadly believable. The ending might drive some people crazy, but I found it hopeful without being a fairy tale ending.
    • 4/5
      Personal response: I didn't think I would like this. I watched the movie first, not by my own accord. I couldn't imagine that anything Oprah would recommend would be anything that I might like. I admit I was wrong. This led me to read the book. Fantastic, and full of raw reality and emotion. I had problems with the 'authentic' nature of the speech at first, but as I got past this I found it to be an intricate part of the book. I also struggled with Precious' writing abilities as we saw what she had written in her journal. This element reminded me of a modern day Helen Keller. Teen readercurricular connections:Sociological study of the urban environmentHealth educationGreat example of the importance of strong reading and writing skills
    • 4/5
      Brutal, honest, brilliant.
    • 4/5
      I saw the film which is based upon this novel long before reading it, and the film has been praised as an unflinching portrayal of human struggle and also decried as a fetishization of "black pathology." Sapphire's novel at least seems to avoid Hollywood's pitfalls of dimensionless sensationalism and saccharine redemption. This is a novel about a young black girl who is poor, illiterate, overweight, and victimized by incestuous rape resultant in multiple pregnancies. Many critics argue that such a barrage of horrible circumstances is unrealistic, though to say so is deny that many young women of color do indeed face these very circumstances. Perhaps that is simply too shameful a thing to admit to ourselves. The key to this novle is what Sapphire does with language, the language grows as the character grows and evokes for her and for us new dimensions of understanding about her story. If we looked at Precious and not through Precious this book would be a masturbatory exercise in pity and black woe that white audiences could weep to with abandon. Sapphire's storytelling rightfully denies that. This book evokes empathy, not pity, and that is an important distinction.
    • 4/5
      graphic language and written in characters dialects so at times confusing to read, but overall plot was eye opening and I had a hard time putting it down.
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing. It is really sad and hard to read based on the graphic nature of the book and how it is written by a girl who can't read or write. It's hard to put down because you want Precious to succeed so bad. I wish Sapphire would have end the book differently with perhaps a little more detail. She kind of leaves you hanging towards the end. I recommend this book to people who can handle the disturbing content.
    • 5/5
      Push is the story of Claireece Precious Jones, an overweight, sexually and physically abused, teenager who finds herself pregnant for the second time with her father's child, told from her perspective. Precious is illiterate, and until she is enrolled in an alternative school and meets a passionate teacher, Ms. Blue Rain, Precious feels like she is invisible and has no voice: "I wanna say I am somebody. I wanna say it on subway, TV movie, LOUD. I see the pink faces in suits look over top of my head. I watch myself disappear in their eyes, their tesses. I talk loud but I still don't exist" (31).

      Push is a mere 150 or so pages of writing (Not all the pages are full pages of text, so despite the listing of 192 pages here on Shelfari, which includes the front matter, like the title pages and the bibliographic and publishing information pages, Push is not quite that long.), but it packs one powerful punch. When I opened the book and read the first few lines, I must admit that I cringed and didn't know if I could read it because the writing was too familiar in it's lack of grammar and misspellings. (I see the kind of writing from the opening sentences in my own classrooms every semester.) But as I read on, Push grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I read the novel in one sitting, or rather in one state of recline and far, far past my bedtime. I simply could not put it down, and so much of the story has occupied my mind throughout the day today.

      As Precious narrates her story, the writing is starkly raw and oftentimes brutal. It's the story of abuse and of a system that miserably fails both Precious and her children, especially her first child who is born with Down Syndrome (revealed in the first lines of the text.) The books is heartbreaking, yet I couldn't put it down. Early on in the book, I would think "how much more should one girl have to have; how much more can she take" only to find out that she did and would face more. Push is, at times, a horrific story that will push you, as a reader, through a deep range of emotions, from sadness, to deep anger, to hope. I couldn't help but almost cheer aloud for Precious when she stood up and recited some writing--a poem--during one class session. In fact, if it wouldn't have roused my husband from sleep at around 3:00 a.m. (See, I was absorbed way past my bedtime.), I probably would have joined in the "Go Precious!" cries of her classmates.

      Because Push is told from Precious' point of view, we often see Precious in the present as she is taking her basic adult literacy class so that she can even get her reading and writing to the level to qualify to take a GED preparation class and are suddenly shifted to Precious in the past, when she is eight, when she is three, when she is twelve. Many readers may find this lack of continuity in the timeline of Precious' story confusing, and I must admit that at first it can be a bit jarring, but ultimately it is this back and forth (or back and back and forth) that makes the book not just simply work but so powerful.

      I must admit that my opinion of the book is probably slightly biased because I teach writing, not to students like Rain does, but to students at an open-enrollment university who are sometimes woefully unprepared for college in many ways, especially academically. A a large part of what appeals to me about the book is not simply the depth of the characters or the powerful images that Sapphire creates by having Precious narrate her story but the fundamental idea that language and writing is powerful. We see Precious grow and develop as a young woman and take charge of her own life through the power of writing because she comes to realize that she does have a voice, she has something to say worth listening to, and she can finally see herself in her own words; she's no longer invisible because she can now tell her story; she CAN write her story.

      The movie, Precious featured Mo'Nique (perhaps best known as a comedian) as Precious' mother. She won an Oscar for her performance. I did not see the film when it came out because I wanted to read the novel first. Now that I have finished the book, I don't know that I can bring myself to watch the film because I don't know that I take some of the heart-wrenching scenes in the book translated to film. I'll have to think about that. Maybe I'll gather up the courage to Netflix it and watch it before July is over.
    • 3/5
      This was very powerful read. I was shocked about the differences between the book and the movie, but the book feels more "real" than the movie did. I also feel like the characters were more in your face in the book which makes it a much more interesting read.
    • 4/5
      I was very engaged by the movie, "Precious", which is based on this novel. Set in 1987, Harlem, the story is shocking and yet uplifting. The novel is narrated by Precious and we see her writing improve over the time span involved in the story. The novel is much more personal than the movie. It is interesting how some things are clearer and other things more obscure in each of the two media.
    • 5/5
      Everyone keeps saying how raw this book is - and it absolutely is. It's hard to read without cringing and I actually put it down for a couple nights only to agonize over what would happen to Precious. It was so emotionally wrenching that I almost wanted to hate it - but couldn't in the end. For a short read, it packs a powerful punch. My only (minor) criticism is that I wished there was a little more content. The writings of Precious and her classmates at the end of the book were so compelling, I would have enjoyed more of them - perhaps interspersed throughout the novel instead of piled on at the end as an afterthought.
    • 3/5
      Precious is an extremely overweight black girl, molested by both her mother and father, who is sent to an alternative school in Harlem. She has two children, the first being born when she is only twelve years old and both fathered by her own father. With such a background, how does she plan to proceed? Her aim is to finish her schooling by learning enough to qualify for GED classes and then maybe go to college. Along the way, she participates in support groups with other girls who have befriended her.This book is a hard one to read. The story of all the girls in this book are so sad. Since the book is told by Precious in her own vernacular, reading through all of this becomes tedious after a while. However, the message is a good one, and the book is short so reading the story of Precious is most likely worthwhile. I wish all children in her situation a chance for success in life.
    • 4/5
      Depressing, but I knew that going into it. I like the way it is written, from Precious' point of view, actually using her dialect. Reminds me a lot of "The Color Purple", which she even becomes a bit fixated with. Can't decide if I want to watch the movie or not--some things, I just don't need to see.....
    • 4/5
      Inspirational, yet very graphic. There were moments when the book was difficult to read because of the very graphic, detailed accounts of incest.

      To Sapphire's credit, I felt like Precious was a real person. She's one of the most seemingly real fictional characters I've ever read.
    • 3/5
      This was very powerful read. I was shocked about the differences between the book and the movie, but the book feels more "real" than the movie did. I also feel like the characters were more in your face in the book which makes it a much more interesting read.
    • 4/5
      Full disclosure: I watched the movie that was based on this book several years ago and never planned to read the book at all, since the film was such a brutal experience. Then, one day amid the book piles, I happened to pick it up. And couldn't seem to put it down. This is not an easy book to read, both because of its subject matter -- a teen is sexually, physically and emotionally abused by her parents throughout most of the book -- and because of its style, which mimics the learning process as the main character grows from functional illiteracy to personal fluency. Though it is hard to get through many passages, it is easy to appreciate the book's importance and the way that it represents a perspective rarely captured. Here, it is presented without condescension. Those who read the book will have a better, truer experience than those who watch the movie, largely due to the style mentioned above but also because the book allows the reader more access -- and therefore more relatability -- to the main character. Fascinating, engaging, sometimes even repulsive, Precious is a main character who will not be forgotten. And hers is an experience that should be remembered so that we might fight against its reality. Brace yourself.
    • 5/5
      This was extremely well done. There were details in this story, little occurrences or passing thoughts, that showed an unusual amount of perception and understanding. Things that wouldn't have made it into the conscious mind of a normal person even having lived the story. Perhaps they were the the result of research and many interviews of social and psychological professionals but I got the impression, for some reason, that they came from the authors mind.

      This should be read by everyone, regardless of whether you have the stomach for it or not. The vast majority of our society is not aware of these things and should be. I first saw this lack of awareness about 35 years ago in a social studies class called minority affairs discussing the class text book titled Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria. After decades of paying attention I believe there's no more awareness now than there was then.
    • 4/5
      Stylized, disturbing story of a girl from the Bronx. Written in bad English, I found myself re-reading some lines, but it was a really good book. 9/10
    • 1/5
      I don't recommend this book to anyone. It leaves you feeling violated and disgusting.
    • 2/5
      I hadn't seen the movie before reading this book. I'm uncertain what the author's purpose was in telling this story. If it was to horrify everyone with the abuses this young woman suffered at the hands of both her parents, and the school and social services systems, then this book does that. If it was intended to be inspirational, it does not succeed.

      The book was very unsatisfying in it's conclusion. We are left wondering if Precious beat the overwhelming odds and finished her GED, moving on to college and making a life for her and her son, or if she succumbed to remain a victim of the society and just another statistic.

      Written as a journal by Precious, it is at times difficult to read due to Precious' illiteracy. It is a short book, so does not take much time to read, but I would not recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Push is the verbally graphic story of an abused child named Precious Jones. Precious bears her father's babies first at age 12 and again at age 16. Suffering physical, verbal and sexual abuse by both parents and serving as a virtual slave to her apartment-bound, welfare-dependent mother, Precious lives in hopeless isolation in Harlem. At 16, Precious is struggling through public school until expelled for being pregnant, although her principal does set her up to enter an alternative school. At Each One, Teach One, Precious meets other troubled girls and they are buoyed by a devoted teacher - Miss Blue Rain - who teaches them to read and write.

      Written in the fractured vernacular of this sub-literate teenager, Push — the poet Sapphire's debut novel — is an effective novel. Precious' phonetic dialect and stunted vocabulary add authenticity to her saga and help this hard-luck story grab the reader with its poetic beauty. Push resonates with ugly truths. "I'm alive inside", she writes after attending a meeting of incest survivors, whose confessions are a balm to her shame. "A bird is my heart. Mama and Daddy is not win. I'm winning."

      It is stirring to see Precious test the wings of her newfound verbal powers, funny to decode her botched locutions (like "insect" survivors), and sad to watch her revert to frustrated illiteracy when, after progressing by leaps and bounds, she's thrown a tragic, unexpected curveball. Ultimately, however, Precious gains control of her life through writing ("the boat [that:] carry you to the other side") and finds her heroes (Langston Hughes and Alice Walker among them) through books.

      Push is an affecting combination of childlike tenderness and adult rage and leaves little doubt that Sapphire's talents as a poet translate artfully into her fiction.

      I rate this novel 4 stars.
    • 1/5
      Uh-oh... I thought this was going to be an inspirational book about a sad and abused New Yorker who went on to make something of herself. Instead, it was filled to the brim with disgusting details of child rape and abuse. The writing was horrid and I think having an illiterate main character is a really tricky way for a crappy author to write a crappy book.

      Boo.
    • 3/5
      This was very powerful read. I was shocked about the differences between the book and the movie, but the book feels more "real" than the movie did. I also feel like the characters were more in your face in the book which makes it a much more interesting read.
    • 4/5
      Incredible story of Precious Jones and how she survives and overcomes her wretched life of physical and sexual abuse by her parents and the invisibility of her existence to others who could have and should have helped her escape that life. At 16, she has been kicked out of school for being pregnant--for the second time--by her father. She starts attending an alternative school in Harlem, and with the love and support from teachers and friends made there, she not only learns to read and write, but to find herself.I almost stopped reading this book just a few pages into it. It was too uncomfortable. It made me angry and sad at the unfairness of life. But this is a book of getting beyond the unfairness and just dealing with it the best way you can. You can't change what life has dealt you in the past, you just have to push forward.
    • 4/5
      Claireece Precious Jones endures unimaginable hardships in her young life. Abused by her mother, raped by her father, she grows up poor, angry, illiterate, fat, unloved and generally unnoticed. She has two children by her father, who also gives her HIV. She gets sent to an alternative school where she learn to read, write, accept her life and move on. Recounted in disjointed, phonetic language. Very powerful, but violent, graphic and quite disturbing.
    • 5/5
      Wow, the abuse Precious suffers until she finds a teacher that cares.