The Push: A GMA Book Club Pick

THIS REVIEW MIGHT HAVE SPOILERS SO PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK"A mother's heart breaks a million ways in your lifetime."Between a large number of positive reviews, being a mother, and an incessant craving for something dark, The Push sounded like exactly what I needed.The book was just okay. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it I didn’t really feel anything. But I absolutely wanted so much more. And the ending just made me mad.This book had been super hyped for me. I was so ready for this book to ruin my life. At the beginning, every thought I had as a new mother, was laid out on the pages of this book. It was like someone took the thoughts right out of my head. I had 99% of the feels Blythe had when I got pregnant and had my daughter. I really connect with her for the first part.The introduction to Blythe’s situation proved promising. Her experience and thoughts left me feeling so seen and heard. An example of motherhood many of us need. The majority of the book is written as one long letter by Blythe to her husband, which becomes repetitive and boring. The chapters move back and forth between time periods and characters, without a heading to indicate who and when.Another piece that pisses me off is that this book is marketed as a thriller. I wouldn't even call it a psychological thriller or a domestic thriller. I think if it hadn't of been marketed as a thriller, I would have had lower expectations and would have disliked it less.But I think the nail in the coffin for me was the fact that the husband doesn't believe his wife the whole book. They had such an awesome relationship before the baby. A long relationship before baby. So it doesn't make sense that he'd believe his daughter over his wife. It just makes me angry.I'm happy it was at least easy and fast to read. I probably would have DNF'ed it had it not been. I called the ending before I even got half way through the book.Everyone says if you've read The Perfect Child don't waste your time on this one. I plan to read The Perfect Child soon, and will return with my opinion on if that's in fact true!

I have a habit of rushing to buy the book everyone is reading and buzzing about, then ignoring it for so long that the hype has completely died down. The latest casualty of that practice is Ashley Audrain's celebrated debut novel The Push. I first featured the psychological drama on a stack of 10 other books that I planned to read way back in February of 2021. My bookstagram post featuring the title showed my youngest dog Murphy as a small puppy sitting next to the stack that was nearly as tall as he was. Since then, I've read almost 100 titles, and Murphy has grown to easily tower over that stack of books. I decided that enough time had passed and the overwhelming hype had died down enough for me to finally give The Push a read.Generational trauma casts a dark shadow over Blythe as she gives birth to her first child. Her daughter Violet represents a chance to right the wrongs of her family history, to finally give a child a loving home with an attentive mother. Blythe is, of course, apprehensive. What first-time mother wouldn't be? As she enters motherhood and watches Violet begin to grow, Blythe's worst fears seem to be coming alive before her very eyes. There is no real connection between the mother and daughter. Try as she might, Blythe just can't seem to make her daughter love her. Her husband is convinced there is nothing out of the ordinary about Violet. After all, the girl is affectionate and hangs on her father's every word. Still, Blythe can't shake the feeling that something is off.Then comes another shot to get everything right. And right it is. The birth of her son Sam is everything Blythe hoped for with Violet. There is an instant bond between mother and son, the kind that still evades Blythe's relationship with her daughter. This is the motherly bliss she was craving. Even Violet seems to have taken a liking to the bubbly newborn, showing rare signs of affection for the boy. Alas, this euphoria will be short-lived. Sudden tragedy strikes the family, thrusting all of Blythe's worst fears and suspicions to the forefront. Blythe will face the truth, even if that means reliving the very traumas that she has fought so hard to avoid.Opening the very first pages of The Push, it was easy to see why so many people have fallen under its spell. Ashley Audrain has written a novel that is compulsively readable. I started reading it right before bed, read for more hours than I intended, and finished the entire thing before I went to bed the next night. The main plotline of the book sees a mother reflecting on the events that have brought her to be an outsider in her own family. Audrain weaves themes of psychological trauma, motherhood, and the age-old question of nature vs. nurture into a drama that packs a real punch. The subject matter is dark and twisted, and I could see this being a deterrent to some readers. Still, based on how many glowing reviews I've read, it seems most readers are more compelled than concerned. I felt that the momentum of the novel started to lose steam a bit toward the end, especially as I started to see the main plot and flashbacks start to reveal glimmers of the ending. That being said, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think The Push was a solid read. It won't be my favorite book of the year, but I can certainly understand why so many other readers have loved it.

The narrative style was jarring initially, the F.M.C. telling her story to her estranged husband. My unfamiliarity with the narration made me shelve the novel for a time.I’m glad I came back to it because it’s a fine exploration of nature vs nurture, societal expectations of mothers, changing relationship dynamics following child birth, divorce and much more.Alexa read this to me. I often got confused about whose story I was hearing. The last chapter was in third person which took me out of the story.I recommend this to anyone interested in modern motherhood and the complexities of human nature.

Thrilling and haunting story about generational trauma. Would read a million times over! Loved every page!

I loved this book. Poor Blythe, you could feel Blythe's pain through the pages. And no one would listen. I'm not a crier and I cried twice reading it. Very good read

I certainly read this too early in my postpartum journey. If you’re far enough removed from this period of life, read it. It’s addictive. It’s sad. It’s heart breaking. 5 stars because I willThink about this book for the rest of my life.

I’ll admit the story kept me interested and was a page turner but there were some real eye roll worthy scenes and portions. And then some just nonsense. But overall I think it was totally fine and readable.

Wow. Excellent book. The writing style is a bit different, but fast paced and intriguing. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this. That last sentence…

Wow! That’s about all I can say about this book. Just wow! I do recommend reading this one to all of you.

There better be a sequel! I am dying here. You could predict it, but still…interesting story and obviously a cliffhanger.

I understand the mixed reviews on this— I don’t think you could relate to this book at all unless you’ve experienced birth, postpartum or postpartum depression. That being said I would NOT recommend this book to someone wanting to have a baby, about to have a baby or freshly postpartum. I honestly loved this book and felt like it was really raw and you felt yourself questioning like Blythe.

The Push is a very good and interesting book. It is the kind of book that as you read it, gets harder to put down and you aren’t ready for it to end, especially when it is over. Its title is meaningful on many different levels. I can tell that the author put deep thought into writing this mesmerizing intellectual book. It’s very real and intriguing. It has smooth suspense with good character development and an added subtle mystery that softly carries you through until it ends. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys insightful psychological fiction. It is very well written.

Good read. It was more of a story or novel rather than a psychological thriller. But, I enjoyed the book and break from all the psychological thrillers!

Wow. 🤯 What the hell did I just read? I’m not even sure how I feel. This story took me through all the emotions. I loved and hated it at the same time. There were times I wanted to shake the main character and scream at her, and times I wanted to wrap her in my arms and comfort her.This is a complex story that really makes you ponder the nature versus nurture theory. How much of this was due to her parenting or how much was due to her daughter’s own inherent nature?This was a shocking and disturbing read that I think will stick with me for a long time to come.

I really enjoyed this book overall. The author has a genuine gift for making her characters real and relatable. You feel empathy, sadness, anger, suspense and so many other emotions when reading, “The Push”. I raced through this book in a couple days, eager to know how it plays out, how it ends. This is where I had to only give 4 stars, versus 5. The ending was a let down for me! I wanted more. I got to the last page and literally said out loud, “that’s it??!”. Though, I didn’t love the way it ended, not because it didn’t draw a nice conclusion, but because it was so abrupt, I still really enjoyed this book. I would still recommend this as a book you can’t put down.

A considerable majority of the bad reviews of "The Push" seem to be from readers who are castigating not the quality of the writing or the book's structural elements, but the subject matter. One more reason why I wish Amazon just had a "not for me" button, which could eliminate bad reviews piling up on books that don't necessarily deserve them -- someone just didn't like what the author wrote about or was surprised by the subject matter. Granted, no one "likes" such subject matter, but we all have varying thresholds of tolerance for certain things, and some people simply don't like reading dark material -- which is of course okay.Reading the reviews before buying a book has saved me from countless purchases of books I wouldn't have enjoyed. I always read the five-star reviews to find out what readers loved about a book, I always read the one-star reviews to find out what people hated about it, and then I make a decision based on that.*This book is very dark.* Anyone who reads it should go into it knowing that. And while there are several tragic events in the book, the defining one of the book involves a primary character and is gut-wrenching. I almost couldn't continue because it was, to put it extremely simply, very sad. Other than that, I read it in barely more than a day and had a tough time putting it down.I wouldn't call it a "thriller," and I'm not sure the book is trying to call itself that. It is better described, as other reviewers have already said here, a "psychological drama." And in a psychological drama, things aren't necessarily "happening" all the time.I waffled between four stars and five, and went with four largely because of the ending, which I found very disappointing. Not because of what happened, because that was something that, let's be honest, we all knew was probably going to happen, but because of its extreme terseness and abruptness. The rest of the book spent so much time in Blythe's head, with a lot of great descriptive writing, but the ending was just like "okay bye." As another reviewer said, it was not only surprising but off-putting to think that you're about to turn a page into a new chapter, but instead you get the Acknowledgments page.

“These are the thoughts I never let leave my lips. These are the thoughts most mothers don’t have.”Ashley Audrain hit it out of the park with her debut novel, “The Push.” The Push is a story about Blythe Connor’s journey though motherhood and marriage while remembering her past.Blythe Conner had a great marriage. But one thing that her husband wanted was kids. Blythe, who had a family history of mothers not being good mothers, wasn’t sure it was what she wanted. She had Violet because her husband wanted to. Blythe struggled to connect with Violet while also thinking that the child may be a “bad seed;” motherhood did not come easy to her. That is, until she had Sam. The light of her life. Now she felt how mother’s are supposed to feel. Her struggles with Violet continue and her marriage starts to fall apart.I enthusiastically give this book 4 stars! Ashley Audrain brought her characters to life, making me feel everything that Blythe was feeling. I connected to Blythe on some level. I strugged connecting to my first child due to PPD. When I had my second, I went on medication to make sure that didn’t happen, and I bonded with him easily. I, too, have also said things that most mothers don’t say, and I’ve thought even more.This book will give you all the feels; it can be, at times, gutwrenching and heart breaking.I really enjoyed the short chapters, it made reading it go quickly and it also made me want to read more. It’s the first book in a few weeks that I was able to finish in two days.

If you notice something is wrong with your child, will the world turn on you or would they believe you? We all know what the reality would be in more cases than not.The Push is a read that left me a little shaken. I must admit that I felt torn when rating this book. As a medical student who has seen a range of insane things, the series of events in this book still shocked me. I can’t write this review without some minor spoilers so watch out ahead.This story is so much more than a “thriller”. It might actually be quite the journey for any woman or mother reading it. As an older brother, there were times when I wondered how my actions affected my sister. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be a parent.The book is a fairly quick read, with short chapters and fast-paced writing. It flips back and forth between Blythe’s story and that of her mother and her mother’s mother. The author does this to give you an idea of where Blythe’s fears and problematic character traits stem from, but also to highlight the many ways in which she is different. There is a point on the book where you relate to Blythe but many more times when you wonder if she is indeed becoming that which she hates. Looking back on it, she was nothing like the women that came before her. She wasn’t great, but motherhood is a puzzle that every woman solves differently. Every child and every pregnancy is handled differently. Even with twins, a parent can only go so long before the distinction needs to be made between both children and their personalities start to blossom. It’s at that point that their differences are really highlighted. Blythe’s process through motherhood will be something every mother can relate to, especially now-a-days.I was surprised by my aggressive drive to protect Violet’s innocence. For a long time I thought Blythe was imagining the whole thing. I bought into precisely what culture has drilled into us! This idea that mothers are perfect and that anything that happens to their child is their fault is pure BS. Sure! You learn early on that we are, for the most part, the product of our upbringing, but it’s foolish to think society and genetics play no role. I didn’t understand Violet and so my brain worked around it. I looked for what might be causing her behavior and came up fairly short. She’s different. She’s not the only child like that.I was told once by my mother that her biggest success in life was getting my sister and me to turn 18 without any mishaps or accidents. Imagine that sort of pressure! Thinking that every choice we made somehow reflected on her ability to be a good mother! My mother is amazing but I definitely made some questionable choices at every age past 13. I think we all have. Ninety percent of them had nothing to do with what she taught me or lack thereof. She’s a great mother despite the mistakes made by her and her predecessors. We’ll all make mistakes as parents…right?The horror of the story is not it’s series of events. It’s the fear that it will happen to us. It’s the harrowing fact that it does happen and more often than people imagine.

If you’re in the mood for a deeply disturbing psychological drama about a motherhood experience gone awry, this is your book. The principal character, Blythe, comes from a line of mothers who have been distant, neglectful, and even abusive to their daughters. Blythe’s grandmother’s domestic strains were the catalyst for her suicide. Blythe’s mother left the family home when Blythe was eleven without a backward glance. When Blythe met Fox in college, she finally found someone who became home to her. They had an idyllic relationship that centered on just the two of them. They eventually married, and Fox pursued his career as an architect. Blythe, who wanted to become a writer, stayed at home. Inside, she was always ambivalent about being a mother but finally agreed with Fox that it was time they started a family.She and Fox became the parents of Violet, a baby girl who, from her first breaths, was anything but easy. While Fox was at work, Violet would cry all day, refuse comfort, and resist her mother at every turn. Blythe began to use headphones to block out the crying and to write. One day Fox came home and discovered that the baby had been crying for a solid hour and a half. From that point on, Blythe and Fox’s relationship began to fracture. Blythe became convinced that something was wrong with her daughter. Fox thought the problem was Blythe, who had never really bonded with Violet. When Violet was four, Blythe became pregnant again. A nightmare for her began to unfold, leaving her distrustful of her daughter, and questioning her sanity. The unimaginable happens, and Blythe’s dreams of a happy family are destroyed.The novel is gripping from page one, not only for the story it tells but for the way most of the story is told. The author, Ashley Audrain, uses a startling second-person voice, so the reader becomes Blythe, and the “you” addressed is Fox. This is a challenging style to carry off, but Audrain does it very effectively. This voice has the added advantage of closing the distance between Blythe and the reader. Of all the books I’ve read lately, this one is the most intense. It’s a perfect read for the times when you want to curl up and shut the door. Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins fans will enjoy this read.

I rated this family drama 3.5 Stars rounded to 4 for Goodreads purposes.SUMMARYThis family drama follows three generations of dysfunctional women who have trouble connecting to their daughters. First Etta, who is broken hearted by the loss of her true love. Soon after his tragic death, she realizes she is pregnant and gives birth to Cecilia. She finds a very nice man who loves her and Cecilia, and remarries, but she doesn’t love him, or Cecilia for that matter. She never recovered from the loss of her beloved husband and is barely able to function in life. On her best day, she is neglectful and gives little to Cecilia. On her worst day...Next is Cecilia. She is wounded from her childhood but is determined to forge a life for herself in the city. Not long after her arrival, she meets a nice man, not long after that, she discovers she is pregnant. She gives birth to Blythe, she didn’t want a husband or child at that point in her life and she really has no idea how to even be a mother. As the pattern repeats itself, she is neglectful but, at least she’s a tiny bit better than her own mother...Then Blythe. The majority of the story focuses on Blythe. Mainly written as a long letter to her husband, Blythe recalls the beginning of their relationship, some incidents of her childhood and their journey into parenthood. She dissects their relationship, what was wrong and what was right about it. She speaks painfully honesty about being initiated into motherhood, the pain of childbirth, having a very needy infant and a defiant toddler. She pulls no punches and lays out all her insecurities and self doubt. As she and her husband Fox become parents, their marriage changes and they find themselves at odds with each other, on opposite sides of almost everything. To make matters worse, Blythe and her daughter never seem connect. Violet seems to dislike Blythe from day one! And, as Violet grows older, Blythe begins to worry that something with Violet is not quite right. Fox absolutely disagrees and thinks something is not quite right with Blythe. Can their family survive?WHAT I LOVEDThis book was written with such honest emotion that it sucked me right in. I remember the pain of child birth, the exhausted state I existed in while caring for a constantly crying new born and, the feelings of inadequacy as a new mother. It was so raw and real! Although I never felt like my baby didn’t love me, I could get what she was experiencing.The story lines of the three women and the pattern of dysfunction which followed was heartbreaking. There were several times, particularly in Blythe’s story where just so darn sad, t brought me to tears.The actual plot was fascinating, but hard to read at times.WHAT I DIDN’T LOVEThere was a lot of tragic sadness, just so hard to swollen. The ending left things a little too open for me, I just reallyIke a total wrap up at the end. This book, while it had quite a bit of wrap up, I would have Ike one final sentence that explained the last scenes,OVERALLAt the end, after reading about sad things, I was very disappointed about the last page or two. The last book i read left the ending very up in the air and when this one did a little bit too, I was angry. I read his whole sad book and I wanted a more thorough wrap up. But that’s just me. Everyone else cannot stop raving about it so it’s probably me and my obsession for overly detailed Scooby Doo ending where nothing is left to chance. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of sadness and an ending, which does have resolution, just not as much as I needed.