Sapphire is no Mark Twain

I just finished the book Push by Sapphire. This same novel was made into the popular film from last year, Precious. I'll confess, I saw 15 minutes of the film before I read the book. I really enjoyed the cinematography and styling of the film, but based on my family's reviews, not sure if the film is worth finishing. The book was a mildly enjoyable read. It was a struggle to read through at times because, as it is written from the view of the illiterate Precious Jones, many words and phrases were off. That must speak well for all of my former English teachers, as my head was constantly doing a grammar and spell check during the entire book.

As a story, the book is no easy tale to take in. Precious has been raped by her parents since a young child and at the beginning of the story, has one child by her father, and another on the way. Over the course of the book, Precious begins attending and excelling at an Alternative School, where she learns to channel her past abuse into poetry. The end of the book features the stories of the other girls in Precious' class. I really liked how it wrapped up the whole book, but would have liked to see their voices more prominently in the book.

Overall I give this book a 3.5, decent enough to recommend but not an absolute favorite.