User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Ashley Audrain's debut is a hard to read, multilayered, complex and chilling family drama, the worst nightmares viscerally and vibrantly given life, a psychological thriller that ventures into horror territory. It is a multi-generational examination of the dysfunctional nature of many families, where the role of mother is not all its cracked up to be, breaking under societal expectations of motherhood, mother-child relationships and raises the dark questions of nature versus nurture when it comes to children. There are echoes of Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin in the story that unfolds that looks at the life of Blythe Connor, her meeting Fox at college, a relationship that develops into a marriage, seemingly set for a dream future with the expectation that they will have children. As we are to discover, this dream is set to be shattered into a million tiny pieces.
For starters, Blythe has a traumatic childhood, and as is made clear within the narrative, we learn that Cecilia, Blythe's mother, and Etta, her grandmother, were problematic mothers, unsurprisingly leaving Blythe with little confidence in her ability to be a good mother. As she contemplates the future, Blythe has good intentions when it comes her baby. However, when she gives birth to her daughter, Violet, she fails to connect with her, is exhausted, as nothing pans out as she imagines. Fox takes little notice of her concerns when it comes to Violet, who is an utter daddy's girl, but not like other children, and harbouring less than warm feelings towards her mother. Is Blythe paranoid, too unreliable and flawed to be believed? Blythe feels completely differently when she gives birth to her son, Sam, now she has the unswerving feelings of love and connection, all of her maternal instincts have kicked in and Violet appears to have accepted him.
Audrain writes a riveting and tense drama that documents the terrors of a family disintegrating in the most appalling ways possible. I have to be honest though, whilst this is a thought-provoking read, if I had any idea of what I was going to encounter in this novel, I would not have chosen to read this, and I do not think it is a book for everyone, there are multiple trigger issues. This is a unsettling and disturbing book of damaged characters, mental health issues, and the realities of families, mothers and children that are far from society's chocolate box expectations. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.
Rating: really liked it
I’ve come here to give this to you.
This is my side of the story.
I'd been eyeing this book for a while when, earlier this week, I got a text from my thriller-loving brother asking if I'd heard of The Push by Ashley Audrain and saying I needed to read it. Needless to say, I cancelled all the social plans I didn't have anyway.
I settled in to read what I imagined would be a psychological thriller. And, for a while, it was just that. Sinister, mysterious, with short punchy chapters that kept me on the edge of my seat. None of this prepared me, though, for what came later. I wasn't expecting it to hurt so much.
I must have cried no less than five times whilst reading this book. It's about mothers and motherhood and paranoia (maybe?) and stress. It's feeling like you're constantly being dismissed and undervalued. It's getting to the point where you feel like you can't trust your own mind. And it contains one of the most shattering portrayals of grief I've ever read.
It
is a thriller, but also a multi-generational character study; a very complex portrait of a mother who is in turn a victim and her own worst enemy. Is she so deep in postnatal depression that she can't be the mother her daughter needs? Or is she being wrongfully dismissed as "hysterical" because she is a woman and her instincts go untrusted again and again? It doesn't matter if you "figure it out" because that's not the point; either option is devastating.
This is the kind of book I love to discover: rich, layered, emotional without being overly sentimental. Blythe will stay with me for a long time.
Rating: really liked it
Fuck I loved this. I was hesitant going into this book because I had seen some mixed reviews, so I did not expect to love this as much as I did. I will say, I don't think this book should be marketed as a thriller, and I think if you go in expecting a thriller, you'll probably be disappointed. This is more of a psychological drama about a family, and it's a character study of our protagonist Blythe.
This felt like it was written in such a real and honest way, it terrified me.
This book highlights every single one of my fears about becoming a parent one day... every single one of them. This book is very dark and unsettling and depressing as fuck sometimes, but wow it's an incredible, tense story. I was 100% immersed and invested in this story and I finished it in two sittings because I had to know what was going to happen to their family. It's also interesting because this book will gave you major hints as to what's coming and I was still completely shocked when certain things happen.
The ending of this book was everything, I'm a huge fan of the final scene in this book. I know some people will find this book to be boring and maybe repetitive, but I don't know what it was about this book, I just couldn't put it down and I found it all to be very interesting. I love reading about mother/daughter relationships in general and this mother/daughter relationship is one of the most complicated and complex relationships I've ever read about..
I just can't stop thinking about this.
Rating: really liked it
I read to 50% then speed read to an unsatisfying, predictable conclusion. This book has been much hyped but for me it fell into the category of a tired trope that has been done before. Many times. The disintegration of a marriage, generational neglect and abuse, the "bad seed", weak ineffectual men, nature vs nurture.
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. WHY?? It's a stylistic choice that annoys me to no end. As do incomplete sentences, which this book has in abundance.
I was left disappointed, and even worse, bored to tears. I'm trying to find one thing I found interesting, but I'm coming up blank. There was nothing interesting, riveting, or illuminating. Some books I can recognize as having value but for one reason or another they aren't for me. This isn't one of those times.
Finishing it was perhaps not the best decision I’ve made this year, but oh well. Perhaps I'm being harsh but with so many glowing reviews and hype surrounding this book, my review will barely make a dent.
2 stars because I finished it. Kind of. I'm being generous.
Rating: really liked it
Most of this book was adequate; I was even gonna give it three stars, up until that cheap ass last line. You want to be a psychological drama about motherhood and generational trauma? Fine! But don't build to an ending only to pull a 180 and go, "gotcha! it WAS the shitty thriller you thought it was going to be the whole time!"
Rating: really liked it
I proudly announce another grandiose WINNER! This is freaking earth shattering, oh my goodness what the hell I just read I cannot gather my wits, I feel like hit by car kind of reading!!!!
I’m soooo tense! I can explode at any second! My heart is pounding so fast! My knuckles turning white! I’m a mess! Since watching A Quiet Place, I haven’t been so edgy, anxious, an UTO ( I unidentifiable trembling object) but here I am! This book is freaking good deserves more than my five stars!
It’s about the art of being a good mother! What defines a good mother? If you haven’t been raised by good role models who haven’t taught you how to care, how to be patient, understanding and reasonable, also passionate parent, this would mean you would be destined to fail at parenthood!
Blythe has shittiest heritage: a grandmother suffered from mental illness who has been tortured her own daughter for years and ended her life tragically, a mother who was mostly lost in her life, showing no care or attention to her, leaving without a word.
Will Blythe be the carbon copy of those two woman? Will she suck to be a caring parent?
She did her best to connect with her daughter Violet but there was something really wrong with her daughter! And nobody believes in Blythe! Her own husband thinks she is incapable to raise their daughter appropriately. There’s something wrong with Blythe! Actually her mother in law also agrees with her son!
Does Blythe act biased around her daughter or is she really inherited the madness of her grandmother?
When their second child is born, Blythe thinks everything will change and they will become real family. But she doesn’t consider Violet’s reaction to her new little brother! What if Blythe put their lives in danger by bringing another child into their family? What if she can lose everything she’s worked for so hard including her insanity!
I already gave too much away! This book is soook intense! It pushes you out of your comfort zone! I barely breathe as I flip the pages quickly! At some chapters, I want to stop and just screammmmm! I want to throw things at Fox- the idiot husband of Blythe who was too brainwashed to see the reality about their issues and of course that little daughter gave me creeps reminded me of the mash up of Omen series’ Damien- Exorcist’s Regan - We need to talk about Kevin’s Kevin ( actually some parts of the book really reminded me of We need to talk about Kevin: especially the babyhood parts of Violet who never stops crying!)
This is a real gem and one of the craziest, most frustrating, blood pumping, mind numbing, explosive, blasting, stimulating, WTH I just read kind of deliciously disturbing thriller! I can honestly say this already reserved its place as one of my top ten thriller reads of 2021! IT’S A BIG WINNER!
Rating: really liked it
i mean, like...ok?
review to come / 2.5 stars
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tbr reviewwhat could be scarier than the idea of having children
Rating: really liked it
I had already heard a lot of praise for this book before I started it. Ashley Audrain is a local author, this is her debut novel and although it's not released until next month, the movie deals are already being made. I was thrilled when I saw it available on NetGalley and jumped at a chance for a copy.
Blythe and her husband are expecting. He's thrilled and so is she but she's nervous too because the women in her family have a pattern of not adapting well to motherhood. We see flashbacks to Blythe's childhood and the abuse she suffered from her mother. We also get glimpses into her mother's own childhood.
But Blythe is confident she'll be a great mom.
Until her daughter Violet is born and she struggles to bond with her.
Blythe finds her daughter to be a nuisance and, as she gets older, is convinced there's something fundamentally wrong with Violet that makes her unlovable.
This story goes to some dark places. The author really doesn't pull punches and knows her readers will feel uncomfortable.
There were a couple of times that I got too flustered and put the book down mid-sentence because I needed space from it.
I once watched a documentary about a man in prison because he murdered someone during a robbery. The show explained all the abuse he'd suffered as a kid that made him into someone who didn't understand love or empathy.
His victim's family forgave him and said that they thought his mother was the one who should be punished instead. I understood that but I also wondered what that mothers childhood had been like. Probably she was abused too and how far back does the cycle go.
This book explores that and at times I hated Blythe, then at other times I had a lot of sympathy for her.
I can see why this book is building so much attention.
ππ©π’π―π¬ πΊπ°πΆ π΅π° π΅π©π¦ π±πΆπ£ππͺπ΄π©π¦π³ π’π―π₯ π΅π° ππ¦π΅ππ’πππ¦πΊ π§π°π³ π΅π©π¦ πππ.
Rating: really liked it
(4.25) I've read quite a few books with the premise of a mother thinking there's something wrong with her daughter or that she is crazy but this is the best one so far!
I read this one very fast, felt terrible for the main character and hated her husband.
Two things this book did better than the other ones:
1. The ending was pretty satisfying. I don't like open ending. I always assume the author had no idea how to finish the book and that means they're terrible writers.
2. I really liked the flashbacks to the main character's childhood and her mother and grandmother. It gave the possibility of intergenerational trauma/possible mental illness.
Recommend!
Books that made me not want to have children: https://youtu.be/H_ES-eqbKQs
Rating: really liked it
The Push was a solid 4.5 star read, rounded up to 5 after some thought as, although I wouldn’t say it was an all time favourite, I had to give credit to the incredible writing and also the fact that not only did I dream about this book but it impacted me in so many areas and left me thinking and reflecting and remembering. I feel like I have soo much to say about this read so I will try to keep it as brief as I can. Two things before I start, 1 - This is a psychological drama with emphasis on the psychological, I was on the edge of my seat with discomfort (yay!) but this is not a novel for those looking for a thriller. For me, it was really incredibly readable literary fiction that I couldn’t put down and thought about when I had to do so. Leading me to 2 - this is not comfortable, this isn’t even nature vs nurture, it’s nature meets nurture and fights for it’s life. It is raw and dark and cruel and would be triggering to many and likely not a read for all. For me it was a huge success, see below :)
So, briefly, this is the story of Blythe’s life, with a focus on her as a Mom and a daughter. We learn of her mother and her mother’s mother. We learn of her life now and her life when she met her husband and how they existed in their first years of life as a couple and as parents. Every mother in Blythe’s bloodline has fallen devastatingly short as a parent, and Blythe is nervous that she will be the same despite the encouragement of a husband and mother-in-law that she loves. When she has her daughter Violet, she doesn’t bond with her and questionable things happen that make her wonder whether the issue is with her or whether it there is something wrong with her child. This is Blythe’s autobiography.
The first person narrative was perfection. This is how to write in this POV!! π I knew Blythe but I also knew the people around her and magically knew when they actually thought differently than Blythe as a character thought they did, yesss Ashley Audrain!! Soo well written, you’re told through characters’ movements and body language/expression, glimpsing their perspective and personas. Also by doing this, we are constantly aware we may be in the hands of an unreliable narrator... Another thing I loved in her doing this was that by using I/you/her instead of names, this book allowed the reader to get confused about who the narrator was talking about/to and also to understand that these feelings and thoughts apply to so many. It showed the confusion and spiralling of Blythe with ease.
Blythe, her mom and her Grandmother’s stories were all interspersed in chapters throughout the story and sometimes I would stop and wonder whose story I was on, wonder whose husband she was discussing, whose Dad, whose Mom, and then perhaps a bit late to the game, I realized π‘ hello, could that literally be the point?? Amazing!
I was so devastated at all of the missed moments for help for so many of the characters. But, I was also so completely confused at who to feel for (again the point? π‘) is Blythe reliable as a narrator? Violet is a child, I had to remind myself of my children at that age and imagine.. well best you read for yourself... Ah-mazing! Speaking of emotions, although there were such heart stopping abusive moments, the moments that truly broke me down into tears were the moments of kindness, the neighbour, omg I could barely read those through crying. π what a book that inserts you so firmly into someones darkness that when they see kindness you cry for them.. bravo!
I saw in the acknowledgements that Ashley Audrain is a mom and it confirmed what I had thought throughout, a mom wrote this, every nuance, every feel (or lack of) that she described, triggered memories of bonding that were, with a mere sentence, brought so forth in my mind that I was instantly emotional and further tying me up in a book that I am still trying to untangle myself from.
If you had a book club with people who could all handle the subject matter, this would make for incredible discussion. There were so many moments beyond the huge plot movements, subtle nuances that so caught me and I wanted to say “hey, what did you think of that moment?” “What did you think of the title?” could be one whole discussion...
The only thing it lacked for me was that I felt it lost itself a teensy bit in the last 1/4 with a few “thriller” elements that took away from it in the overall for me but still only 1/2 a star of loss there. All in all, such a well written book, I +++ recommend that if you can handle the subject matter that you push yourself to read it now!π©π§
I thank Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this wonderfully written book, so pleased it was written by a Canadian author π¨π¦
Rating: really liked it
5++++ outstanding stars!
2021 Favourites List!
The hype is real! Even better than I had hoped. Gut wrenching. Most emotional and amazing book I’ve read in years!
“A mother’s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.”
Blythe struggles to connect with her newborn daughter and worries that her own traumatic childhood has damaged her ability to properly bond and nurture as a parent. She battles these thoughts on a daily basis and pushes herself through the endless stress-filled days of parenting a young child. Things seem to be easier once her son is born.
Emotionally draining and compulsively readable. This is one of the most intense and amazing books I’ve read in years. I was quite literally addicted to this book....to this mother’s pain and her struggles. I was rooting for Blythe. My heart broke every time hers did which was a constant ache from start to finish.
The writing! I don’t know how to adequately describe the beauty of the writing. The writing flowed directly into my heart and had me feeling as though I was experiencing the heartache and struggles right alongside Blythe. My connection and investment in Blythe’s situation was so strong due to the exceptional writing that I felt as though it was happening to me. Quite simply — I was Blythe while I read this. I have no personal experience with what Blythe went through but I feel like a changed person after reading this. This moved me so deeply.
This is not a happy book. It is brutally honest and raw. It will rip your heart out. It will make you feel the pain of a mother fighting her own thoughts and worries.
I know it’s very early in the year, but I think this will be my favourite book of 2021. This will be extremely hard to top. I usually move right on to the next book once I finish reading but the intensity of this one forced me to take a break to think and truly absorb the situation. Major book hangover! I feel bad for whatever book I pick up next....
Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy!
This is AVAILABLE NOW!
Rating: really liked it
The Push made me laugh and cry and challenged my way of thinking.
The Push focuses on three generations of mothers: Etta, Cecilia, and Blythe. Most of the book focuses on Blythe's story where we are introduced to her in the first chapter where she is sitting in her car observing another family. Then, we discover that the girl in the family is her daughter. How did this other family end up with her daughter? What decisions led up to Blythe allowing someone else to raise her daughter?
The Push is a groundbreaking book about mothers, and the brutal reality that motherhood is not always smooth sailing, happiness, sunshine, and Barney songs. Sometimes there are nights (or months) with no sleep, children who have behavioral challenges, mother-in-laws who think that you aren't doing enough or give you little reminders how she never would allow her children to do X, Y, or Z, and partners who are less than supportive. Hallmark would have us believe that every person has a mother who is top 10%: She would never complain about taking the children to piano lessons three times a week while Joey wants to be at karate. She home cooks every meal from scratch, and the house is always magically sparkling clean. However, that isn't the reality. Some Moms can't be Moms in the traditional sense of the word. For some, the best thing that they can do is allow someone else to step into the role. Some Moms are bottom 10% Moms. Moms are also not defined by DNA - they are women who notice a need and generously step in and offer support.
This book challenges the role of how mothers in society are viewed. At the beginning of the book, Blythe is watching another family raise her daughter. By the end of the book, we know exactly why that is, but we think differently of Blythe and the situation overall. Gosh...what an emotional roller coaster!
Overall, The Push is very dark but page-turning. Excellent read! Can't wait to read it again!
2022 Reading Schedule
Jan Animal Farm
Feb Lord of the Flies
Mar The Da Vinci Code
Apr Of Mice and Men
May Memoirs of a Geisha
Jun Little Women
Jul The Lovely Bones
Aug Charlotte's Web
Sep Life of Pi
Oct Dracula
Nov Gone with the Wind
Dec The Secret Garden
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Rating: really liked it
Update: Ashley Audrain has joined us for a spoiler-free Q & A in the Behind the Pages Group! To see what she has to say you can find the thread here
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Hot Emotional Diggity Dang! If you haven't read this one, it is one you don't want to miss! Put on your lounge pants and lock yourself in a room because you won't want to put it down once you start it. It's one you will want to talk about!! It is a book I am so excited to share with everyone. I want to stand in a book store and hand it to everyone who comes in and tell them they have to read it. It has been a long time since a story has made me feel like this one did—that feeling of being spent emotionally yet completely satisfied. It's the best way to feel after reading a book.
We are expected or think we are good mothers, have the perfect children, and the ideal relationship with them, right? Well, Ashley Audrain boldly challenges that expectation here and shows us a compelling, complex story that explores the bonds of mother and daughters and motherhood's dark, uncomfortable, emotional realities. The things we hide, burying our heads and don't push by talking about it. She weaves a well-layered, emotionally intelligent story with suspense elements to create an absorbing psychological drama that is not to be mistaken for a psychological thriller. I went in thinking this was going to be a dark, twisted, entertaining psychological thriller and I started to worry it would go in the direction of those bad mother and psychology tropes and that the over thinker in me would come raging out. Thanks to my reading twin Jen who picked up on some things I didn't, I started thinking differently about this one. Thank you, Jen!! I had nothing to worry about! It would be easy for this story to fall into those harmful tropes; however, Ashley Audrain pushes for better here.
The story is told almost entirely in second-person narrative from Blythe to her husband, Fox. Ashley Audrain creates one of the best opening scenes I have read to set up suspense, a sense of foreboding, and an ominous feel to the story. I wished from the start I would have checked that thriller mind of mine and paid more attention to Blythe's tone to the story and picked up more of her feeling of self-doubt. Blythe is a relatable character and Audrain does a good job of putting us in her shoes allowing us to feel with her.
The title is brillant and worth thinking about and we spend some time talking about it and how it relates to the story.
There is so much more to this story to talk about, and so much I want to say, but I will leave it at this. I recommend this one to readers who love a well, developed psychological drama with depth layers.
This was a Traveling Sister read and one we all highly recommend!!
I received a copy from the publisher through NG
Traveling Sister reviews can be found on our blog
Traveling Sister Book Reviews
Rating: really liked it
It would be too easy to refer to Ashley Audrain’s novel, The Push, as just another We Need to Talk About Bad Seed Rosemary's Baby Teeth, but it doesn’t deserve it.
I’ve read all of those books, and The Push is better.*
The term “trope” exists for a reason, yet somehow a plot about a mother and child not bonding is so taboo that a handful of books tackling it often get lumped together as copycats of one another. Why is that? There have to be thousands of true crime books about murderers that don’t get called "In Cold Blood knockoffs.” And then of course there are thousands of thrillers about psychopaths who attribute their rage to having ‘evil’ moms during childhood.
But what if we see things from the mom’s first person POV, and she’s (gasp) not evil? She just feels that something is off with her daughter from birth and struggles to form a connection with her. Is she correct in feeling that way, or is her own ambivalence towards the child creating a young person who lashes out negatively for attention?
Audrain’s novel expertly tackles that question of nature vs. nurture in a very thought-provoking way. Putting readers inside the mind of mom Blythe is a genius device that allows us to feel her paranoia and distress about her frigid relationship with daughter Violet. The writing is so well done that it’s difficult to put the book down. In fact, reading The Push is a little like driving by a car crash. It’s hard to witness, but also hard to look away.
The Push is not an easy read by any means, and I even felt my mood darken more and more with each passing page. I wouldn’t recommend it to people looking for a book to “enjoy,” but I wouldn’t hesitate to put it in the hands of anyone looking for a compelling one.
(*Rosemary’s Baby actually has a pretty spectacular audiobook narrated by Mia Farrow. It’s got to be in my all-time Top 5, and if you like to be spooked you’ll want to check that out asap.)
This review and more bookish content can be found on my blog at www.confettibookshelf.com
Rating: really liked it
A woman is supposed to WANT to be a mother.
She will fall IN LOVE at first sight despite the searing pain of childbirth and the recovery (nothing held back here!)
She will KNOW instinctively what do do and feel fulfilled while doing so.
BUT, what IF you weren’t nurtured as a child?
What will happen if THAT child grows up to be a mother herself and motherhood for her turns out to be nothing at all what she hoped for, and everything she feared? What if she doesn’t bond with her child in the same way that her own mother did not bond with her?
Be prepared to dive deeply into the psyche of Blythe.
She is THAT child.
And, this deep dive is raw, and painful.
Both her experience AS a daughter, and her experience AS a mother.
And, then there is her daughter VIOLET.
A difficult baby.
A child with a mean streak.
A child she may love, but doesn’t necessarily like.
She watches the other women she comes across.
Perplexed at the mother-infant bonds.
Until she gives birth to Sam.
And, it all makes sense.
This book was reminiscent of Zoje Stage’s “Baby Teeth” for me-BUT ONLY in the sense that the question is raised about if the mother’s behavior is at all responsible for her daughter’s, so don’t let this one comment dissuade you!
Nature vs. Nuture
This book will probably make a lot of mothers uncomfortable.
They may balk at the idea that a mother can FEEL this way toward any of her children-beyond the Postpartum Depression stage that many women experience.
They can. Some do.
I am not a mother.
But, I am a daughter........
AND, I know a woman like Blythe.
