The Push by Ashley Audrain
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Pages: 9
Published by Penguin Audio
Publication Date January 5, 2021
Goodreads
A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.
But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.
Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.
The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.
Having grown up watching the campy, 1950s The Bad Seed it was hard not to be reminded of Rhoda Penmark while reading The Push. Yes, both deal with mothers questioning their daughters innocence and brings the question nature vs nurture to the forefront. However, The Push has its own voice and story to tell.
Blythe is an unreliable narrator. After the accidental death of her young son Blythe loses perceptive drawing conclusions that may be unfounded. Sure, her daughter Violet behaves strangely, but does that make her a killer?
Ashley Audrain creates enough doubt to leave “what if” weighing on the reader’s mind. Through flashbacks of her past and a first person viewpoint, we learn of Blythe’s unstable upbringing and how that translates to adulthood as well as motherhood. Yes, this could all be in her head but I didn’t feel anyone was to be trusted in the pages of The novel and wasn’t always sure what to believe.
Having read The Bad Seed I did have an inkling of where the plot was heading. Although, it was the journey the kept me reading and, as the story spans several years it is quite the journey.
However, I did find parts of the plot to be predictable. This is not to say that it was unenjoyable, it was just a classic domestic thriller storyline. Husband has affair, scorned wife seeks out the other woman and conflict ensues. It was the eerie pacing that kept it moving forward and felt fresh when using the tried and true.
In the end, we find out what truly happened to Blythe’s son Sam. Although, as I type this I wonder, Blythe is an unreliable narrator, did she just hear or see what she wanted to believe? Ashley Audrain’s debut novel will push and pull your mind in ways unexpected and, will have the reader reexaming everything they thought they knew.
The summary of the book gave me chills, sounds like gaslighting might be in the works? I bet is certainly was a page turner! Thank you for sharing!
There is definitely some gaslighting in the works. I thought The Push was pretty addicting and had a hard time turning off my audiobook.
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