“These are thoughts I never let leave my lips. These are thoughts most mothers don’t have.”
The Push – Ashley Audrain
My Rating
In Summary of The Push
Blythe Connor discovers that motherhood isn’t exactly what she had hoped, and neither is her daughter. She is led by her husband to believe that it’s all in her head, but Blythe spirals around the possibility that what she perceives is reality. When a tragedy hits the family, Blythe finds herself reckoning with what is true and what is false.
Warning: Postpartum depression, death, miscarriage, abortion, self-harm, infidelity, trauma, PTSD, neglect
| Positives | Negatives |
|---|---|
| Addresses the topic of postpartum depression | Slow build |
| Creepy-factor achieved | Repetitive sections of plot |
| Successfully immerses reader into Blythe’s perspective |
“A mother’s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.”
The Review
BEWARE: Incredibly disturbing. If you are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or recently postpartum, I don’t recommend reading this right now.
As a fur-mother who did not birth a single one of my chubby, sausage-shaped corgis or plumpy-potato rabbits out of my body (thank goodness), I was beyond excited to get my hands on The Push. Even weeks post-read, I am still gushing with morbid satisfaction.
I am not a mother (and I will say… this book doesn’t necessarily increase the desire to become one…), but I can relate to the fear of “what if?” in the case I were to become one. Additionally, I am a teacher, and I must say… I’ve seen a student or two that have been “off” in a way that I can’t describe.
The Push is not a typical thriller in its content and leans heavily toward psychological thriller, which makes it all the more fascinating when questioning the reliability of a narrator. It is an incredibly slow-moving build, so don’t get in a rush and don’t get discouraged. Besides, wanting to know what happens will probably keep you racing to the end quickly anyway; the end is worth it.
To be honest, there’s not much more I can say without giving away the plot. I couldn’t put this book down. It’s unique; it’s creepy. It’s my darn morbid curiosity at it, again! (And secretly, you know you have the same problem, otherwise you wouldn’t even consider reading this one.)
The Push Book Information
- Published: 2021
- ISBN: 9781984881663
- Format: Hardback (Book of the Month edition)
- Length: 307 pages
Archetypes & Anecdotes 
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