This novel by Ashley Audrain is disturbing, troubling, and absolutely unputdownable! The Push, like Audrain's The Whispers, explores the dark corners of motherhood that are usually left in the shadows.
Blythe and her husband Fox have a baby and Blythe is struggling to connect to her. Newborn Violet is difficult, fussy, and doesn't ever seem like she wants to be near her mother. Some readers might relate to the challenging beginnings of motherhood, but the difference is that Violet never seems to warm up to her mother. Even well after toddlerhood and into childhood.
A rift develops between Fox and Blythe, as Fox thinks that Blythe isn't trying hard enough. However, as Blythe watches her daughter bully other children at the playground, and then possibly cause another child great bodily harm, Blythe feels her suspicions about Violet's nature are confirmed.
Blythe's memories of her own relationship with her ice-cold mother (Cecelia), who left when Blythe was eleven, make her wonder if she's cut out to be a mother at all. When Blythe was a child, she remembers her mother telling her that she could choose not to be a mother herself. Cecelia had a cruel and terrible childhood at the hands of her own mother. Cecelia tells Blythe, "I don't want you learning to be like me. But I don't know how to teach you to be any different". Blythe's mother left the very next day.
The whole theme of this story seems to beg the question of nature vs. nurture. In addition, what genes will be passed on to our own children? Is breaking the cycle of bad parenting enough? As a society, it seems that the answer is always yes. But some news headlines make one wonder.
When Blythe and Fox have their second baby, a boy they name Sam, things are completely different. Blythe falls head over heels in love with her newborn. At this point in the novel, one wonders how this will affect Violet, who is now five. This is where the novel becomes upsetting. Be forewarned.
The Push is uncomfortable to read without question. Audrain is not afraid to explore the underbelly of motherhood which we all know exists. I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction to get through some of the more difficult parts. This chilling yet compulsively readable psychological thriller is very good; I give it four stars out of five.
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