Book Chatter

Bart's Hello. How are you? Things are ramping up around here. College prep stuff going on. Also trying to prepare for my son’s move which I haven’t even shared yet. Due to the high cost of grad school and him not being offered enough in aid to make any of the schools a reality (for now), he has accepted a position in the AmeriCorps and will be building an arts program for underprivileged kids in, wait for it, Saint John, Kansas! If you had told me a year ago that both of my kids would end up in the Midwest, I never would have believed it. Kansas and Missouri. Wow.

On another note, because of all the change coming our way, I was in need of a road trip and a distraction so last weekend we headed to one of my favorite used bookstores in Ojai, California. Bart’s Books is an interesting place. It’s housed in an old house and most of the collection is exposed to the elements as you can see in the photo above. That’s just one small corner. You can walk into the kitchen which is where you can find cookbooks, appropriately. They do have a section for new books as well. I walked in with a list but only walked out with one title, Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread. We also snagged the BEST Thai food at a new-to-us-place. It was just what I needed.

I finished Jenny Lawson’s Broken in one sitting. That review is coming this Friday. That meant that I had to quickly select another book to read and I’ve settled on Rules of Civility.

That’s pretty much it for me. I need to do domestic things like go to the market and re-organize my bathroom. It’s like an explosion of toiletries in there. I do enjoy these weird little tasks. They break up my day and give my brain something else to think about.

I hope the rest of your week goes well for you. If you have any cool plans for the weekend let me know. I will most likely be shopping for faucets. So, so exciting. Not everyone can be me.

The Push
By Ashley Audrain
Pamela Dorman Books, 9781984881663, January 2021, 320pp.

The Short of It:

I had heard from many that this story was wild and it is. It’s like watching an accident happen in slow motion and you cannot look away.

The Rest of It:

Blythe and Fox can’t wait for their beautiful baby girl to arrive. After a difficult labor, baby Violet is placed on Blythe’s chest and it’s not quite the feeling she’s envisioned all her life. As a young girl whose own mother left her at a young age, Blythe silently vows to be the type of mother that she herself never had. But the constant feedings, the lack of sleep and honestly, the lack of a mother-daughter bond concerns Blythe. It concerns Fox too but he pins it on exhaustion. How could a mother not love her own child?

The thing is, Violet never seems to NEED Blythe. She is always reaching for daddy and doesn’t seem to notice the things he can’t provide like the around-the-clock nursing that only Blythe can manage. Years pass and this feeling that Blythe has can’t be shaken. There is something wrong with this child.

Enter Sam. If you have any doubts over your ability to be a mother, why not test the theory out by having another child? That’s exactly what Blythe does. She never shares her full intentions with Fox but secretly she wants to prove that she is a good mother and that a different child will see that. Sam is the baby she’s always wanted. He nuzzles into her, and doesn’t turn away like Violet did. He smiles when he sees her and looks to her for comfort. When she sees her son’s goofy grin, she smiles from ear to ear. While all of this is going on, Violet and her father also notice and Blythe is left wondering if there is something wrong with her to feel such dread whenever her daughter enters the room. How can Blythe not let this affect them? Then, the unthinkable happens.

What a book! This is a brutally honest look at motherhood. These characters are not depicted in a good light and some might think that Blythe’s aversion to her own daughter is way over-the-top but anyone who’s had a few rough years with a baby knows that it is right on the money. My daughter did not sleep through the night until age four and required two feedings an hour for years. So long that the doctor had her checked for a heart condition thinking she was expending too much energy and therefore requiring more food. This book triggered me in so many ways and yet I kept flipping those pages.

Many have described The Push as being compulsively readable. I agree 100%. It’s gritty and truthful and not at all pretty but it was impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage then you will want to read this one.

Also, Ashley Audrain has another book coming out in 2022, The Whispers.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…