The Push by Ashley Audrain

February - The Push by Ashley Audrain

The Push was my first purchase at the new book store in my neighborhood. I was so happy to discover The Village Bookseller conveniently located across the street from the Dunkin' Donuts I go to nearly every day. And the book store sells coffee and books and it's way more cozy and inviting than the Dunkin'. They had a great selection of novels in the front window, and the owner, Karen Anne, was happy to talk books. I loved her accent. She's Scottish. After comparing notes on books that I liked and what I had been reading lately, she suggested The Push by Ashley Audrain. She did not steer me wrong.

The Push takes the typical worries of a mother and twists them into something else, something sinister. What happens when that mother/daughter bond goes awry?

The story opens with Blythe watching her ex-husband, her daughter, and her husband’s new wife and child from her car, charting their movements through their living room window. Nothing too creepy about that. I mean, that’s normal. We’ve all been there. Okay, just kidding.

Blythe doesn’t pull any punches about the possibility that she wasn’t meant to be a mother. She’s upfront about her own mother’s mistreatment and abandonment. The story of Blythe, the baby, and her husband is intertwined with flashbacks into Blythe’s childhood and into her mother’s childhood. We understand her insecurities. It makes sense that she might second guess her instincts.

And we are rooting for her. And her husband, Fox. They seem perfect for one another. And when they decide to have a baby, we are rooting for the whole family. But from the earliest moments, their daughter is difficult. The birth was difficult, the recovery painful. From the beginning, Violet prefers Fox. She smiles for him, she quiets for him, and it seems Blythe isn’t cut out for motherhood. Fox is at work all day and has no idea of his wife’s increasing desperation. He seems oblivious to the challenges faced by a new mother. When he is home, his daughter is delightful, and he is unwilling to hear or believe Blythe’s reports about the other side of Violet. The one she saves for her mother.

Blythe is operating on too little sleep, too little experience, and too much fear. Even when Violet gets older, when we can’t brush off her behavior as toddler temper tantrums, we still wonder how much of this is Blythe’s paranoia and how much of it is Violet. It feels like Blythe wants it to be Violet’s fault. She wants absolution and seems willing to put all the blame on Violet. Not a great maternal instinct.

From the opening chapter and throughout the novel, Blythe is making decisions that call her judgment into question. We wonder until the final page. Is it Blythe? Or is there really something wrong with Violet?

If you decide to read it, make sure to leave yourself time to read it straight through. You’re going to want to know how it ends.