Precious (Push Movie Tie-in Edition)

The movie-tie in book edition entitled, Precious (Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire), has garnered a lot of attention from the critically acclaimed film, also entitled Precious, which is directed by Lee Daniels and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey and starred with a big-name cast, including: Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and the author herself, Sapphire (born Ramona Lofton). The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received accolades at the Toronto Film Festival, both which were held last year.

The story is set in 1987, where obese, il­literate, black 16-year-old Claireece “Precious” Jones lives in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; she has been raped and impregnated twice by her father, Carl, and suffers long term physical, mental and sexual abuse from her unemployed mother, Mary. The troubled family lives off social assistance paychecks.

Her first child has Down’s syndrome and is being cared for by Precious’s grandmother. Following the discovery of Precious’ second pregnancy, she is suspended from school. Her junior high school principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school with the hope of helping Precious change her life’s direction. Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. Be warned, this novel’s explicit message is de­scribed in horrid detail and is meant to have a high shock value.

Inspired by her new teacher Miss Blu Rain, Precious begins learning to read. Pre­cious meets sporadically with a social worker named Miss Weiss, who learns about incest in the household when Precious unintentionally implies it to her. In a breakthrough moment, Precious fights back and her spirit is restored when she discovers a new way of life. With hor­rendous tales of abuse told through her imagi­native viewpoint, Precious’ story is an important one to behold.

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