The Kid
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Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire gives voice to Precious's son, Abdul. In The Kid bestselling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious. A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind. In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty- first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.
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SPOILERS AHEAD
Just like his father/grandfather and his great grandfather, Abdul becomes a rapist but constantly denies he is anything but a great kid. I like that Sapphire shed a light on his great grandmother because we can see that the system failed that entire family. Here is a mini flow chart:
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Tootsie Johnston - Originally from the south and was abandoned by her mother. Was raped at the age of 9/10 and gave birth to Mary. Not loving towards Mary in anyway and even tried to kill her once. Named her Mary after her aunt or mother I forgot but didn't want to name her Mary. Was a prostitute for some time.
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Mary L. Johnston - Not much is known about her past. Died weighing close to 500 lbs, a product of rape, raped her own daughter, and allowed her boyfriend to rape her child.
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Claireece Precious Jones - Has two children with her father, who began to rape her at a young age. Her mother ignores the abuse and eventually begins to abuse her as well. Despite all of her hurdles she was able to get her GED and get herself into college.
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Abdul Jamal Louis Jones - Pathological liar, the product of rape, a smart man, prone to being nasty, closed off, can dance well, becomes a predator.
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This novel was trash, just torture porn honestly. I couldn't identify with Abdul. If you're going to abuse people don't deny it once its one. The writing was well because Sapphire is an excellent writer but Abdul was such a weak man (IRONIC BECAUSE HIS MOTHER WANTED TO NAME HIM AFTER STRONG MEN). What a sick book, Push didn't have a happy ending but at least Precious is trying to overcome and better herself. What is Abdul doing? Raping children and saying hes a great person. I honestly wish I never spent money on this book.
Sapphire's The Kid continues the saga of Precious from the Push novel with her son Abdul, who is walking a similar life path as his mother with sexual abuse, absentee parents, and trying to make a life is growing up in the bowels in New York City. It is a coming of age story about a boy who is trying to find his place in the world through the arts, realizing that one wrong step or demon haunting him will end him up in the same place as his mother.
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