Book Review: ‘The Kid’ by Sapphire

The Kid is the follow up to Sapphire’s popular book Push. Push was later turned into the award winning movie Precious. This novel follows Jamal Abdul  Jones, the son of Precious.  It opens with the death of Precious from Aids and continues with Abdul’s (I am calling him Adbul in this review, but he actually went by many different names in the book) journey.

If you read Push, then you know the author is not a newcomer when it comes to exposing the horrible things that people are capable of. Abdul is tossed into foster care, where he is abused, and then into a boy’s home, where he is repeatedly raped by the brothers in charge (which leads to Abdul sexually abusing other kids).

The entire book was difficult to read. It was very graphic and, at times, hard to understand. Abdul’s character seems to be all over the place mentally, and since the story is from his point of view, it makes some paragraphs confusing.

My main problem with this book is I felt no sympathy for the main character. I thought he was just a snot nosed kid that may have had some hard times but could have come out better than he did. Which is the main difference between The Kid and Push. In Push, I felt extremely bad for Precious and I found myself crying over some of the things she went through. I have no such feelings or reactions for Abdul.

I did not enjoy this book. And I think other readers that liked Push are going to have the same reaction. My recommendation is to pass on this book and find something else better.

The Kid gets an F.