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Jennifer
Rating:
 
Review
Seventeen year old Precious Jones is pregnant, again, with her own father's child. Even though her mother and father both repeatedly sexually abuse her, and she can't seem to make it at public school, rendering her essentially illiterate – her inner strength and spirit are unflinching. It is recommended that she attend an alternative school after she's suspended from public school for her attitude, and for being pregnant. Since Precious has been given no support from her "family", it is only her inner drive that leads her to make the effort to find an alternative school, to find anything that can make her life better. It is there that she gains a support structure she desperately needs, her teacher Ms. Blue Rain, and her new friends in class - people that don't judge her, help her come to terms with her abuse, and move to a halfway house to get away from the abuse at home.
Thanks, Kim, for recommending this jewel of a book. It's touching and profound. Even with all the horror described in this book, it makes me so happy to be reminded of how strong the human spirit can truly be.
Best Line:
"What it take for my muver (mother) to see me? Sometimes I wish I was not alive. But I don't know how to die. Ain' no plug to pull out."
Kim
Rating:
Review
This is quite the intense little book. Recommended and loaned to me by a good friend, he raved about the story, and warned of its "raw" content. The language is indeed colorful, but the story packs a punch. Written in the first-person by Claireece Precious Jones, mostly in an uneducated teenaged voice, this novel opens with Precious pregnant with her second child and recently suspended from school due to her condition. Her home life runs rampant with all types of abuse from her parents, and when a teacher from her school comes calling with an alternative option for an education, Precious jumps at the chance to learn. While this was a quick read at under 150 pages, I liked most of the characters (not her despicable parents) and though I stumbled at times with some of the words that were written phonetically instead of spelled correctly, it all fit rather well into the story of a few years in Precious' life.
Best Line:
"How Mama and Daddy know me sixteen years and hate me, how a stranger meet me and love me. Must be what they already had in they pocket."
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