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The Kid Audiobook
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(2.00) - 1,153 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
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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"This book was really gripping and told mostly through Abdul's dreams and thoughts, but the ending left the book so unfinished. I wanted it to be more hopeful since he had such a hard life, but maybe she'll come out with a sequel.."
— Keila (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“This is a sobering and unflinching study of the legacy of abuse…it’s a harrowing story.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Abdul's story is painful—almost unbearable—and mostly it’s an accurate portrait of those who slip through the cracks of an unforgiving system.”
— Audiofile -
“Sapphire carefully reads this novel, reflecting Abdul’s maturing attitudes and increasingly disturbed thoughts.”
— Booklist -
“Powerful and disturbing.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
[P]owerful… affecting and harrowing.
— Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times -
A devastating voice, demanding and raw . . . an accomplished work of art.
— The Los Angeles Times -
The breathtaking velocity and visceral power of her prose soars off the page…The Kid gives us a story and a narrative voice which, like his mother’s before him, should definitely be heard.
— The Guardian (UK) -
[Sapphire] remains fearlessly committed to telling uncomfortable truths… Like Push, The Kid is deeply moving and unflinching.
— Essence -
The Kid’s unflinching authenticity makes it tough yet ultimately rewarding to read.
— People -
Steely-eyed, full-frontal daring.
— Philadelphia Inquirer
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
The Kid Listener Reviews
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" I read Push for a class. While I can't say I would have ever voluntarily picked it up, I lost count of how many times I looked up a passage for the paper I was writing and found myself, yet again, at the end of the book. This, however, I just didn't care for. I picked it up at the library, largely because Sapphire had created such a compelling character in Precious that I really wanted to know what happened next, seeing as how this was the sequel and all. I have to admit that it really bothered me that a woman who had been through so much and took so much time and effort to turn her life around and be the best possible mother for her son, knowing that she had HIV, apparently never gave a thought to what would happen to that son she after she was gone. (I get that grandma wasn't an option - I wouldn't, either - but deliberately dooming a child to a life of foster care bothers me. A lot.) I can't fault her for not sharing her son's history with him (some things are just too much for a 9 year old to handle) but right from the get-go, it's pretty clear that this is not going to end well. I stuck with it, even after deciding I just plain don't like Abdul...or perhaps it's merely the way Sapphire writes from a male perspective. I slogged through Toosie's narrative...and by the time My Lei was telling her story, I realized I was skimming more than actually reading. With Push, I genuinely cared about Precious, and something in her story resonated with me. The Kid was the polar opposite in that I couldn't find a shred of empathy for any of the characters. I found myself longing for the brief snippets of journal entries that Push had offered, or some other storytelling device that would somehow make me care about these characters. Don't even get me started on the fourth part of the book, which was utterly perplexing and left me wondering what on earth I had just read. "Loose ends" is beyond an understatement. I like books that leave me with questions and stick in my head for months afterward. This was a situation where the ending was unresolved, and quite frankly, that pissed me off, since that was the sole reason I'd stuck with it - the hope of some (any!) resolution to some (any!) part of the narrative. Quite frankly, after writing a 10 page paper on Langston Hughes this past semester, I found myself spending more time drawing parallels between Hughes and the various events and characters of The Kid than I did processing or getting emotionally invested in the novel. I would say that perhaps that's the brain training of an English major, save that I don't typically have that issue except with novels I can't engage with. Ultimately, what I was looking for was to find out that Precious had been a good mom (she was), what had happened to the other girls from Each One Teach One (which we only get a tiny glimpse of), and that Abdul had ended up with a better future than his mother (he didn't), and I'm glad to be moving on to something else...which makes me sad, since Push was such a compelling novel, and this simply wasn't. "
— Roberta, 2/20/2014 -
" It is seldom that I quit a book. I'm a good soldier and I slog through, but this book was simply too much. The kid is unlikable, his life unceasingly brutal. The voices were ineptly handled. When the kid was 13, he sounded 17. When he was 17, he sounded 13. Sometimes he sounded like a Rhodes Scholar, mostly not. Toosie's narrative, too, was thrust into a corner it didn't belong in. And where was Roman from? France? Italy? Russia? Brooklyn? I never quite understood his manner of speaking. "
— Nan, 2/16/2014 -
" I desperately wanted to like this book. I thought, how bad can it be? I mean Push was good, so this should be good too. It was really difficult to read, the language, the constant graphic language every two seconds, the lack of a closing thought. Some of the pages just went on and on without anything changing. All I know is that Abdul is into dancing and is having some problem with his identity and whether or not he is gay. This book is not nearly as poetic or well written as the last. "
— Jess, 2/16/2014 -
" I really tried to finish this book, but just couldn't. I have a lot of tolerance but man alive, this book was so graphic and lewd. I made it half way through, barely. Not at all like Push, way disappointing. . . "
— Jenn, 2/15/2014 -
" I did not enjoy the writing style that was used in this book. I am an avid reader but found it difficult to follow the plot. I think that the author was concentrating on trying to shock readers with countless sordid details of rape instead of writing a good follow up to Push. "
— Natie, 2/13/2014 -
" Awful and sickening........... HATED IT "
— Teka, 1/15/2014 -
" too hard to read. Not just what happened to him but how constant and graphic it was. Also I had trouble following his dreams and his chain of thought. "
— Abby, 1/15/2014 -
" This book was a hard read. "
— Kim, 12/23/2013 -
" A little hard to get through, due to the emotional content and the main character's habit of constantly dissociating. But I'm still glad I read it. "
— Aimee, 12/12/2013 -
" The strangest book I've ever read. I'm still not sure what happened. Hmmmm..... "
— Sasha, 10/5/2013 -
" TERRIBLE. Read my above comments. Wanna know more about what I thought about it? Just ask me. I could go on and on and on.....I'm so disappointed.... "
— Fran, 10/3/2013 -
" I didn't finish this...it's really long but it's ok, just wasn't in the mood for it. "
— Anina, 8/25/2013 -
" I barely got through Chapter 1...very disturbing "
— Ekuwa, 8/10/2013 -
" One of the craziest books I have ever read. Would not recommend it to anyone. I can not believe I even finished it. Don't waste your time. "
— Bonnie, 8/2/2013 -
" Difficult book to read because a lot of the material was disturbing and painful. Someone has to talk about this subject. "
— Mary, 7/25/2013 -
" I was unable to finish this book due to graphic details of abuse. "
— Jrodriguez, 4/14/2013 -
" This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Last months book selection for our book club. It was too graphic and the author was all over the place with the story. "
— Deneen, 3/10/2013 -
" It's not that the book was bad. The writing was amazing as I expected from Sapphire. The story was great. I just could never connected with the Kid although, I understood him. "
— Elizabeth, 11/28/2012 -
" 1 star for the writing. this is one of the worst books i have ever read! "
— Shavonne, 10/29/2012 -
" I was confused by the end. I read another review where the writer was disappointed that Abdul raped other boys. But, given the nature of the book, it was really the only right answer. "
— Juliet, 10/3/2012 -
" Very different than Push, probably disturbing for most readers, not a great conclusion... "
— Bernadette, 5/26/2012 -
" I was confused by the end. I read another review where the writer was disappointed that Abdul raped other boys. But, given the nature of the book, it was really the only right answer. "
— Juliet, 11/7/2011 -
" It's not that the book was bad. The writing was amazing as I expected from Sapphire. The story was great. I just could never connected with the Kid although, I understood him. "
— Elizabeth, 10/14/2011 -
" This is what dancing looks like. At a time when there's a list of things you can't tell by looking at a person. "
— Amanda, 10/13/2011 -
" Very different than Push, probably disturbing for most readers, not a great conclusion... "
— Bernadette, 9/29/2011 -
" This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Last months book selection for our book club. It was too graphic and the author was all over the place with the story. "
— Deneen, 9/28/2011 -
" I really tried to finish this book, but just couldn't. I have a lot of tolerance but man alive, this book was so graphic and lewd. I made it half way through, barely. Not at all like Push, way disappointing. . . "
— Jenn, 9/27/2011 -
" Bah! I'm done with this - just can't take it anymore! "
— Sonj, 9/26/2011 -
" I was unable to finish this book due to graphic details of abuse. "
— Jrodriguez, 9/13/2011
About Sapphire
Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry and the bestselling novel Push. The film adaption of her novel, Precious (2009), received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, in addition to the Grand Jury Prize and Audience awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. In 2009 she was a recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship. She lives in New York City.