The Kid

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Overview

From the bestselling author of Push, a story of survival and awakening—and one young man’s remarkable strength

 

The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones, son of Sapphire’s unforgettable heroine, Precious. Left alone by his mother’s death to navigate in a world where 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. 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 artists’ lofts, The Kid is a soaring tale of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

It was a full decade and a half ago that Sapphire's disarming novel Precious first struck emotional chords in readers and two years ago when its film adaptation first hit Sundance screens. (The movie earned six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.) This long-requested sequel tracks Jamal Abdul Jones, the troubled son who survived Precious, following him as he bounces painfully from situation to situation. Like Precious, The Kid displays the hard-won authenticity of down-at-the-heels urban experience.

Publishers Weekly
Fifteen years and an Oscar-nominated movie adaptation have passed by since Push, and, with Precious long dead, Sapphire unfurls the story of her son, Jamal Abdul Louis Jones. Orphan Jamal winds up at a foster home where he's mocked and beaten to the point of having to be hospitalized. Fast forward, and Abdul, going by the name J.J., is at the St. Ailanthus School for boys, where he's sexually abused by priests and in turn sexually abuses a couple of boys at the school. When J.J. is thrown out of the school, he struggles to handle his own conflicting desires and the rigors of getting by in a tough world by himself, often with very little comprehension of consequences. J.J. is a great creation, if a sometimes frustrating one: Sapphire excels at getting readers into the head of a frightened, enraged, and frustrated wild child, but that isn't always the best vantage point from which to watch this heartbreaking story unfold. This is a sobering and unflinching study of the legacy of abuse, and while the narration can leave readers more puzzled than piqued, it's a harrowing story. (July)
Library Journal
Difficult to read because of the subject matter and the experimental stream-of-consciousness narrative in which conversations, dreams, memories, and imagined scenes flow chaotically together, this sequel to Push comes 15 years after the best-selling novel that was the basis for the movie Precious. Now Precious's son is the one suffering a life of abuse. Forced into foster care at age nine when his mother dies, he can't even keep his name as he moves from one nightmarish situation to the next. The only constants throughout are (graphically described) acts of sexual and physical abuse by adults, leading him to abuse smaller boys. Stumbling into an African dance class one day, he discovers a talent for dancing, but it is unclear whether he's too psychologically damaged to be rescued by art. VERDICT Readers will need to have read the first book or seen the movie to understand many of the references here. While not as cohesive or as well written as Push, this title will still attract sizable demand from the author's fans and readers looking for gritty, urban fiction that tackles such issues as race, class, and sexual abuse.—Laurie A. Cavanaugh, Wareham Free Lib., MA
Kirkus Reviews

The larger audience attracted by the award-winning adaptation of the author's debut novel (Push, 1996, adapted into the filmPrecious) will recognize this sequel as "Son of Precious."

A poet and teacher, Sapphire created a literary sensation with the publication ofPush.Yet that novel had even greater impact more than a decade later as the source material for Precious,the success of which might well have spawned this longer, more ambitious follow-up. Readers might remember the birth of a son in that novel, the second baby for the precocious teenager who was repeatedly raped by her father. The boy mainly existed in the margins ofPush,andthis is his story, one of adolescent turbulence and shifting identities, from a narrator who has difficulty distinguishing his dream life from the shifting realities of his existence. And so will readers. Those hoping for more of Precious will be disappointed to learn that the novel opens with mention of her funeral, as the narrator quickly finds himself shunted from one of his mother's friends to a foster home to a Catholic orphanage, from which he is delivered to his great-grandmother (who delivers an impassioned soliloquy on her migration from Mississippi to New York) after the discovery of a bureaucratic foul-up. Various names accompany his abrupt changes of address, with "Abdul," "Crazy Horse" and "J.J." among the labels attached to a boy who at 13 could pass for an adult.His sexuality is equally ambiguous; though he doesn't think of himself as gay, he finds himself prey for older men and develops an appetite for smaller boys. He's also smart, articulate and a gifted dancer, as he moves from the patronage of a dance teacher (who takes sexual or at least emotional advantage) to an experimental company where both his sexuality and hold on reality are challenged. The author plainly embraces an aesthetic she ascribes to a dance piece—"It's controlled where it needs to be and wild and free where it can be"—though the novel might benefit from a little more of the former at the expense of the latter.

Powerfuland disturbing, though not always coherent.

Danielle Evans
At its best, The Kid captures the grueling heartbreak of trying to love anything when the world doesn't love you enough, of trying to summon desire or affection in the absence of any healthy context for either one.
—The New York Times
DeNeen Brown
Sapphire, a fearless writer with complete command of her story, spares the reader nothing—no comfort, no room to turn away. The only possible respite can be found in the poetry of her prose…What The Kid reveals about victims and perpetrators is not for the faint of heart.
—The Washington Post

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781594203046
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 7/5/2011
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 59,562
  • Product dimensions: 9.34 (w) x 6.38 (h) x 1.25 (d)

Meet the Author

Sapphire
Sapphire

SAPPHIRE is the author of two collections of poetry and the bestselling novel Push. The film adaptation of her novel, Precious, received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. She lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 2.5
( 84 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(15)

4 Star

(8)

3 Star

(6)

2 Star

(12)

1 Star

(43)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 85 Customer Reviews
  • Posted July 21, 2011

    Not worth it

    This was a very hard read in the way it was written, and the subject matter. It needs to come with an advisory warning on the cover. I understand the need for getting a story like this out there because of it's content, but it's way too graphic for the average reader. It was not written in a way that was easy to follow either. This was recommended on Good Morning America, so I had no idea it would be this bad. It started out easier to follow and then jumped around quite a bit. It leaves unanswered questions after you have finished the book. If I could give no stars, I would.

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 6, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    There are Many Kids

    Harlem never was and never will be the place to frame an "against all odds" story. This is a tale told twice, thrice and counting. The famed One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Street hasn't moved. Life is still the same: every waking hour is a struggle for children and adults and the latter can be considered orphaned by an uncaring system. Exactly how is Abdul different than a child in Haiti? The boy or girl in Haiti has absolutely nothing, Abdul still eats and is clothed. I'm more willing to pull for a kid in Soweto than one in Baltimore, Detroit or the perpetually alienated Harlem. It is author's like Sapphire that strip mine the ghetto, taking, and reinforcing the mindset that Harlem is a slum-scape. Harlem is much deeper than that, so much more vital.

    4 out of 18 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 15, 2011

    A Hard Read

    This book was easy to read in the beginning and then it gets weird and hard to follow. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it. It be more beneficial to borrow from someone who already has it. I thought PUSH was great but The Kid is overrated garbage.

    3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 12, 2011

    Extraordinarily Gripping

    Amazing. From the way we get into Abdul's mind to the way the story unfolds, this is definitely a great follow-up to Sapphire's novel, Push.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 25, 2011

    Only got to the middle of the 2nd Chapter and couldn't finish....

    I could not finish this book at all. I really wanted to enjoy it but I couldn't. It was very disturbing and just disgusting. I have a hard time w/ thinking a kid can do the things Abdul was doing but I know stuff like this happens everyday in the world but reading it is totally differet. After I stopped reading it, I looked at other reviews of this book and some people either loved it or totally hated it.

    If you have a strong stomach maybe you'll like this book. I was hoping on this book being....I don't know...more about how Precious turn out and how her life w/ her son would be but my goodness....it was just too much for me.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 27, 2011

    Bizarre book not recommended.

    I did not read Push so was not familiar with the author's writing style and structure, but I saw the movie Prescious and was eager to read the continuing story. I think the book was confusing, especially toward the end when I couldn't tell what was real or what was dreamed. I was disappointed that so much detail was written about the dance project but we never found out how it was received by the audience. Similarly, so much detail was written about The Kid's life but the ending was not descriptive at all, leaving the reader to determine what happened. It seemed like the last chapter was missing. I also wonder how a book like this with extensive raw and graphic sex involving children is not considered pornography. I'm not sure if I'm glad I read this book or not, but I'm certain I won't recommend it to others.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 9, 2012

    What the hell is going on????

    Is he dreaming, is he asleep, is he awake? These are the questions that I have to ask myself after every paragraph. There was no beginning, middle or end. It all muddled together to create a complete mess titled "The Kid". Which by the way "A Kid" could have written a better story. I can deal with graphic if there's point to be made. Unfortunately, the point is there isn't one and this book is pointless.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 2, 2011

    Worst book ever. Didnt even finish it

    I had high hopes for this book after reading Push. I didnt understand why it was written in such a confusing manner. The only good part is when the grandmother had the floor and told her story, but i was thrown off by Abdul ejaculating in the middle of her dialogue. I wasnt even disgusted by his sexual acts, unfortunately i was disgusted more by her writting style.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 14, 2011

    Way too confusing and drawn out

    I read Push and despite it also being a difficult read, it made sense throughout the story. In this book, the different sections were poorly transitioned and the end did not clarify more about how he got where he was. It seems to just go on and on with no real plot. Extremely disappointed. Maybe next book!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 18, 2011

    Highly Recommend

    This is an excellent book. I must warn it's very difficult to go thru Abdul's journey but well worth the read.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 30, 2012

    what?

    i thought this would be better then the frist but it BIT DRAWN OUT. I lost interest and find myself having to leave it and come back when i cannot find something better to read. a real let down

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 27, 2012

    Depressing book

    Very dark and too much child sex abuse for one book. It was written well, but the content was too much.

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  • Posted April 15, 2012

    Waste of time reading

    Very confusing as writer was all over the place. I did not enjoy reading this book. Don't waste your money, borrow or get it from a library. Would not recommend...

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 17, 2012

    Anonymous in Atl.

    I am also a fan of PUSH and have been waiting many years for the follow-up to the story. I just completed THE KID and am sorry to say, this book was a big disappointment! A waste of time!u

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 5, 2012

    3bNoni, An Informative Read

    I'm not surprised how many readers said they didn't enjoy reading this book. The Kid is not the kind of book you enjoy reading, the same way I didn't enjoy reading Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It" (a MUST read). It reads almost like a memoir, so in a sense you are reading about someone's life, their journey; someone's story isn't always pretty, most of the time it's downright horrific and disturbing, hence the life of Abdul Jamal Louis Jones.
    This book is truly disturbing to read but to read it is to be informed and provoke thought, to teach you about the value of life, love and a connection to what makes us human; especially when it involves the life of a child. It begs the eternal question of nature vs. nurture.
    I think Sapphire wrote Abdul's story in complete opposition to his mother Precious. Mother and son had horrific, traumatic childhoods yet Precious was able to rise above her situation, try to educate and work herself out of poverty, raise two children as a teenage mother, a network of friends for support and with AIDS no less. She persevered, let education save her, pursued it, devoured it and passed what she could to Abdul. In turn he couldn't do the same; once equipped with a love of knowledge he abandons it, unable to save himself even with the gift of dance, a great-grandmother, a social worker and a girlfriend he allows himself to trust no one and continues to let people abuse him and in turn abuses others.
    Abdul is an angry soul and he had reason to be. With the death of his mother he lost his identity and was angry about it. He was angry his life wasn't better, why he had to suffer. Abdul victimized others the way he felt he was a vicitm and he let his few opportunities slip by without recognizing he could have saved his own life.
    It is hard to feel anything for this man-child character. He has few, and I do mean few, redeeming qualities. What can one expect from Abdul when he learns early that survival, comfort, kindness and love is violent and predatory? On the other hand his mother was taught the same lesson and was the complete opposite, full of love, a yearning for a richer, fuller life and the ability to become better. Fascinating.

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  • Posted January 13, 2012

    Incredible Amazing Beautiful Gripping

    After all the things people say about this that and the other being to graphic, I thought this book was mindblowing. It was so raw. I actually began to root for Abdul by the end, I wanted him to win. Nobody said this was just a pleasure read, it does make you think and wonder a little but anyway i thought this book despite everything was VERY good!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 7, 2012

    HORRIBLE!!!!

    She should have stopped with Push. DISGUSTING story. HUGE disappointment! For some reason it wouldn't allow me to rate this book they way I wanted to.....ZERO stars!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2011

    Confusing

    Its to confusing it skips years one minute hes dreaming the next minute hes talking to his mom

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2011

    Not a good read

    Though it would have been better.....it was all over the place....kind of mad I waisted my money on this book

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 8, 2011

    I'm Confused!

    Is it me, or does everyone get lost in this book. I got lost at the end... What happened? Did anyone get it? I saw somewhere someone said said something about multiple personality disorder? I'm confused

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