Meeting cute in college and married by 26, they support each other’s dreams (he’s an aspiring architect, she a fiction writer) yet see their relationship through very different lenses.

Told in staccato bursts of memory and history illuminating the present, “The Push” details the courtship, marriage and undoing of Blythe and Fox Connor - the woman in the car and the man in the window. More importantly, the narrator has an overriding desire to set the record straight, evidenced by the manuscript she’s about to give the man: “my side of the story.” I imagine the warm, butter-yellow glow of your house turn to a hot, crackling red.” Loss, envy and retribution play out in the scene. The narrator’s longing - and something more dangerous - is palpable, especially when the wife lights candles nestled among the fir boughs on the mantel: “I let myself imagine, for a moment, watching those boughs go up in flames while you all sleep tonight. Through the picture window, she tracks the husband’s dance moves, the wife’s loving touch, the teenaged daughter and the young son in matching plaids. In the opening pages of her debut novel, “ The Push,” Ashley Audrain indelibly implants her narrator in the reader’s mind as the woman sits in her car, watching a happy family at Christmastime. don’t expect too many warm & fuzzy feels), but it’s a remarkable, skillful, and shattering debut that I doubt I will ever forget.If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. I can’t say I ‘enjoyed’ this in the typical, pleasant sense (i.e. I do recommend checking out the trigger warnings before reading this one. There were honestly moments where I had to remind myself to breathe.

I’m not a mother, but this felt SO real, like I was experiencing everything the main character went through. I wouldn’t consider this a horror book, but it was terrifying all the same. It takes a minute to get used to the writing style, but after that, you won’t be able to put it down. I won’t go into the synopsis more, because I think it’s best to go into it blind.

Legitimately gave me chills.Įssentially, this story is about motherhood and nature versus nurture. But it was also nearly impossible to tear my eyes from the page. It’s dark and emotional, and it gets under your skin. Let me start with this: The Push is not an easy book to read. This was beautifully written, devastating, and utterly engrossing. Order on Amazon | Support local bookstores The Push by Ashley Audrain: My Thoughts

The push by ashley audrain synopsis