Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I am getting into The Push by Ashley Audrain, a twisty thriller that dives the reader into a story about mental health and the dismantling of a family.
Main Characters:
Blythe Connor: Our narrator and main character has a life for herself that she never could have imagined due to her past, and works hard to try and create a perfect picture of herself and her family, she is pushed to her limits mentally and finds herself in a downward spiral
Fox Connor: Blythe’s husband, who, personality-wise wise is much more confident and assured than his wife is, struggles to support his wife when she starts to believe that their daughter Violet is not the sweet little girl that Fox sees her to be
Violet Connor: Blythe and Fox’s first child, becomes the main focus of her mother’s mental struggles as Blythe struggles with post-partum and a lack of connection to her child, and then as Violet gets older, Blythe starts to believe that there is something wrong with Violet that others aren’t seeing
Sam Connor: Blythe and Fox’s second child, who passes without warning at a young age, and his passing leads to Blythe’s further mental decay
My Review
I’ve been struggling a bit with what to rate The Push by Ashley Audrain. Hands down, it’s a fantastic read, and the characters and the plot keep you glued to what’s going to happen next. However, personally I felt a disconnect from our main character and while there are plenty of parts to sympathise and connect with her, she’s also a hard character to follow the whole story and based on how she acts throughout comes off as an unreliable and it’s hard to know if we can trust her or not throughout. I landed on rating it a 7/10. I would definitely recommend this read to others, but also be prepared to be fairly angry at the different people you meet along the way. Another factor that led to me rating it a bit lower is that, in my opinion, the plot isn’t super unique, even though, yes, it was written really well. I felt like I’ve read plots like this before, an unstable mother who may or may not be crazy, and her family members who may or may not be psychopaths and gaslighting her. Just didn’t feel like a super fresh plot line to me.
The Push follows Blythe Connor and her family as they expand their household and struggle with the things that come with this. Blythe finds herself very lucky to have her husband, Fox, in her life. Raised in an unstable and unhealthy household, Blythe never thought that she would find such a great man to be her partner. When the two start to expand their family, Blythe becomes obsessed with not becoming her mother and grandmother, who caused her tons of trauma growing up due to their own issues that they refused to deal with. When Blythe becomes pregnant with their first child, Violet, the experience is nothing like what she hoped it would be. Blythe struggles with post-partum heavily and struggles to connect with her daughter. Throughout this time, Fox takes the brunt of Violet’s care and attempts to be supportive of his wife as she goes through this time. When Blythe becomes pregnant with their second child, Sam, the experience is completely different then when she had Violet. Blythe instantly connects with her son, and to a degree, becomes a bit obsessed with him. When Sam dies tragically and unexpectedly, Blythe is beside herself, and her mental health becomes a major issue. Blythe becomes convinced that she didn’t connect with Violet because of something to do with Violet. Convinced her young daughter had something to do with the death of her brother, Blythe becomes obsessed with exposing who her daughter really is, or who she thinks she is. Her obsession with proving to Fox that there is something wrong with their child starts to hurt not only her but their entire family. Did Violet really kill her brother, or is Blythe’s mental health just getting worse?
As mentioned before The Push is a really well-written, deeply psychological book that completely sucks you in, but I really struggled with Blythe as the main character. I absolutely sympathize with the trauma she grew up with; the generational pain passed down from her mother and grandmother is written in such a raw, believable way. And I do think she was experiencing some very real postpartum depression after having Violet. That part made sense. But even knowing all of that, I couldn’t fully get behind her or excuse the way she treats her daughter. There’s a difference between understanding where someone’s coming from and agreeing with the way they act, and I never felt like Blythe really made an effort to help herself. She seems aware something’s off, with herself, with Violet, with her marriage, but she just lets it rot and eat at her. I know depression and grief can do that to a person, but it didn’t feel like the book was showing a woman fighting through that pain. It felt like Blythe used her pain as a pass. And that made it hard for me to fully buy into her version of events.
Because yes, something is definitely up with Violet, that’s not in question. There are moments where her behaviour genuinely makes your skin crawl. But Blythe’s intense dislike of her from such an early age makes her a really unreliable narrator. Like, are we seeing Violet clearly? Or are we seeing her through the lens of a mother who didn’t bond with her baby, didn’t want to be a mother in the first place, and is projecting all of her unresolved trauma onto this child? And maybe it’s just the lens I bring from my job, but I didn’t read Violet as a child with some deep, inherent darkness. I read her as a little girl reacting to how she’s being treated. It never felt to me like Violet was dangerous; it felt like she was deeply misunderstood and constantly othered by her own mother. So, when Sam dies and Blythe immediately jumps to the conclusion that Violet killed him? That was such a leap. And the worst part is that she never really tries to see Violet differently, even after Sam’s death. There’s no growth or change in how she approaches her daughter, just more coldness and distance.
And then there’s Fox. Don’t even get me started on Fox. I wouldn’t say he comes off worse than Blythe, but he sure doesn’t come off great either. There are so many early red flags that his wife is not okay, and instead of showing up, he checks out. He dismisses her, gaslights her, and just kind of floats along like everything is fine. And I get that he’s grieving too, Sam was his son, but grief doesn’t absolve you from responsibility, and I don’t think he ever truly steps up in the way a partner should. He tries so hard to wear the mask of the perfect husband and father, but when things get complicated, he’s out.
By the end of the book, I just felt like I was watching a bunch of broken people perform for each other, trying to prove that they’re the most hurt, the most right, the most sane, and none of them were doing anything to actually heal. It’s messy, painful, and layered, which I think makes the story compelling. But it also left me frustrated. Especially with Blythe, who just dug in deeper and deeper to this narrative that her daughter was evil, instead of ever trying to rebuild the relationship or reflect on her own role in it all.
Overall, I think this book is a great psychological thriller that gets you guessing and thinking. Given that all the characters aren’t great in their nature, it is hard to connect to them, but you quickly get swept up in all the drama everyone is creating. As mentioned before, I didn’t find the plot super unique, but it’s well written and enjoyable, so I think it’s worth checking out if you haven’t yet.
*** Don’t go any further if you don’t want to see any spoilers ***
So this book doesn’t really have a conclusion. We find out as the book goes on and Blythe gets further into her assumptions and delusions that this also starts to tear her family apart. This is pushed further as we find out at the end of the book that it’s actually been some time now since Fox and Violet were living under the same roof with Blythe.
As Blythe continues to try and convince her husband that their daughter is essentially evil and maliciously killed her brother, Fox starts to see that he can no longer stay in this marriage and can no longer allow Blythe to be around her daughter. Blythe starts stalking Fox and his new family because Gemma Fox’s new wife, is pregnant. Blythe still believes that Violet is a danger and spends her time watching their house so she can protect Fox’s new boy in ways that she didn’t for her own.
We never really find out if Violet did it or not, and we don’t really know what happens to Blythe. The reader is left to decide what they think happened. I mean, I don’t think Violet did it, but that’s just me. I would love to hear your take on the ending, though, if you’ve checked it out before, because I am sure everyone has different takes on whether or not they think Violet killed Sam.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Thank you for checking it out! Feel free to subscribe to the site at the bottom banner to be one of the first to know when I release a new review!
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