“Claireece Precious Jones (known as Precious) is an obese black, 16 year old, mother of one child, pregnant with another living in Harlem. Her own father has been sexually abusing her since she was around three years old and has fathered her two children; her oldest, born when Precious was 12, has Downs Syndrome and lives with Precious's grandmother. If that's not enough, Preecious's mother beats her and also sexually abuses her.
Precious is expelled from school for being pregnant, much to her annoyance. However, the teacher who expels her has organised for the illiterate Precious to attend a different school programme, Each One Teach One, to earn her GED. Although Precious is at first furious with her teacher for removing her from school she attends the new programme and is pushed to learn to read. Through learning to read and write Precious learns that she and her children are entitled to a better life and she works towards providing that.
In this story of poor unfortunates who fall through the cracks of society, Precious's voice is a stream of consciousness written in her own dialect which took a few pages to get the rhythm of but once established was fairly easy to read. However, the subject matter is often painful to read; the sexual and violent abuse she suffers is told by Precious in some detail and often I wondered how one person could possibly survive blow after blow as Precious does. She survives it because she never succumbs to victim mentality. One of the things I loved about Precious was her clarity of mind and her determination to lay the blame for what happened to her squarely at the feet of those who deserved it. Of course, it's a moving read; in all of the horror the moments when Precious finds kindness in others brought me to tears and I loved seeing Precious blossom on the page as her reading and writing skills improved with her time in Each One Teach One. This is an unforgettable story which depressed, shocked and angered me but thankfully, left me hopeful. It's a book that can be read in one or two sittings but shouldn't be read without a packet of tissues very handy.”
StellaMac wrote this review Monday, January 11, 2010.
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