"The Kid" by Sapphire

384 pages

In this sequel to Sapphire's bestselling "Push," we meet Abdul Jones, the son of "Push's" heroine, Precious. We jump into his life on the day of his mother's funeral, when he's nine. From there, he jumps from foster homes to a Catholic orphanage for boys to the streets, enduring physical and sexual abuse all the way. We see him go from a sweet, inquisitive child to a tough, hardened young man who only looks out for himself. Throughout it all, Abdul focuses his energy on dancing and sets his sights on using his passion to pull him out of the dark world he's in.

I am glad I read "Push," even though it's super-depressing, because it opened my eyes to the horrible situation that a lot of real people are in and it's ultimately inspiring. However, I was really disappointed with this sequel. I felt awful for Abdul, but I really can't say that I liked him or connected with him in any way. Yes, I understand how he became the selfish person that he was. Almost anyone would be the same way if they were in his shoes. I think I didn't like him because I didn't see anything good or kind left in him. He seemed completely bitter and cynical to me, and although I can't blame him it made it difficult for me to like him, unfair as that might be. Also, I didn't feel much hope coming out of this story. Abdul has his dancing and I think that is supposed to be the uplifting part, but it didn't seem like the author ever made it seem like it would really work. Abdul is always so out of control and represses the experiences of his past so much that I didn't ever believe that he was going to get out of his situation. Maybe I just wasn't in an optimistic enough mood when I read this, but it seemed nothing but depressing to me. The only thing that kept me reading was the hope that it would turn out okay in the end, but I didn't feel good about the ending at all.