The Kid

By: Sapphire

Narrated by: Sapphire

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire gives voice to Precious's son, Abdul.

In The Kid, best-selling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious. A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which 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 and toward an identity he can stand behind.

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 artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a 21st-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.

©2011 Sapphire (P)2011 Penguin

Waste of a Credit

I only finished this book because I started it. It’s not something I would recommend. I enjoyed Push a great deal, and I had high hopes that this sequel would keep in stride. I was greatly disappointed. Sapphire’s narration was less than stellar at best. The story was just ok, and sometimes very difficult to follow. Some parts seem to have been written for the sole purpose of shocking the reader.

this book is very disturbing

I had to keep turning it off Is way worse then push it made me cry.

Stressed listener

I’m glad I already read this book years ago on paper because I have no idea how anyone can finish the audiobook. This is my only regret credit. The book is disturbing yes. It’s one you’re okay with forgetting yes. It’s one that’s hard to read because it’s vulgar but not hard knowing someone out there’s story is being told.

The problem is sapphire. There’s no way she wrote this book with punctuation because she does not know how to read any of it. I wanted to stab myself in the ears listening to this and I’ve only made it 30 min in in the past year.

Enjoyed it

Its something you would have to listen to your self. This book can go either way. Its just as blunt as "push"......Indescribable

just meant for shock and cringe no real substance

it crapped out almost at the end as if the author struggled to finish a story that was to broad taking into account the story was fro. the perspective of a mentally broken young man...the author relied on the shock of some events and put no substance behind the story

Confused

I was so confused at the end of this story of what was really going on.

Disappointing

It’s disappointing. And sad that there is so much sex. Almost like the whole culture is just full of sex and violence. Every time I turn the book on it’s in some sexual scene, terrible.

The Kid

I enjoyed this book (it be nice to b a movie)
the beginning was very heartwarming n sad
I love how he was hearing his mom voice ...which meant she was always with him
this is my second time around - the first time a few years back n now
this book has a lot of up n down n crazy omg times
but to me a so so good read
I enjoy watching him grow up lost (it was like never ending dream) in a whole he truly didn't understand n they really didn't understand him This Was His Life ~ His So Called Life

Sapphire you know you were wrong

So I read the other reviews and I figured it could not be so bad. Well it is. Not
so much the story but her performance sucks. She needs not to ever ever ever ever
( in my Smoky voice) ever ever ever read her own books. Please Sapphire stick to just writing. There was times i was so confused about who was speaking. Her voice sounded the same for multiple characters that were talking to each other. Then couldn’t
tell when he was dreaming or if he was in real life at times. I wish I rather just read the book instead of listening. What happened with Mongo? This could have been a good book
but the storylines at times was confusing and not really developed and went no where.

Usually I love Sapphire’s work, but this is a no

Sapphire is generally a good writer. A good narrator, not so much. Some parts of the story she sounds exhausted from reading, other parts full of energy (like when she does animal sounds towards the latter of the book). It’s hard to tell who is speaking because there generally isn’t much change in voice inflection or tone. And it’s difficult to imagine the character as a 6 foot tall 13 year old when his voice is spoken by a woman and sometimes given a high whiny pitch.

I have no idea what’s actually happening and what’s not, characters are introduced, given a story then completely vanish. There’s no redemption, and as much as I tried to like and sympathize and empathize with the main character, it just wasn’t happening.

I didn’t believe the reviews that said not to bother with this book, but I figured this is by Sapphire, it can’t be that bad..... it is that bad.