Plot: Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.
But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.
Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.
Summary: Ummmm wow. Okay first off, YES this is TECHNICALLY a domestic thriller. But it’s a lot heavier then what that label usually describes. I’ve read the evil child/gaslit mother book before.
We Need to Talk About Kevin? Check.
Baby Teeth? Check.
The Push is way more Kevin then Baby Teeth. It’s also a deep dive exploration of grief, marriage, societal expectations of women and motherhood, and a look at intergenerational trauma and how it effects future generations.
Does that sound like a lot? IT IS. This is NOT light reading.
I’d put the book down and find myself hesitating to pick it up again because man, it is heavy. But once I picked it up, I found myself fully absorbed once again. This is a good book. The ending is lingering with me. But it’s not an easy book, and I’d say it’s less a thriller then the well-written examination of the breakdown of a family told in the bare trappings of a domestic thriller’s lens.
