“I feel like my blood a giant river swell up inside me and I’m drowning. My head all dark inside. Feel like giant river I never cross in front me now. Ms Rain say, You not writing Precious. I say I drownin’ in river. She don’t look me like I’m crazy but say, If you just sit there the river gonna rise up drown you! Writing could be the boat to carry you to the other side.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: neon yellow leggings, journals, math, pregnancies, welfare, the alphabet, amazing teachers, poems, crack, HIV, poverty, racism, and a ton of abuse.

Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem’s casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and radical teacher, we follow her on a journey of education and enlightenment as she learns not only how to write about her life, but how to make it truly her own for the first time.

This was almost a perfect read for me! I was sooo close to rating this a 5-star read, but I had to lower my rating after getting to the end. Just to be clear, I personally have no issues with books with open endings, but this book ends like the author got tired of writing because it ended very abruptly. I believe that for a book with this intensity and complexity, we could have gotten a proper ending – happy or not, open or not! Other than that, the book was a 5-star read for me.
We have to talk about our amazing main character Precious. She was an incredibly brave young woman that I believe represents a lot of young woman. Although she is disruptive and very angry with her situation in life, it’s impossible to not admire her as a reader for fighting for a better future for her and her kids. She was an amazing main character! As the other characters go, I have to praise her teacher Mrs. Rain and also her colleague Rita. Both awesome side characters that made a very positive impact on Precious. As a side note, I wish there was more about her first daughter who has Down Syndrome. She never really appears in the story, and I would love to see how she would connect with her.
As the writing goes, it was genius! The book is written from Precious’ point of view, so the writing pairs with the fact she is illiterate – which means the sentences don’t have punctuation, words are written incorrectly, etc. This was a very interesting addition to the story because it made it more realistic, but I’ll admit there were times that it was a little difficult to keep up with the story since Precious writes the way she talks. With that said, I do appreciate the fact that the author improves her writing as the book progresses because she gets better with practice – that was a nice touch!
Of course, by now you can probably tell there are many difficult topics portrayed in this book. Some of these topics include racism, poverty, and violence… but the one that made me the most uncomfortable was the constant sexual abuse from BOTH her parents. These were the most difficult parts for me to read because they got a little graphic – so keep that in mind if you’re considering reading this book.
It was a very sad story – and a little more graphic than I thought it would be if I’m being honest –, but Precious was a very inspiring character, and you have no choice but to root for her and her happiness! Incredible book.