Push

當全世界都遺棄你，
記得，只有自己最珍貴……

　　★ 長踞紐約時報暢銷排行榜第1名
　　★ 獲史蒂芬．克雷恩小說獎
　　★ 美國圖書館協會黑人幹部會議第一流小說家獎
　　★ 大英國協年度心靈之書獎

　　白日為什麼如同黑夜一般，像一道永無止盡的高牆擋住珍愛的人生？

　　只要聽見門一關，摔碎的杯盤聲，尖銳的怒罵聲，她知道那醜陋的魔掌，就要侵吞、撕烈她的身體……

　　珍愛想起自己12歲生下一個蒙古症小孩，現在她16歲，卻又要生下第二個小孩。

　　肥胖、文盲、滿口粗話的珍愛，完全得不到任何人的愛……

　　直到蕾恩老師的出現，骯髒泥沼的生活才摸索一道救生梯往上爬，珍愛開始學習用一字一句寫出快樂與不快樂，存在的價值不是又黑又醜又胖的外表，而是天真可愛的心。

　　然而醫生卻宣判了一個殘酷的事實，珍愛淚流滿面，還是青春年華的她，難道連談個戀愛的機會都沒有……

　　美國文壇最燦亮的震撼之筆──賽菲爾，以充滿詩意的獨特風格，一鳴驚人的文筆，生動描寫黑人女孩不畏陰暗，努力改變自己，透過珍愛一步一步的成長，鼓勵所有失去珍惜疼愛的心靈，永遠不要放棄希望！

★本書中譯本《珍愛人生》由「大田」出版

　　"Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire," directed by Lee Daniels and written
　　by Damien Paul

　　GRAND JURY PRIZE and AUDIENCE AWARD winner at the 2009 Sundance Film
　　Festival

　　Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" (Newsday) is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption.

作者簡介

賽菲爾

　　賽菲爾一九五○年出生。青少年時住在南費城和洛杉磯，她從紐約的市立學院畢業，又得到布魯克林學院碩士學位。一九八三到一九九三年間住在哈林區，教導青少年及成人識字寫作。

　　賽菲爾是位表演詩人，作品《美國夢》詩集獲《出版商週刑》譽為「九○年代震撼文壇之處女作之一。」她的小說《珍愛人生》贏得每月一書俱樂部史蒂芬．克雷恩獎的首部小說獎、美國圖書館協會黑人幹部會議第一流小說家獎、並獲大英國協年度心靈之書獎。《珍愛人生》被《村聲》及《紐約暫停》選為一九九六年十大最佳小說，也獲提名角逐全美有色人種促進會意象獎的傑出小說項。《詩人暨作家雜誌》讚譽她最新的詩集是「每一行每一首詩都寫出賽菲爾的靈魂，她最近的詩集《黑翼與黑天使》仍蘊藏一貫的煽惑力量，贏得人心，燒燎心智。」

　　賽菲爾的作品散見於《約紐客》、《紐約時報雜誌》、《紐約時報書評》、《黑人學者》、《旋轉》、《炸彈》等雜誌。二○○七年二月，亞歷桑那州立大學出版了一本研究賽菲爾作品的專題論集。賽菲爾的作品被譯為十一種語言，並且改編成舞台劇，在美國及歐洲上演。改編《珍愛人生》的小說電影獲得美國二○○九年日舞影展贏得大陪審團獎及觀眾獎。

　　Sapphire is the author of American Dreams, a collection of poetry which was cited by Publishers Weekly as, "One of the strongest debut collections of the nineties." Push, her novel, won the Book-of-the-Month Club Stephen Crane award for First Fiction, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association's First Novelist Award, and, in Great Britain, the Mind Book of the Year Award. Push was named by the Village Voice and Time Out New York as one of the top ten books of 1996. Push was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work of Fiction. About her most recent book of poetry Poet's and Writer's Magazine wrote, "With her soul on the line in each verse, her latest collection, Black Wings & Blind Angels, retains Sapphire's incendiary power to win hearts and singe minds."

　　Sapphire's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Black Scholar, Spin, and Bomb. In February of 2007 Arizona State University presented PUSHing Boundaries, PUSHing Art: A Symposium on the Works of Sapphire. Sapphire's work has been translated into eleven languages and has been adapted for stage in the United States and Europe. Precious, the film adaption of her novel, recently won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Awards in the U.S. dramatic competition at Sundance (2009).