PUSH

Can a lesbian English teacher save an abused, black, 16-year-old, HIV-positive, unwed mother? Performance artist Sapphire (Ramona Lofton) chronicles such a fictional case from the teen's point of view. Under its brutal, streetwise crust of foul language and uncomfortable truths, this is a loving, sentimental, and, at times, improbably optimistic first novel. The author reads her first-person narrative in a strident staccato, but whatever she lacks in vocal grace and histrionic acumen, she compensates for in directness and authenticity. She has written a more interesting, likable protagonist in Precious Jones than she impersonates though she nicely brings out Jones's indomitable life force. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: NOV/DEC 96]