Push vs Where the heart is: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Teenage mothers, Bildungsromans, Fiction

Push Sapphire · 1996 ★★★★☆ 3.9 163 pages · ≈ 3 h 01 m · Moderate

Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible: 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…

1 film adaptation

African American Girls Incest Child Abuse African Americans

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Where the heart is Billie Letts · 1995 ★★★★☆ 4.0 358 pages · ≈ 6 h 38 m · Moderate

“NOVALEE NATION, seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight-and superstitious about sevens-shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the old Ply-mouth and ran her hands down the curve of her belly.”

Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with…

1 film adaptation

Oklahoma Teenagers Teenage Girls New York Times reviewed

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
Push is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 6 for Where the heart is.
Where the heart is has the widest readership — 254025 ratings behind its score.
Push runs the darker storyline; Where the heart is stays the lighter read.

How to choose

Want a one-evening read? Push ≈ 3h vs 6h for Where the heart is Want the crowd-tested pick? Where the heart is 254025 ratings vs 60456 for Push In the mood for something dark? Push a darker storyline than Where the heart is Want something lighter? Where the heart is an easier tone than Push

Scores by source

	Push	Where the heart is
Goodreads	3.9 (60456)	4.0 (254025)
Hardcover	4.0 (57)	3.8 (94)
Google Books	4.5 (67)	5.0 (4)
Apple Books	4.5 (216)	4.5 (287)

Reception

	Push	Where the heart is
Ratings	60456	254025
Editions	19	27
Citations	—	20
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	42634	6
Reading it now	1339	—
Written reviews	7301	4
Wikipedia attention	13982	1437
Pages	163	358

Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Push or Where the heart is?

Where the heart is has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Where the heart is 4.0/5, Push 3.9/5).

Which is shorter to read: Push or Where the heart is?

Push is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Push (163 pages, ≈ 3 h 01 m); Where the heart is (358 pages, ≈ 6 h 38 m).

Which is harder to read: Push or Where the heart is?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Push: Moderate; Where the heart is: Moderate.

Have both books been made into films?

Push: 3 film adaptations; Where the heart is: 3 film adaptations.