Push Comes To Shove

by Oasis.

A fast-paced tale of greed— Push Comes to Shove examines the pitfalls and struggles that an honest family faces to survive the perils of financial woes.

The bills are due again for Greg “GP” Patterson, but this time, they won’t get paid. He and his wife are facing robbery charges when a simple assault they committed goes bad. After a few days in jail, the Pattersons lose everything they own and risk losing their children forever.

Luckily Aunty Jewels bails the Pattersons out, but GP must make some serious moves if he is to provide decent shelter for his family again. A visit to Squeeze, a villainous loan shark, leads to killer interest rates and a murderous default penalty. Nevertheless, GP accepts the terms.

When GP gives Jewels the loan money to flip in a high-stakes credit card scheme, she gets robbed for every single dime. Now GP has to figure out how to pay his debt and gain the respect of his family again, but in the meantime, Jewels has already figured out how to make everybody pay.

An entertaining, multicultural drama, Push Comes to Shove is a cautionary tale for today’s economically fraught times.

264 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2008

Reviews

[OOSA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying To Get By

Take a young man with his back against the wall and not a dime in his pocket, add to that a wife and children, robbery charges, and a treacherous loan shark and you have the essence of Oasis' "Push Comes to Shove."

Greg "GP" Patterson is struggling. Struggling to make ends meet, but those ends just seem to drift further and further apart. But he can't give up. Something he is reminded of every day when he comes home to his wife and children. Determined to keep his head above water, GP comes up with a plan but things go terribly, terribly wrong. Can GP make it right again?

Oasis has introduced an intriguing plot with many characters that blends well with no drop in action or plotline. "Push Comes to Shove" is well worth reading.

Oasis, a creative thinker, has a wonderful talent that he clearly puts on display in the pages of "Push Comes to Shove." Smart, well-paced and vividly entertaining.

Reviewed by: Toni

[Diane Rembert · Rating 5 out of 5]

GP and Kitchie are the proud parents of two children…daughter Secret and son Junior. They are struggling to get GP's "Street Prophet" comic book and clothing line off the ground, but tough times result in them kissing everything…including the kids, and they will stop at nothing to get them back.

I truly enjoyed re-reading this book, because it clearly defined taking a leap of faith. The road may seem rocky at times, but hard work and determination pay off in the end. I highly recommend 'Push Comes To Shove' and can't wait for the movie adaptation. Way to go @urbanvisionworks…I give it

[Kenya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt so bad at times for GP and his family. They just couldn't catch a break! This was a good story with very interesting characters whose lives intersected throughout the book. This was my first time reading a book by this author and I am looking forward to checking out more of his work.

Kenya E.
Soul Sistahs Book Club

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very impressive. I can't remember the last time I stayed up half the night reading and this is exatly what I did last night with this book. I got more and more into everything, the characters, what was happening, the situations, everything as the book went on. It was almost like a fast-paced short-lived addiction.
Push Comes To Shove follows GP, his wife Kitchie, their kids Secret and Greg Junior, and the kids aunt Jewels (who was AWESOME!) and at the same time has lots of side characters. One thing I liked was the side characters were all fleshed out- you didn't get just a name and what their purpose was in the story. I felt like I really knew why the things that were happening were happening. Desmond was a character that I also loved- everything about him.
GP obviously has a family to provide for and he's not doing a fantatsic job of it. He's actually doing a piss-poor job of it. His kids are realizing their daddy doesn't come through and his wife is getting fed up. Aunt Jewels is a lesbian who is pretty rough around the edges but LOVES her niece and nephew and would do anything for the four of them as proved in the story.
I'd say that out of all of the situations in the book, there were a few that seemed a bit out there. Not that those things don't happen, because they do but because they all happened in the same story. BUT...they flowed together beautifully and they certainly didn't take anything away from the story. I do think a few situations could have been toned down in order to make it a little more realistic but I don't think it would have necessarily been a better book for it.
I definitely, definitely, definitely, recommend for any urban-lit reader- Oasis won't be going anywhere from what I can see and you'll do yourself a huge favor by reading his book. I'd go so far as to recommend it to anyone who likes fiction at all- the story in no way is limited to urban readers.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book. There were parts of the book that was a little slow and hard for me to get thru. Mr. Reynolds was a mess from the beginning and I was just waiting on the day that he would get what was coming to him. I am definitely looking forward to reading more by this author

[Kenneth Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read if u love books the way tht I do.

[Jenise Shumaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent book.