Content Warning: Rape

As a survivor, Peach spoke to me in a way nothing else could. The poetic undone-ness of the prose, the inability to turn away from what happened, the raw eloquence that speaks directly to what trauma feels like, all of this is a way of saying, "I see you. I know what happened to you. Look, I even wrote it down."

Yes, it is graphic, violent, and dark. But how is it possible to talk about rape without these qualities and be true to the material? You can either mention it obliquely and remain "polite," or you can decide to talk about what rape feels like and what happens afterward in detail. Emma Glass chose the latter, and I'm thankful for it.

In this world, too often we let the words "rape," "assault," "sexual violence," and others speak for themselves, as if they can fully express the experiences in their definitions. Choosing to go another way was bold and challenging in and of itself, never mind writing in prose that reads more like poetry than fiction.

I hope to see more literature like this in the future. I hope to see more of Emma Glass, as well.

I hate to give any book a low rating, and especially one that is exploring sexual assault and trauma, but this one just felt like it was written more for shock value and "gritty/raw/experimental" praise than to genuinely contemplate the subject matter.

Since this was a short book I did finish it but the writing style did not suit the subject. Peach has been assaulted but has not reported it. Instead she tries to continue on with her life, going to school and being with her boyfriend but is failing. Because of the writing style the reader is not invested in the story. Like Peach the reader just continues on without emotion. The author has taken a chance on this writing style but unfortunately it did work with this story for me.

An experimental novella about sexual assault that attempts to imitate the emotional disconnect of the victim in the aftermath of her attack but instead leaves the reader feeling lost and uncertain about what is actually going on. I liked the concept but the execution could have been a bit more clear.

A disturbing, sometimes graphic read of a novella that is full of sharp images juxtaposed with "normal' life. Peach is trying hard to act normal even though her world has been torn apart by violence. It was well-written but hard to read at times.

I’ve been thinking for a couple of days about how to describe why I felt like this was a whole lot of nope book. I finished Peach because it is very short and I really didn’t want to hate it. I kept waiting for it to have a moment of true emotional connection or a brilliant moment but it never gave.

The Topic
Peach is about a teen girl who is raped. An obvious difficult and important topic to accurately portray. Unlike books, like Long Way Down, there is zero literary finesse to Peach. Instead of taking a tough topic and breaking it down to hit all the right emotional cues, Emma Glass takes rape and throws it in your face...

Shock Rock
Those of you who remember the original shock rock stars like Alice Cooper, Ozzy Ozbourne or the later 90s versions like Marilyn Manson and Gwar will maybe know what I mean by this. It’s like Peach is a shock book. (Not near as catchy as shock rock, I know).

So, what’s a shock book (and yes I just made this up)?
Glass takes a disturbing, shocking, uncomfortable topic and throws it in your face. She shoves it down your throat, or otherwise tries to make you stumble back hoping you will be disturbed, disgusted or terrified. The thing about this tactic these days is it generally has less effect on the reader than a carefully crafted, emotionally charged and passionate literary story. Gruesome, descriptive and downright gross just doesn’t make me want to do anything other than put the a book down.
In our desensitized world brutal descriptions just don’t evict emotions other than disgust or perhaps even a lack of connection due to constant barrage of media like this.

Past the Introduction
Had the opening chapters been graphic and the rest of our story well written I likely would have understood the intent of the shocking opening. But this is not how Peach goes.
Instead it continues into a realm of bizarre, and frankly annoying, rhetoric by our lead gal. I almost never felt bad for her and instead just wanted to yell at her to be smarter or less of a narcissist. I never really connected to our lead gal and found myself, (obviously incorrectly) judging her a lot; which is definitely not how we should feel about an abused teen girl.

An Example of Poor Emotional Content
I know what you’re thinking... ‘Mel how dare you blame the sexually assaulted girl, do you lack sympathy’? But this is honestly how poorly the situation, and our lead gals emotions and feelings were portrayed. I felt like I wanted to scream at her to be less dumb and annoying. Not because what was written wasn’t perhaps totally true to a sexual assault victims thoughts, motivations or experience; but because it was written so poorly I just didn’t have any connection with this gal. And don’t even start me on her weird bloated stomach and whatever symbolism it was supposed to have. I can’t even express how dumb I found it by the end of the story.

Overall
A truly good book about a tough topic will make you feel like the character does. It will evict an understanding and emotion in you that you’ve maybe never felt before. Sadly Peach misses on all cues.

Reading a book like Long Way Down (also a short story), where a character I have nothing in common with (black male teen in a low end neighbourhood), can evoke an emotional and mental response from me, means I know it can be done.
I did have some emotions by the end of Peach; but they were disappointment in the quality of story and major annoyance at the continuing use of shock writing.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Do not waste your time. Worst book of the year so far.

Trigger warnings:

Rape, sexual assault, animal abuse and wait for it...cannibalism.

I could not finish this.
After she is raped, she sews herself up YA KNOW HER VAGINA. It's an absolutely disgusting scene. I was barely able to read it. Then it gets worse because she becomes sickly after not being able to I'm assuming release in anyway.

There was some style issues for me that I think could have been resolved if this was a bit longer and structured a bit more formally. It was quite an interesting read and I appreciated the work and detail that went into the imagery.

My Thoughts: This little novella is narrated by Peach, a college student who has been brutally assaulted and is trying to process what has happened to her. The people who might help, her parents, her classmates, her boyfriend, are all oblivious to the changes in Peach. Terror seems to be radiating off of her, yet only she knows it. Her own perceptions are so blurred it’s difficult for the reader to ever really know what is happening to her, making Peach a most unreliable narrator.

In Peach Emma Glass uses a very choppy, staccato writing style. In the beginning, I liked it because it fit the initial terror and jumbled thoughts that would come with what happened to Peach. But, it began to get old and that, coupled with some really weird food imagery that ran throughout this story, made me like it less and less the more I read. Other parts were thrown in that seemed to have no connection at all to the rest of the story. (Think an excessively hairy girl and Mr. Custard?!?) Glass’s writing style reminded me a lot of Megan Hunter’s in The End We Start From. (my review) Both women use a sort of poetry-prose hybrid that places a lot of interpretive demands on the reader. I, for one, don’t like feeling like I’m back in a college lit class.

Emma Glass's debut novel Peach is contemporary fiction told in a wholly original way. It's a challenging read both because of the form it is written in and the graphic descriptions.
High school student Peach is brutally assaulted and manages to make her way home where her pain goes unnoticed by her family. She decides to carry on with life - stitches herself up, goes to school and meets up with her boyfriend. However, she is plagued by the attack - the jarring memories of smell, taste and touch. The reader is left with no doubt of Peach's pain, damaged psyche, and the ultimate consequences to follow.
The author's use of imagery and language is both clever and chilling.
Unlike anything I've ever read, and I read many genres, this novel left me confused and squeamish.
Many have loved this novel, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an arc of this novel in excahnge for my honest review.

Peach by Emma Glass is one of the strangest novellas I have ever read. And definitely the most gruesome.

This book is about a young teen following a horrible assault, trying to deal with her reaction to it. Stream of conscious in style, Peach is visceral, surreal, agonizing, and raw.

A fresh voice? Definitely! One I would want to read again? Not so sure about that. I almost feel the need to shower and wash this book away...

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury, USA for allowing me to read an e-ARC in return for an honest review.

This book deals with the aftermatch of a sexual assault. The book is brutal and very graphic but that adds to the storyline. This is a short read but I found myself reading between the lines to get a better understanding of what was going on. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This book was so disturbing I couldn’t finish it. sexual assault, murder, animal abuse, just so out of my comfort zone.

I didn't like the book. I won't post a negative review online.

I did not understand this book. As I have stated before, I am not a fan of the "experimental" writing style and I think that is what this was. The book felt like a 112 page run on sentence with a breath taken before plunging back in to the next chapter. For that reason, I gave it an extra star because perhaps someone who didn't figure out on page 2 that they aren't going to like how the story is presented just might like the whole thing a bit more. However, I still did not understand this book. I can't tell if Ms. Glass was aiming for a bunch of symbolism or was being poetic. It was lost on me. The graphic description at the beginning of the book of what is presented as the aftermath of rape was discomforting. And just before the very odd ending, I thought a resolution had been made but instead the story got even stranger. Maybe I am being dense and just didn't get this book but I am not sure how many people I know would get it.

First published in Great Britain in 2018; published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on January 11, 2018

Peach is a surrealistic novel about the aftermath of a sexual assault. The story has elements of a disturbing fantasy. Sexual assault is disturbing but it isn’t a fantasy, and I must admit that I’m not sure I understood Emma Glass’ purpose in telling a story about such a serious event from a perspective that is so obviously removed from reality. The reader is clearly not expected to view most of the novel’s events as plausible, but if that’s so, should we view the sexual assault as real? And if nothing in this story is meant to be accepted as real, what is its purpose? Perhaps the point is that the protagonist has unraveled as a result of the assault, but I can’t quite fit that in with the surrounding environment, including bizarre parenting and cannibalism. I have to confess that Glass’ meaning entirely eluded me. But I enjoyed the story, and perhaps more astute readers will unpack its mysteries.

Peach comes home bleeding but her parents don’t notice. If anything, they are pleased that she is “putting out” before she’s married. Peach wants to tell Green, her boyfriend, what happened to her but she can’t find the words. The details are not explicitly shared with the reader, but it is clear that she was sexually assaulted. She later receives a letter, words cut from newspapers, signed with the name Lincoln, that smells like greasy sausage, as did the man who assaulted her, and so puts the name Lincoln to her assailant.

Later Lincoln (or so she assumes) attacks Green, a vicious beating that is witnessed by Green’s friend Spud. Peach knows when Lincoln has been watching her because he leaves behind a slimy residue that carries an odor of grease and meat. Describing Peach’s ultimate confrontation with Lincoln would spoil the story, so I will say only that it is the stuff of fantasy or horror fiction. Not to put too fine a point on it, but my primary thought as I was reading that scene was WTF?

Mysteries for the reader to ponder include Peach’s sudden weight gain (which may or may not result from the obvious explanation), the meaning of Lincoln’s cryptic notes, the sex-obsessed behavior of Peach’s parents, the symbolic nature of Lincoln’s meat smell, the reason that Peach’s parents are so obsessed with eating meat (Peach is a vegetarian), and the parents’ reaction to the aftermath of Peach’s confrontation with Lincoln. My hat is tipped to readers who can answer those questions.

Peach tells a dark story in an incongruously light style. Some aspects of the story are bizarre, and I am not quite sure what message Emma Glass meant to send. Is the book intended to say something about female empowerment? Is it a meditation on the pain of rape? Is it a fantasy or the product of a disturbed mind? The reader will need to decide; I haven’t been able to settle on an interpretation, or even to begin shaping one that I regard as credible.

Emma Glass uses a number of literary techniques associated with poetry, including alliteration, assonance, repetition, imagery, and even the occasional rhyme, to give her prose a lyrical feel. She also indulges in a bit of wordplay. “Thick slick. Blood bleeds into the water, colour changes copper. … I tread, I tread. I reach between my legs until I find the final thread. I tread. The fine fibre I fumble to find with thick fingers, feel through viscuous liquid leaking out, leaking in. Treading still, I dread, I tug the thread.” A little of that can go a long way, but the novel is short, which makes it read like an epic poem.

And it’s good that the novel is short because the imagery is often quite disturbing, which might explain why Glass lightens the story, albeit with dark humor. Peach is a challenging novel but the prose alone is rewarding, and the story’s strangeness offers ample nourishment for thought. For that reason, and because I enjoyed the prose, I am recommending Peach despite my inability to make much sense of it.

RECOMMENDED

Glass is exploring the very topical and painful issue of the aftermath of rape but I honestly don't know who I would recommend this to. It's a challenging read, both because of the form (it's disjointed at best) and the graphic descriptions. It's a novella, not a novel, but even then I found myself unable to finish it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm sure this will speak to some but it wasn't my cup of tea.

The synopsis of this book is much better than the actual book. Filled with surreal and disjointed prose this is like a runaway poem that wasn't quite sure of its direction. I spent half of the book trying to figure out what the hell I was reading and why.



Babies made of Jelly, teachers made from pudding, the world has people who don't have skin, and Peach is stumbling through the dark trying to recover from what I'm assuming was a rape, although the description was difficult to figure out. Her parents are very odd and the whole book just left me wanting to shower and wash my brain.



There are graphic scenes that may turn a lot of people away (I'm not that squeamish) but I was left confused and not grasping the praise this book has received. I may be in the minority but I found this book to be truly terrible. There are so many other books out there about rape and the turmoil and trauma it causes that this was just not a necessary read.