Peach

Peach has been brutally attacked. In this audiobook, her subsequent pain is rendered into something both horrible and beautiful, which is hard to explain. Yasmin Page's narration embraces Glass's poetic skill as she delivers the author's descriptive words and distinctive cadences. Indeed, there is a poetry to this novel that is simultaneously ideal for audio and sometimes distracting. When the diction and syntax work thoughtfully in tandem, the effect is mesmerizing, thanks to Page's lilting voice. Some moments, though, rise to distracting heights in their abstraction, and even Page's skill as a performer can't bring the listener back to the story without some effort on the parts of both parties. Page is forceful and precise in her performance, paying close attention to the artistry entwined in these sentences. L.B.F. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Starred review from October 30, 2017
Glass’s fierce and mesmerizing debut straddles the line between fable and novel as it chronicles the effects of a sexual assault on a young woman by a depraved stranger named Lincoln. The book opens with teenage Peach walking home after the attack, battered and bruised. The lingering smells, sounds, and taste of the event are evoked in vivid detail: “charcoal breath,” “burnt flesh,” “crack crackly crackling” blood. Peach tells no one about what happened to her—neither her boyfriend, Green, nor her oversexed parents—and instead stitches her wounds up in the bath using a thread and sewing needle. In subsequent days, nightmares, hallucinations, and fear creep in alongside the evocative scent of roasting sausage and eerie sightings of Lincoln lurking in the woods near Peach’s school. Peach relishes the comfort of Green’s generous embrace while trying to ignore the psychological, emotional, and physical changes roiling within her. These surprisingly tender moments between Green and Peach offer respite from an otherwise challenging story as it leads up to its unforgettable twist ending. Making full use of metaphor, alliteration, and wordplay, Glass’s remarkable prose stretches the boundaries of storytelling throughout, adding depth and strange beauty to this vital novel.