By: Gabi Rutherford

Peach was assaulted. She has blood flowing down her legs, and the scent of her attacker is on her skin. The next morning, Peach tries to return to her normal life. However, she is haunted by the memory of what happened to her, and the trauma inflicted on her won’t just go away like she wants. It becomes hard for her to eat, to focus, and to sleep. As the aftermath of the assault continues to grow, Peach begins to realize what drastic measures she must take to have closure.

Emma Glass used an interesting format to write this novel on such a difficult topic. Glass seemed to use the slam poetry technique in this prose, as she would repeat words and have words with the same beginning letters right after each other. Glass also named the characters very interestingly, as each characters’ name could have multiple meanings. For instance, Peach is the main character’s name, but a peach is also a fruit, and towards the end of the novel, Peach refers to parts of herself as a pit, like from a peach. Emma Glass was able to make this novel very intricate and detailed, which many readers should be able to appreciate.

I want to start out my opinion by saying that I appreciate that Emma Glass took on this difficult topic. Assault, in any form, is not an easy topic to talk about. I also appreciate that she is descriptive about what Peach feels and the actions she takes to help herself heal. However, this can be a bit graphic at times, so if you are not comfortable with that you will have a hard time reading this. I personally did not like the format of this novel, but I do understand why she might have chosen to write it this way, as slam poetry is often used as a way to communicate hard topics like this. I did appreciate seeing the world through Peach’s eyes, as it helped me to understand what victims of assault go through. I really think this is an important topic to learn more about, so I would recommend this novel to anyone.