Book Review: ‘Venice Peach’ by Jessamyn Violet
The second I saw ‘Venice Peach’ pitched as a near future satire featuring a freak circus of society’s outliers living to the max in Venice (the one in California, not Italy!), I was in.
I’m a huge fan of that near-future space where our world still echoes through that of the novel and the consequences of climate change, our governments, and the treatment of certain groups of people have vividly shaped society.
Welcome to the Dark Carnival of Futurism…
One dark, windy supermoon night in the near future, a woman's ill-timed tarot question rips open a portal between dimensions, unleashing cosmic chaos.
Step right up to Venice Peach, a flamboyantly freakish circus on the gritty Venice Beach boardwalk, where bizarre talents and mind-bending spectacles are just the beginning. Get lost in a funhouse maze of reality-shattering events and untamed, sex-fueled showdowns.
Featuring a cast of gonzo characters tee-tottering on the slippery slope of ambition, only to be thrown wildly off-course by creepy canal creatures, zombie seagulls, and a robot president—this is a fast, raunchy ride with enough twists to leave you twisted.
No glitches, no guts, no glory.
I could not have predicted the wild ride I was in for with ‘Venice Beach’, but the ramifications of certain governmental policies and political choices in the USA are central to the book. Robots have overtaken the political landscape of the USA and are trying to repair the damage that has been done. People are free to be who they are, and love who they want; marriage and children is no longer the default expectation; and the robot president undertakes regular personal interviews with the general public to ry and make life and the world better for everyone.
The world of ‘Venice Peach’ was fuelled with rage and indignation at our world and the harm it does to those who do not confirm and it was a gleeful fist bump at the systems we have to try and exist within.
Yet there’s always room for rebellion, especially in Venice under the watchful eyes of the robot LAPD. Speakeasies, illegal band practices, sex, drugs, invasive podcasts and unexpected trysts, ‘Venice Peach’ has them all, and it quickly slides into the surreal. There were a few moments where I literally stopped reading and and took a moment because it took such a sharp turn into surreal horror, because I love body horror with unhinged women at the moment and those scenes definitely fit the bill. ‘Venice Peach’ is trying to do and say a lot in relatively few pages so it’s a real mash up of genres. There are tasters of so many things and it occasionally feels a little chaotic and jarring, but it works for the most part.
I was a little bit disappointed that the Venice Peach Freak Circus barely made an appearance in the novel. The ensemble cast were all linked, whereas I expected them to all be a part of the circus, but the actual circus was located around an underground speakeasy, and even that got little page time. I really wanted to see the dynamics of the whole cast in one place as well as the pairs and smaller groups that showed up. I think that ultimately, I wanted more of the community of these outsiders living out the end of some of their worlds in a book and place that was so fiercely dependent on the community of Venice as a safe space for people who don’t quite fit elsewhere.
‘Venice Peach’ is a surreal love letter to Venice and a rallying cry against harmful governments, capitalism and conformity.
Thank you to Junk Food PR for the review copy.
‘Venice Peach’ will be released in paperback and e-book on 10th June 2025 from Maudlin House.
Written by Sophie
