Peaches, a fiction by Jodi Lynn Anderson, has quickly become one of my favorite books. A friend gave it to me because her mom gave it to her and she didn’t want to read it. It looked interesting so I decided I would read it, and my friend missed out.tThe novel starts with a short chapter that gives a little background to unlock the story. These chapters reoccur frequently through the novel and give those “Aha!” moments. Then it moves into the life of Murphy McGowen, a brown haired, green-eyed bombshell who is misunderstood, lost and has infinite trust issues. She breaks into the Darlington Orchard house and steels a bottle of liquor, only to be caught. For punishment, she is sent to work at the orchard picking peaches over Spring break. There she meets Birdie Darlington, a shy farm girl whose father owns the orchard, and Leeda Cawley-Smith, Birdie’s perfect, rich cousin. All three girls work together on the orchard and eventually break down Murphy’s trust wall, Leeda’s obsessive compulsive perfection problem, and Birdie’s insecurities. They help each other through bonding experiences like transforming Birdie into a beautiful woman, Leeda standing up to her mother, and Murphy finally letting her guard down. All three girls come back to work on the orchard over summer. tThere were many dramatic situations in the novel, like when Murphy stole Leeda’s boyfriend: Rex. Red is and average, (not rich), guy who fixes cars and has the same sarcastic attitude as Murphy. The two girls work through it eventually.tBirdie falls in love with a Mexican farm worker, Enrico, over the summer. He and his friends and family work and live at the orchard over the Summer and then return to Mexico when the season is over/ At the end of the novel, Birdie goes on a road trip with Leeda and Murphy to tell Enrico how she really feels. But does he love her too? You’ll have to read and find out!tThe central conflict in this novel is man vs. himself in that all three teenagers try to find themselves and are unsuccessful until they find each other. All three have a constant struggle being the person everyone else wants them to be and who they really are. Picking the perfect peach represents each girls’ search for happiness. They all came to the orchard ready for something better than what they had. Murphy with her looks, Birdie with her brains, and Leeda with her money. By the end of the summer all three girls can “pick the perfect peach,” and have become parts of each other.tJodi Lynn Anderson has a compelling way of captivating the audience, and there is never a dull moment. The writing is easy to read, flows well, and the descriptions are never overdone. Everything is written to perfection. With each word, Anderson draws you in more. I would relate her style to Stephenie Meyer’s.tI found the main theme in the novel to be: be loved for who you really are, not who people want you to be. Each of the girls allowed society to mold them into something they weren’t until they found each other. Once they were friends, their shells came off and their real, beautiful colors showed.tI would recommend this book only to girls between to ages of 12 and 35 because the plotline is on that other people couldn’t relate to and wouldn’t enjoy. I loved this book, and only wish it was longer. Luckily for me, there is a sequel!
Peau de pêche était vraiment un souffle d'air frais. Si je pouvais décrire ce livre dans un mot, ça serait "sincérité" Parce que même si c'était une histoire de fiction, chaque geste, chaque dialogue semblait parvenir de la réalité; tout semblait pouvoir se transmettre dans quelque chose qui pourrais arriver en vrai vie.Tout commence avec une crème de menthe. Plus spécifiquement, la crème de menthe que Murphy McGowen vole du verger de pêches des Darlingtons. Cet acte de cambriolage lui condamne à travailler au verger Darlington pendant les vacances de printemps. Là, elle rencontre Birdie, la fille timide du propriétaire du verger, et Leena, la cousine de Birdie qui vient d'une famille riche à craquer. Ces trois filles ont apparemment seulement deux choses en similaires: 1. Elles ont le même âge 2. Elles doivent travailler au même verger de pêches.Après ces vacances de printemps, ces trois filles pensaient que c'était la fin de ce qui pouvait arriver entre eux, mais viens l'été, et Murphy, Leena, et bien sûre, Birdie, se retrouve tous encore au verger Darlington, sous des circonstances différentes. Mais elles n'ont aucune idée qu'est ce que cette été va offrir à chacune d'entre elle... va offrir à eux.J'avais récemment lu un livre qui avait du bon potentiel, mais qu'est ce qui la abaissé en valeur était qu'il y avait trop de fils d'histoire qui avait rapport avec la protagoniste, et à la fin tout était une confusion totale. Peau de pêche avait trois protagonistes, mais ce livre n'avait jamais perdu son fil d'histoire. Murphy, Leeda et Birdie étaient tous très bien développer en terme de personnages, et leurs traits distinctifs ont vraiment bien colorer ce livre. Mais qu'est ce qu'était épatant était que leurs histoires et personnalités différentes ont pu pouvoir tisser ce lien, ce lien qui guidait toujours l'histoire à quelque part de merveilleux.C’est drôle parce que tu penserais qu’un livre qui suit trois filles durant l’été aurait plein de dialogue moche et une histoire pas mal ringarde, mais Peau de pêche était exactement l’inverse. J’ai vraiment apprécié que l’auteure n’a pas écrit des situations parfaites, ceux qui sont vraiment prévisible et qui fini avec une conclusion parfaite. Non, chaque situations et dialogues avaient un point, et même si ça ne finissait pas toujours bien, ça apportait quelque chose de nouveau à l’histoire, quelque chose de valeur.Peau de pêche était vraiment un livre amusant. Ça m’a fait rire, bouder, penser… Bref, c’est un livre qui te fait ressentir beaucoup d’émotions sincères. Je l’a recommande fortement, car c’est un livre qui t’amène sur un voyage vraiment, vraiment sensationnel!
What do You think about Peaches (2012)?
Peaches, by Jodi Lynn Anderson is about three teenage girls of different life styles that come to meet on a peach orchard where they form an unexpected friendship. The three of them meet when the peach orchard is about to close down and together, they go through many ups and downs in their lives. Birdie's father, Walter owns the orchard and the three girls work together to try to save the orchard even though Walter himself has already given up. This book describes how each of the girls come in from three entirely different places and at first, I even thought they should be from different books and that this wouldn't be a very good way to structure a book. When the three of them met, I still thought that the book wasn't put together and that the characters were too different from each other to be in the same place. This element of doubt was what kept me reading the book. Anderson does a very good job at combining them to form a strong yet vulnerable team that have an interesting bond with each other and their surroundings. Whether or not the girls can save the orchard is something you, as the reader will have to find out.This story is told in the third person and when the girls aren't together, this works well. It gives the reader a good overview of the main story and also displays why it's so important.This book is a national bestseller and when I saw that, I decided to read it. The title was simple and the cover (it was a different cover from the one shown in this picture) was as well so there wasn't anything that made me think it would stand out in particular from another book.I'd honestly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading about small conflicts because it makes their lives seem simpler or tougher and it makes these kind of people feel better, not just about themselves but about friendships and life in general.
—Rachel
Authentic, loving, amazing, and dramatic are the words I've carefully chosen to describe Peaches, a book about discovering who you really are and finding the truth in friendship and love. Throughout a journey of reality, Darlington Orchard brings out the good in everyone. Birdie, Murphy, and Leeda all struggle through their differences to become friends, until they realize each girl has such a difficult life, their happiness is discovered in being together. Facing obstacles like Enrico and Rex and finding your place in this world, all three girls struggle together over breaks to create an everlasting friendship. I felt this book was very beautiful because time after time the three girls got into fights and at the end of each fight, they were all back together. Peaches by Jodie Lee Anderson continued to have multiple settings which I came to realize represented different meanings for the girls. The lake was where the three girls bonded time over time and while working all day through all their obstacles, over and over the three girls would come to the lake and everything would be all right. I think the lake represents a place of happiness and peace. Viewing the world, I feel many people find a place in their lives where no matter how angry you feel, going to the place can make one feel better. I think Peaches was very boring at the start and I almost stopped reading it. The book didn't catch my interest until four or five chapters in. Peaches is a series with two other books, and I would read the two other books.
—Anika Nicolas
Peaches Murphy McGowan is a wild girl who gets caught steeling some “crème de menthe” at a finically troubled peach farm in Bridgewater, Georgia. She ended up working there for the entire spring brake as punishment for her crime. Leeda is a blonde aristocrat whose parents own a golf resort and she is sentenced by her snobby mother to spend spring break on the farm with her uncle Walter and her cousin Birdie. She would definitely rather be hanging out with her rebel boyfriend Rex to piss off her parents. Birdie is the daughter of a single dad running a peach farm that is going in a finical spiral to the ground headed for a crash and burn. Her mother just left and she is falling in love with an immigrant worker on the farm Enrico. And to top it all off her cousin who totally dislikes her is coming along with a girl who stole jam from their house, to work for spring break. Together these girls come together, fall in love, have some wild times and end up staying the entire summer at the peach farm and saving it from near death. This is a great book for 10- 16 year olds who like romance and friendship and a great story line. It is a little slow in the beginning but once you fall in love with the characters you cant stop reading it!
—Beckie
