Book Review | Voice Like a Hyacinth by Mallory Pearson

About The Book

A Voice Like a Hyacinth is a sapphic, queer Paranormal novel focused on a group of five female friends as they enter a stressful and competitive senior year at art school. Joanna Kozak and her friends major in painting at the Rotham School of Fine Arts, where they dedicate themselves fully to their craft and each other. Their friendship is all-consuming, enmeshing themselves into a group that speaks the same language and understands one another on a near spiritual level. Their unit has always been tight knit and the rest of the world is simply observers of their friendship. However, as seniors they are pitted against one another for the end of the year exhibition where only one student will be chosen to exhibit solo while the rest of the class is relegated to showing only one piece as a part of a gallery show. Graduation is looming and a solo exhibition could very well be the start of their careers.

The stakes are high and it feels like for the first time something might be able to tear this group of five apart. With the pressure mounting, one of the girls suggests a ritual they can conduct not only to boost their creativity but to stick it to their creepy professor. A ritual seemed like a good idea, besides it wasn’t really real, right? These five friends awaken more than just their creativity but something dark within themselves.

My Thoughts

I have to say this novel took me by surprise with how much I fell in love with it. I’m uncertain how good of a general book recommendation A Voice Like a Hyacinth is, as it strikes me as a story you’re either going to vibe with or not. Malloy Pearson’s writing is decorative, artistic even, and I would describe her authorial voice as flowery. I think it particularly resonates with me as I too went to art school, although I studied illustration and not painting, I felt connected to the girls in the story. There was a lot of nostalgia for me as a reader and I think that added a layer to the plot that I had not expected.

The story shines in its queer representation which may seem like a given as Pearson is a queer author but the glimpses into the girls’ identities was so well done. The story has a great number of sapphic elements but it also touches on the intimacy and tenderness of female friendships. Not all intimacy is romantic and I think Jo and her friends embody that.

A Voice Like a Hyacinth is a simmering slow burn of a book, and if you like your paranormal horror fast paced then this is probably not the right choice for you. The darkness that creeps in is subtle at first, and as you, the reader, are locked in Jo’s head for the entirety of the book. You see how she bargains with herself that things are not really as they seem until she can no longer deny them. Their desperation to always stay together may very well be their downfall. At times it feels as though Jo is trying to hold onto all the threads that bind her and her best friends together even as they unravel.

This book is pretty horror light. There are moments with more spooky and paranormal happenings throughout, but not as many as a more traditional horror story. The scares are more psychological as Jo feels haunted by something she cannot explain. Their paintings turn darker and the girls Joanna once knew better than herself change. I enjoyed this book and its careful examination of obsession and desperation and how far you might go for the ones you love.