xx
Open Throat by Henry Hoke EPUB
One of ELLE's Best Summer Books of 2023, and one of i-D's Fiction to be Excited for in 2023.
Named a Most Anticipated Book by The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, Nylon, Alta, Shondaland, Chicago Review of Books, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Literary Hub
"Open Throat is a blinding spotlight beam of a book that I was completely unable and unwilling to put down." —Catherine Lacey.
"My favorite book of this century so far." —Andrea Lawlor.
"A fantastical, deeply moving, and original adventure." —Brontez Purnell
A lonely, lovable, queer mountain lion narrates this star-making fever dream of a novel.
A queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion lives in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Lonely and fascinated by humanity’s foibles, the lion spends their days protecting a nearby homeless encampment, observing hikers complain about their trauma, and, in quiet moments, grappling with the complexities of their gender identity, memories of a vicious father, and the indignities of sentience.
When a man-made fire engulfs the encampment, the lion is forced from the hills down into the city the hikers call “ellay.” As the lion confronts a carousel of temptations and threats, they take us on a tour that spans the cruel inequalities of Los Angeles and the toll of climate grief. But even when salvation finally seems within reach, they are forced to face down the ultimate question: Do they want to eat a person, or become one?
Henry Hoke’s Open Throat is a marvel of storytelling, a universal journey through a wondrous and menacing world recounted by a lovable mountain lion. Feral and vulnerable, profound and playful, Open Throat is a star-making novel that brings the mythic to life.
⭐"Singular, stunning . . . [the mountain lion] finds indelible place in readers’ hearts. Hoke’s prose is a joy, as it alternatingly charms with malapropisms and stuns with poetic simplicity. Compassionate, fierce, and bittersweet, this is an unforgettable love letter to the wild."―Kirkus (starred review)
"[A] slim jewel of a novel . . . It is not in spite of its brevity ― or its surrealism, or its nonhuman narrator ― that Open Throat leaves you with such a lingering impression, but because of these elements . . . Though many readers will label Open Throat unconventional, this act of ravishing and outlandish imagination should be the norm, not the exception. At its best, fiction can make the familiar strange in order to bring readers and our world into scintillating focus. Open Throat is what fiction should be." ―Marie-Helene Bertino, The New York Times Book Review
xx
