This book will surely be one of my favorites of this year. The writing is beautiful and imaginative, centered in what we imagine is the consciousness of a mountain lion in the hills above "Ellay." By turns visceral and emotional, the lion feels his loneliness as the only one of his kind in the area, and misses his mother and another lion who willingly shared his kill-- and then died while trying to cross a highway.

He overhears conversations among hikers about their therapists-- and he wants a therapist of his own, who he can secret away in a thicket and come to visit once a week. He makes a connection to a homeless encampment-- which ends up leading the way to the surprising conclusion.

Overall a marvelous achievement and highly recommended.

I'm a fan of short, unassuming novels like this. Open Throat follows a mountain lion who lives along the Brush Canyon trail in Los Angeles. The entire story is told from the lion's perspective as it eavesdrop on hikers, reports their conversations, recounts its own story, and takes a more active role when disaster strikes. Although slight, the story covers quite a bit of terrain, from California's acute housing crisis to the treatment of wildlife to climate change. There are two things that elevate this above a clever but forgettable story. The first is the playful syntax - spellings are irregular and punctuation largely absent - which is fitting for a story told by an animal. But the second is I think far more interesting: the decision to label the mountain lion as queer. There's little in the text to indicate the lion's sexual orientation or identity, whatever that may be. But I don't think Hoke is using the word queer to mean sexual orientation or identity. Rather than a commentary on the lion, I read it instead as a commentary on the meaning of queerness, which is a more expansive and nuanced concept. The lion is free and yet confined, allowed to live as long as it doesn't cause a disturbance. It's labeled as a threat, even though it is the one being hunted. Indeed, its very existence is precarious, tolerated as a curiosity but not allowed to thrive. There's a lot more to unpack with this, and even if Open Throat doesn't do a lot of unpacking, it illustrates these ideas in a fresh way. Many thanks to the US publisher, MCD/FSG, for approving a digital ARC via Netgalley.

This book is a wonderfully weird ass, fever dream of an experience. If you’re familiar with P-22, the real-life cougar that lived in LA’s Griffith Park for years, this is basically a fictionalization or a reimagining of that. Already that’s such a creative premise, but more than that, the writing itself is so inventive in the way it plays with humor and the balance of form and function. The things that happen to our big cat protagonist are really tough to read, but it’s a great commentary on modern society. The only thing I really disliked was the fact that this book is heavily marketed as queer- it is, but also, that’s maybe a bit of a stretch. Most of the queerness lies in the subtext rather than it being overtly stated, which is fine. Just not what I expected.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

From the off, I wasn't sure about this...how did Author Hoke think of a puma being queer?! What kind of twee nonsense is a whole novel told from the point of view, nay, in the voice of, an animal going to be?!

Oh me of little faith.

What dazzles and delights me about this read is the meditations on being and becoming a sentient individual in the shadow of trauma and persecution, being and becoming an existential threat to creatures you're not able quite to emulate but whose world you inhabit. It's never about you, the fear and the anger; it's about what They bring with them into the tiny corner of space They condescend to allow you to roam in so long as you don't transgress Their amorphous, undefined boundaries.

Oh wait...that's pretty much a perfect summation of being queer in the cishet world.

Right there came my happiest moment in this read. I felt so exactly in tune with this puma. I felt so completely free to be in his head, and to enjoy his meditations on what the hell it is humans think they're doing. It's not quite what our lion thinks it is, of course, but he's a savvy old survivor with very keen senses...so he's often Right even when he's factually incorrect.

Of course, I'm tiresomely wedded to certain perceptual filters, and kept jumping a little in my seat when the cat would describe, eg, cars as being metal objects...what's a cat know about metal, my ill-tempered filing elf who lives in my brain rent-free and refuses to come up with words and/or data when I want them but freely kibitzes on minor points of fantasy in excellent reads, wanted to know. The cat who knows about metal should also know what a lighter is, and call it by name. Irritating damned elf needs to get a grip on what its actual job desciption requires.

So no five full stars. If fantasy is to work, it needs to make internal sense and be consistent in its fantastical dimensions...<I>Chouette</i> for a similarly batshit crazy idea that works on this specific level better than <I>Open Throat</i> does.

But don't think for a second I am warning you off this short, concentrated, pithy read. I am not. I am waving my arms at you to get you to join me over here in the scrubby, hot, dry edgeland with this wonderful old cat as his world, never safe, takes on another configuration of threat.

He and I? We're hangin' as we await some kind of ending. Whatever we once thought we were doing, it's no longer what They want us to. And there's a pont in life where the reality of the exercise reveals itself in blinding bright light and inarguable simplicity. It's very much a before-and-after moment in one's life.

“I’m old because I’m not dead.”

i'm overwhelmed with how much i adored this book and my only complaint is that it was too short
this is such a unique piece of art that makes you feel everything. maybe it's because i have a cat that i would literally die for, but i was consumed by worry for this mountain lion's wellbeing and struggle for survival throughout. but the masterful exploration of sentience, being "human", the contrast of people and animals' relationship with the earth, all woven between the wit and humor of this mountain lion's perspective made this a one-sitting read for me. i found myself constantly re-reading passages and reflecting and thanking god i don't live in LA.

"Open Throat" by Henry Hoke is a slim but perhaps the most beautiful novel I read this year. It's told from the perspective of a mountain lion who lives in the desert hills below the Hollywood sign. The mountain lion is queer: his lover, "the kill sharer," was another male mountain lion. The hunt becomes difficult because people seem everywhere: hiking, looking at their phones, and discussing their therapists. The mountain lion has their language and describes things the way they see them: an L.A. highway becomes "the long death," and L.A. is "ellay," the way the mountain lion hears people talk about it. This description of a few weeks, with some memories of childhood and youth, is written in fragmented prose, perfectly fitting the mountain lion's language. It flows gently and is effortless to read, even for more traditional readers.

"the hikers say things like look at that view or say things like, we have to do this more often get up here and get perspective
what they see makes them point or stop and turn and put their hands on their hips and breathe deep but the distance they love is an out of focus blur when I try to look where they're looking
all I can see is what's right in front of me"

Eventually, the action moves into L.A., where the mountain lion discovers more details about people from a hiding place below a Hollywood celebrity "slaughter's" home. I found their observation incredibly touching, comparable to meditations on human behavior, but in a very fresh way. The mountain lion is not an anthropomorphic character as if in a Disney movie ("diznee" in the lion's language ), and if I had to compare them to something, it would be almost a god-like figure, looking at us with watchful eyes, trying to understand this curious kind of species but ultimately judging us. And the judgment is not a favorable one.

i’ll be honest: i think the reviews and the summaries are overselling this one. the “queer” mountain lion isn’t queer in any significant sense. which is fine. not everything has to be primarily about queerness. but it’s also like… why is it mentioned in all the summaries and reviews? the lion faces some big hurdles (the inadequacy of language, the tendency toward violence, yearning for personhood vs. literally eating a person), which i think represent questions about what it means to be an outsider, a queer person, perhaps even a person grappling with gender identity. but i just don’t think this book about a mountain lion that says “fuck” is as subversive or insightful as it wants to be.

I didn't expect to devour Open Throat in one sitting but that's what happened. A tale from the perspective of a hungry and thirsty mountain lion laying low and sharing observations about the humans and other beings passing through his home in a thicket in the Hollywood Hills.

The observations are true, breaking down behavior and conversations to their base essence. They're funny, scathing, sad and a little terrifying. Humans are on their phones all the time, putting sticks that glow into their mouths, talking about nothing, and most of all completely oblivious to their surroundings. I'm feeling like my next hike in the hills will be a Jaws-like experience, any rustle is going to scare the crap out of me.

Back to our mountain lion / puma / cougar. An outsider looking in, barely recognized, doing its best to survive in the harsh elements, some natural (earthquake!), most man-made (fire, decreasing habitat, the "long death" freeway). Finally seen by a kindred soul, veering into fantasy / dreamland, towards an absurd yet inevitable ending. I loved it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Open Throat" by Henry Hoke portrays a compelling contrast between the inherent compassion found within our narrator, a queer mountain lion among the hills of 'ellay,' amidst the backdrop of human cruelty. Hoke's prose-poem takes us on a journey with our narrator, a complex embodiment of resilience, survival, and longing.

The narrator shares their observations about our human wrongdoings, whether big or small, with such tenderness and a mix of innocence and insight. The concise lines make the message straightforward and impactful, highlighting the depth of the content and empowering every sentence with profundity.

The stark contrast between the innate beauty of deep empathy and the abhorrent actions that humans can perpetrate, our narrator's existence stands as a testament to the possibility of discovering the potential inherent goodness that can persist even in the face of overwhelming darkness. As well as shine a light on our interconnected shared experiences, and by doing so, we can strive for a more harmonious and empathetic existence.

I think of all the nights we’ll spend together
this man and his guts and me
--


Open Throat is what I call a “book that gives you brain worms”, meaning that every line and every sentence made me pause so it could take root in my head and I can’t stop thinking about it over and over and now I have holes in my brain.

I’m not really sure what I expected from this book, but it exceeded my expectations. It’s very short, and it’s told in a series of choppy sections with no capitalization or end punctuation, but it has a distinct rhythm that’s very easy to fall into. It also made me so, so sad, in the way that all books about animals suffering at the hands of human interference do. It draws connections between the consciousness of the mountain lion and our own human lives and problems, but also reinforces the ways we’re fundamentally different, and somehow manages to relate all of that back to queerness. It almost has the storytelling quality of a fairy tale, but it’s also a gritty story that doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities that either the mountain lion or the people of LA are facing.

I wish I had more to say, but I’m still kind of blown away by how much I enjoyed this. It’s a bit of an experimental read that probably won’t be for everyone, but it’s already become a new favorite for me.

When I heard that FSG was releasing a book narrated by a queer mountain lion, I was intrigued (to say the least) and when Sunnys Book Club announced it as their June pick I was so excited. Imagine my utter joy when the e-ARC for ‘Open Throat’ by Henry Hoke was kindly provided to me via NetGalley and the publisher. I mean— most things might not be going my way, but in regards to this book, tops! LOL

And… without further suspense… it was a literal five star. I can’t. I loved, adored, ate this book up! Sunnys Book Truck you sure can pick ‘em! I couldn’t (and didn’t) put this down.

‘Open Throat’ is a captivating and innovative story, full of impactful writing and musings on people, planet, parenthood, love and connection. I was moved to tears, multiple times, amidst this seemingly sparse prose. The mountain lion (who’s name we cannot know, a detail that touched me) moves through the park, the dark, the outskirts of the city, and interprets - often with grey empathy - the beings around him, he thinks back on his mother and father — the love and violence of that — and his interactions with another mountain lion. There is a deep loneliness in his life, a vulnerability in his fertility. The whole story reads with such intensity and relatability. I can’t stop thinking about it, and I hope I never do.

My father worked at the nature center at a state park when I was a child. They took in a domesticated cougar and in the early days he got into the cage with him, and even I was able to pet him, talk to him. Over time, they didn’t allow anyone to. And he went from loved to lonely. His life in a cage made all the more painful by this change. One of the last times I saw him I stood at the enclosure, alone, and just looked at him, looking at me and I knew he knew me, and I have never felt more regretful that I could not just let him free. That what man had taken and misinterpreted, for its own amusement had cost him his life. I hope he knows he was a “goddess” to me.

A queer lion living on Hollywood hills, observing all kind of human beings and their foibles, struggling against their nature - to kill or not to kill? Definitely my cup to tea. There's so much stuff in this little book - not only queerness.

This is a book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. Our unnamed lion narrator gives voice to a perspective sorely lacking in literature. When paired with the novel's themes of loneliness and alienation, you have the makings of a classic. Though lacking much of a plot, the lion's every day existence and experiences more than fills in. It was a quick read, but one that made me curious about other works by Hoke. Pick up this book, devote an afternoon to it, and you won't be disappointed.

Just perfect in every way - never read anything like this and can't wait until the world gets a taste. A heartbreaking, deeply empathetic novella about attempting to understand the raging fires that engulf the modern world (both literal and figurative), the instinct to protect the vulnerable who are targeted by cruel and ignorant people, the need to connect...and eat...and survive. I can't wait to reread this.

The stream of consciousness style was the biggest problem for me with Open Throat. Obviously it makes sense with the main character but I found the style made it difficult to follow. When I could follow I enjoyed the voice of the animal and his insights into humans and life.

A very intriguing novel in prose! The mountain lion main character muses about the nature of life and belonging, and the dangers and beings he encounters on his quest to find himself. I've never read a book quite like it, and I love that.

Open Throat - Henry Hole

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this magical and captivating eARC.
The cheetah with a heart, I LOVE this book, and I will recommend it to al my friends.

"Open Throat" is told from the perspective of a queer mountain lion living in near the Hollywood sign. I was immediately transfixed by this unnamed mountain lion, its voice tender and lonesome and savage. The mountain lion's status as an outsider to human civilization is mirrored in its use language ("ellay," "disnee"), placing the reader with the narrator on the fringes of society. This is the kind of book you can't put down, and I read the whole thing in one sitting.

One of the more unusual novellas. Told by a queer mountain lion in a stream of language , it's the story of the lion's struggle to survive in Los Angeles, It's not always immediately obvious what it's referring to (sounding things out helps) but you'll feel for it as it recounts earthquakes, fires, and hunger, Not much happens and everything happens. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

This book is hard to describe, but is why I found it fascinating. I feel like no matter how I talk about it; it will be wrong so I will just recommend you experience it for yourself. A Mountain Lion listens and comments on hikers as he watches over a homeless village near the Hollywood sign in LA. It is a very short narrative, but says a lot about our crumbling society and the absurd state of the world. Part poetry, part stream of consciousness, and part fever dream, this little book that could is a fresh perspective in a world stagnant with the same ideas that go nowhere.