Thank you to NetGalley and MCD for the e-ARC! Open Throat demands to be read in one sitting with its poetic formatting and unconventional main character perspective. While this wasn’t my cup of tea, I still think there is some good satire throughout the novel and I would be interested in reading more work by the author.

This book was nothing like what I expected, and I can honestly say that I've never read anything like it. It reads like a long poem more so than a novel, which threw me off at first, but the more I read, the more I wanted it to never end. The brilliant use of narration offers a poignant "outsider" POV on humanity; our mountain lion narrator watches the human world and reflects on issues like climate change, homelessness, and mental health. I wish some sections had been longer; I would have loved to know more about our narrator's relationships with their mother, father, and the "kill-sharer." But the pacing was great and the ending in particular felt so moving and impactful.

This was a quick read, but I couldn't put it down -- and it feels like it will stay with me for a long time. It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I would recommend giving it a try.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I read the summary for Open Throat. A story told from the POV of a mountain lion? I was INTRIGUED. From start to finish, I was hooked. The format was unlike anything else I've read and I couldn't put it down!

Open Throat is fast-paced with gorgeous writing and I highly recommend this story to everyone! I had no idea that I would be left in tears so often reading about the daily life of a mountain lion but I loved every second of it. This was touching and relatable in so many ways. Please, please checked it out if you have the chance!

Exploring themes of otherness, homelessness, climate change, inequality and humanity from the POV of a queer mountain lion is an idea I’d never in a million years think of writing but I’m SO glad Hoke did because this feels like something special.

He brings us a simplified, almost innocent view of our world through the eyes of this endearing, captivating voice of the mountain lion and I genuinely couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it in one sitting.

Animal narrators are kind of a love or hate device to a lot of readers but even if you haven’t previously enjoyed stories told from the POV of animals, I really urge you to give this one a go- it’s super short and strange/experimental while still having a plot that’s easy to follow and understandable.

Will definitely be recommending this to everyone!!


Some quotes I particularly enjoyed:

“I feel more like a person than ever because I’m starting to hate myself”

“I want to devour their sound. I have all this language in my brain and nowhere to put it”

“The hikers talk about their therapists, they decide what is good or bad about their therapists and decide if the therapist helped them feel good or bad and they throw these two words around like they have different meanings”

A brilliant exploration of "otherness" as well as "humanness." A true quest novel in the classic tradition, while also being incredibly fresh and new.

“I have no idea what it’s like to be a person and be confronted with a me."

I am so obsessed with this book. How soulful and weird and compelling. A wholly original escape from the world that feels weirdly plausible and warm. Impossible to put down and definitely haunting. I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for the free review eARC!

Wry, empathetic, and absolutely captivating—I devoured it in one sitting much as its furry protagonist would any small unlucky critter—this book had me at “queer mountain lion,” then in an unresisted chokehold as we’re soon endeared to said lion’s perspective, full of lonesome heart and unique voice as hidden in the bush or cave they observe and pass internal uproarious comment on passing hikers and gay hook-ups, bushfires and extended “disnee” dream sequences; eavesdrop on phone conversations about therapists, the general “scare city” mindset, the sorry state of “ellay,” whose people keep fortifying their own fearful ignorance about the unarticulable kind intentions of their unacknowledged protector. A succinct and thus the more stunning study in posthumanist empathy, with the unintended happy side-effect of reminding me of a similarly heartwarming story also involving mountain lions from "Ducks, Newburyport."

Wowie, what a gem of a novel! OPEN THROAT is a poetic account of a (queer?) mountain lion's struggle to... exist, simply, in this world. Hoke takes a deeply compassionate approach---we so vividly feel the lion's longing for something else, something other. He just wants to fit in, and his efforts are rebuffed every time. He's lonely, and all he wants is a friend. This is a gorgeous novel, one I'll be pushing into everyone's hands for years to come.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

This is not one that I will forget for a long time. This author delved into the core of one of nature's more vicious kitties and created something that was instantly compelling, dynamic, and vivid. There was just something so present and daring in the prose that made me really feel like I was experiencing first hand the motives, drives, desires, and yearnings for this animal. There was a dream sequence in this novella that really blew me away as being so creative that I was able to actually visualize the experience. This author has something that I want more of. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. This was a great pleasure to read.

Unusual and utterly engaging. OPEN THROAT is a recommended first purchase, particularly where literary and experimental fic is popular.

A hungry mountain lion is in the hills above the Hollywood sign of LA watching people walk along the path belong him. The reader gets to hear what the mountain lion is thinking as he makes decisions about his day, what he does to provide for his basic needs and how he interacts with people.

This is such a surprising, enjoyable book. It is written from the perspective of a mountain lion which is rarely thought of as the main character of a book. The writing style is written in the way that makes you feel like a mountain lion could have actually written it. It makes you struggle a little to figure out what he is saying just like the lion is struggling to figure out what the people are saying. There are times that you have to try to picture in your mind what items are that he is describing because he doesn’t know what they are either.

This is a quick read and I finished it in one sitting. This is unlike any book I have ever read and I recommend that everyone sit with your imagination and enjoy it.

Wow. I devoured (word choice intended) Open Throat in a single sitting. The structure is experimental but still accessible. The story is abstract but completely followable. And the writing is simply beautiful. At times it felt like I was reading a book of poetry in the most literal sense - not a book composed of poems, but a single poem in book form. It's a short read with a gut punch.

If you're drawn to literary fiction that's imaginative, haunting, evocative - and if, like Czeslaw Milosz, you sometimes feel "there is too much world" - I fully recommend.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Absolutely loved this book - abstract, sparse, yet so specific in scope and ideas. Such a unique perspective, an interesting story, and a beautiful lens to view humanity through. This was so stunning, and I'll be recommending to everyone upon release!