I think this is the perfect kind of book to get out of a reading slump. It's fast-paced with a unique POV that makes for an interesting read, and allows Hoke to reveal different sides of humanity. I really liked the writing style for these reasons.

My main qualm was that the premise is very reminiscent to the short story ‘The Infamous Bengal Ming’ by Rajesh Parameswaran. Also this book is not "queer" and I'm not sure why it was marketed as such.

A surprising, enjoyable, and mildly disconcerting short read that really grabs hold of you and doesn’t let you stop reading.

Excellent read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This was an enjoyable short read, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Reading from the perspective of a wild animal was fun but I can’t say I felt particularly connected to anything that was going on - though perhaps that’s the point. I think there’s certainly an audience who’d really appreciate this but it wasn’t completely my cup of tea, though I had fun.

A delightful short novella written from the perspective of a queer mountain lion who lives amongst the Hollywood sign, with some pithy insightful reflections on the state of humans he encounters and overhears. Wonderful.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fascinating read, really unusual and highly enjoyable. The lion’s observations were tender and funny, the characterisation was really playful, and i found myself growing extremely fond of this wildly chaotic friend. Am still thinking about it!

“If you feel alone in the world, find someone to worship you.”

My thanks to Pan Macmillan Picador for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Open Throat’ by Henry Hoke. After reading, I purchased its hardback edition as I needed this gem in my library.

‘Open Throat’ is an unusual novella told from the viewpoint of a queer mountain lion living in the shadow of the Hollywood sign. Not that the lion’s gender identity is particularly notable in the plot though he does have an attachment to another male lion, he calls ‘kill sharer’.

In a scene in which he eavesdrops on two men who are hooking up close to his hiding place, one, an actor, says: “yeah of course the project is gay everything is gay now everything is gay now it’s all gay..” A touch of satire about Hollywood?

The narrative is stream of consciousness written in the style of a prose poem as the lion recounts his various experiences. The punctuation and spelling is erratic as might be expected from a puma presenting their life story.

I listened to its audiobook edition alongside reading, as often I find that poetry and poetic prose works better for me in this dual format.

‘Open Throat’ drifts into fantastical territory when the mountain lion is adopted by Jane Slaughter, the moody teenage daughter of a celebrity comedian, as if he were a stray kitty. Jane names him Hecate and decides that he is her emotional support cat/goddess. He refers to her as Little Slaughter. His account of their ‘trip’ to Diznee was wild.

I learnt after reading that ‘Open Throat’ was inspired by the mountain lion known as P-22 that had lived in Griffith Park and roamed the Hollywood Hills from 2012 until late 2022. He became a media celebrity and also highlighted wildlife conservation issues. In the Acknowledgements Hoke writes: “This book is for P-22, who walks beside me in dreams.” There were tears in my eyes.

Overall, I found ‘Open Throat’ an amazing read, one of my favourites of 2023. It’s a fable bound to appeal to lovers of cats and animals of all kinds. It was witty, sweet, and heartbreaking.

Highly recommended.

Open throat is easily one of the most bizarre novels that I have read this year, and possibly the most memorable. The novel takes the form of an inner monologue, but what is odd about it, is that it is that of a mountain lion. More specifically, a queer mountain lion with the ability to understand human speech and think for themself.

From the offset this strange format intrigues and draws you in, feeling their pain at the loss of their companion, another male cougar, experiencing the stomach-churning anxiety as the homeless encampment that they live in harmony with burns to the ground, and sharing in their joy at forming a meaningful friendship with a human, little slaughter.

As much as is possible in a book about a sentient big cat, this was believable and emotional at times, and for me it felt like a powerful metaphor for loneliness, and feeling like an outsider, as well as the uncanny ability of people to find hope in seemingly hopeless situations and find a home in the least likely place- but culminating in the all important question, of whether one can truly overcome their true nature, or if a born predator is simply that; a killer.

This is a lovely quick and easy read, but if you take the time to absorb the use of language and lyricism, this book flows like a dream and will keep you hooked until the final page. I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a book that is a little more 'out there'.

Didn't realise this was going to be written in this way - found the concept so intriguing but found it hard to grasp the story fully at times.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.
- Red text throughout the book.

I’m not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps and stops/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me. I would be more than happy to re-read the book with a better file If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

A story told from the perspective of a queer cougar in a a troubled LA….it’s an intriguing premise if nothing else.

I wasn’t immediately convinced by the first half but the book is short enough to encourage completion. The second half is where it just became silly, and it was only semi rescued at the end.

I wonder am I missing something, or if all the rave reviews are a case of the Emperor’s ,new clothes.

I loved this book, what felt like a novella-sized poetic satire on America. The sparsity of the prose reminded me of McCarthy’s ‘the Road’, and the childlike innocence of the mountain lion narrator was both charming and heartbreaking. How the lion is an outcast from its species and society draws stunning parallels that any queer person can relate to. A beautifully written, haunting book that took hold of me and didn’t let go long after I finished the last page.

Open Throat is a quirky and unusual novella in which our narrator is a sentient and anthropomorphic mountain lion living somewhere he frequently overhears being called "Ellay", in the Hollywood hills. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style and verse or prose poem format rather than full pages of text, you are immediately intrigued by Henry Hokes' unique writing and wonder exactly where this fever dream narrative may take you.

It describes the unnamed mountain lion's encounters with his father who, once his son was grown, saw him as a threat to his territory and had tried to kill him; with the terror of frequently having to overcome his fear of the "long death" - the busy highway where many creatures collide with the fast-moving vehicles and subsequently lose their lives; with the hikers he overhears and watches mesmerised; his hunting and kill sharing adventures; watching two men laugh as they strike matches and set alight to the homeless living in tents on the streets; and with "little slaughter", a girl who befriends him and feeds him meat.

Torn between the innate desire all big cats have to hunt and kill their prey and watching, listening and learning about the many humans who cross his path while hiking in that mountainous region, our lion ruminates about his life and the lives of those he surreptitiously spies on. Hoke also opts to omit any form of punctuation throughout, and although this may bother some readers, I found it wasn't an issue at all for me.

Full of wonder, vivid imagery and originality, I implore you to give this a go if you enjoy stories that are complete one-offs/anomalies; those that fall outside of the normal run-of-the-mill narratives. At a mere 176 pages, there is no excuse not to devour this in a few short hours just as I did. I guarantee you won't have read anything quite like this before.

I have no idea how am going to write this write-up for Open Throat by Henry Hoke. It’s one of those books that I only came across because I saw a tweet on Twitter - sorry, X (let’s not get into my thoughts over this AWFUL rebranding) - and I went “what is this weirdness?!”

A mountain lion roams the drought-ridden hills of Hollywood. He is hungry but watches and protects the humans at their homeless encampment. But when he is forced to leave them, he finds himself in the heart of LA, he begins to wonder: whether he wants to eat one or be one?

This is a weird little story. It’s not even that long - about 180 pages or 1 hour 48 minutes on audio - and, though I could have read this in one, every easy go, I read it in four tiny sittings.

It is a weird little story, but I think also quite clever.

We have a story of a lion, watching humans and, because of this, I this story is poking fun at us and the things we say/see.

For example, there are several things the lion mishears a word and the story tells us how he heard it. A good example is see nee nee (or CNN) or diznee (or Disney). There were times I read this, went “wait, what?”, and had to backtrack/reread before I went “Ooooh!”

Plus, while poking fun at us and our weirdness (the lion very early on see some fetish sex [well, that’s how I read it]), it touches on quite serious issues (though the lion doesn’t understand what he’s seeing) such as homelessness and climate change.

Plus, the writing works for this story. It’s sparse and yet, hit point.

However, I don’t know if I enjoyed this. I did like this, but I feel like the ideas this story wanted to present - homelessness, climate change, queerness, the dangers of men, etc - needed something slightly longer. Not a full length novel as I don’t think it would deliver the same impact if it was a full length novel. Maybe an extra few pages or lose a section in the third stage which rambled.

I can see this being put up for many literary prizes in the next few months and I hope it does well as short stories/novellas should get more love. But not sure if this hit the sweet story I hoped for when I first discovered…

I read this in one sitting and then went back and read it again! Loved this story told from a big cat’s point of view (I’m not sure if it is a lion or a cougar) who lives in the hills under the Hollywood sign (or ellay as they call it) and watches as humans go about their lives around them.

I loved the voice of the animal and their take on human lives - it was sparse writing but very well done, almost poetic, and I found myself getting totally invested in what happened.

Although short, this felt like a very ‘Booker’ book and I’d be happy to see it on the Longlist next week.

Recommend if you like: beaut prose, prideful lions, clever plot, quick reads, LA sunshine, feverdreams

I really enjoyed this super quick read. For such a short book, the plot is so well developed and has a clever but sad ending that I really enjoyed. It speaks to the current climate crisis and the ignorance of people. Very poignant and so well written.

A weird and wonderful intense story told from the perspective of a mountain lion who finds himself increasingly close to the people of LA and their particular habits and foibles.

Beautifully told and incredibly sad, the story sucks you in and makes you feel for the lion and his unexpressed feelings. At the end it feels that you have been shown something sad and true and hard to bear about the human and the animal situation.

Well.. I can safely say I have never read anything quite like this! What a wild ride! I don't know how I feel about it yet as I think I need to process it. I don't really know why this concept has come to fruition. That's not to say I wasn't entertained by it! I was really interested in it! It is a reqlly short book that I read in 2 sittings of less than 2 hours total I think!

Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Publication date: 27 July 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
~~~~~
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 the welfare of a nearby homeless encampment.
~~~~~
This was a strange little book that you can read in just one bite.
I appreciated the unusual narrator and I thought this had a strong first half. It's an interesting meandering in free-form verse into the thoughts of this mountain lion and their perspective on humans (and oh boy, do we not cover ourselves in glory), and the sections about the homeless camp were very impactful and poignant.
However I thought the second half kind of lost its way. It had a fever dream quality to it that I didn't mind, but I felt the story completely lost a lot of its emotional power, although it did bring it back together for its inevitable ending.
This didn't land for me quite as much as I'd hoped, but I had heard good things and I'm glad I got to read and review this book.
~~~~~

Open Throat opens with a cracker of a first line and proceeds to spark literary fireworks throughout. Our narrator; a queer, hungry, mountain lion, is fascinated and confused by the humans who increasingly encroach on his territory. The novel, formed of a monologue of the lion’s thoughts, explores and dissects our world.

From the lion’s home beneath the Hollywood sign in “ellay” his observations on humans are simultaneously naïve or humourous and profound. There are so many insightful, poetic phrases that invite the reader to examine the impact humans have had on the natural world. Our cult of narcissism creates a world of noise and light pollution, of droughts, wildfires, man made dangers (cars/freeways) and debauchery.

You might, understandably, think this sounds like extreme nonsense. Perhaps too anthropomorphised … but I’m screaming at you, go read this and ride the wild fever dream!! Devour in one sitting. Honestly it’s the most enjoyable 2 hours I’ve spent with a book this year.