Open Throat, written by Henry Hoke, is a novella narrated by a hungry mountain lion as it observes the world around it. In 156 pages we learn of the life and thoughts of the mountain lion as it regards its environment in a park under the Hollywood sign near Los Angeles. The lion manages to survive but food is not plentiful and there is often danger. It watches hikers walking the various trails in the park and also keeps an eye on a tent settlement where homeless people live. However when a hiker sets fire to one of tents the mountain lion is forced to find safety elsewhere as the fire spreads throughout the park.
The mountain lion finds itself in an urban area as it seeks refuge. Eventually it hides in the cellar of a house where it encounters a teenage girl who befriends it until her father discovers the mountain lion in the house.
The book reads as a prose poem. There is no punctuation but each sentence begins on a new line and there is double spacing between each sentence making it easy to read. The state of the environment, homelessness and inequalities in LA are some of the themes in this work as the mountain lion struggles to survive.
Open Throat was nominated for the 2024 James Tait Black Award.
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