Book Review: Open Throat by Henry Hoke

My Rating:  4.5⭐️

I read Open Throat by Henry Hoke twice, listened to it once, and intend to read it again! The audio narration by Pete Cross breathes life into this story. The author does a commendable job of building a prose poem fever dream-like narrative from the first person limited perspective of an animal untouched by human domesticity, allowing for unbiased and untainted reactions to what it sees and experiences.

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

Our unnamed narrator, a queer wild mountain lion who roams the forest area around the Hollywood sign in “ellay”, shares their perspectives on a myriad of topics– survival in the dwindling forests, homelessness, the earthquakes or the “shudders”, their fear of the highway and the habits and conversations of the hikers they see from their hiding place in the thickets. Observant and perceptive, our narrator is often critical of the human condition and habits that impacted his habitat and way of life but also does not lack compassion where it is due.

In this midst of our narrator’s observations are their reflections and memories of family, and past love and we follow our narrator as they leave their hunting grounds after a heinous crime against the homeless encampment in his park, venturing into the city amid the very humans they once observed from a safe distance, ultimately sheltering in the attic of a family home, befriending a young girl - an experience that prompts a dream of “Diznee’ ’toward the end of this short novel, building up to an ending that stays with you.

“every person sitting and walking has hands too and I see all their hands and I know what their hands can do and what their hands would do and the violence waiting behind every motion”

Weaving vivid imagery, elements of wonder, tragedy, heartbreak and dry humor and touching upon themes that impact all living beings - human and animals alike, Open Throat by Henry Hoke is an addictive, imaginative and thought-provoking experience that I would not hesitate to recommend.

In the Acknowledgments section, the author dedicates this book to P-22, the wild mountain lion that lived in Griffith Park (circa 2010 till his death in 2022).