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A review by introvertsbookclub
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
A novel told from the perspective of a queer lion prowling beneath the Hollywood sign sounds strange and unique. And it is.
So many comparisons are drawn between animals and humans, reducing humans to their basic needs and revealing the animalistic nature that humans try to bury, and personifying the lion’s character and emotional experience. The lions’s voice was thrilling to read. The way that the lion encountered and tried to understand the human world – language and culture and interactions – was fascinating. The human world seemed at times bizarre and at others mundane. It was such a fascinating gaze to see the world through.
The lion was painfully tender-hearted, seeking connection and community and questioning how much of their self they will have to suppress to achieve that. But there was also a lot of anger in the novel directed towards humans and the harm they have caused to the environment and the cruelty they enact. There was a constant struggle within the lion between joining humans and seeking revenge against them.
Within the novel there was so much emotion. The lions’s story paralleled a coming out or leaving home or twenty-something trying to find their community. The prose was striking and captivating and there was something so familiar and universal about the story. Just an extraordinary novel from start to finish.
So many comparisons are drawn between animals and humans, reducing humans to their basic needs and revealing the animalistic nature that humans try to bury, and personifying the lion’s character and emotional experience. The lions’s voice was thrilling to read. The way that the lion encountered and tried to understand the human world – language and culture and interactions – was fascinating. The human world seemed at times bizarre and at others mundane. It was such a fascinating gaze to see the world through.
The lion was painfully tender-hearted, seeking connection and community and questioning how much of their self they will have to suppress to achieve that. But there was also a lot of anger in the novel directed towards humans and the harm they have caused to the environment and the cruelty they enact. There was a constant struggle within the lion between joining humans and seeking revenge against them.
Within the novel there was so much emotion. The lions’s story paralleled a coming out or leaving home or twenty-something trying to find their community. The prose was striking and captivating and there was something so familiar and universal about the story. Just an extraordinary novel from start to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence