A review by thereadingrambler
Mouth by Joshua Hull

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

What a truly bizarre little book that is somehow very sweet and whole despite being about a giant carnivorous mouth in the ground. This book is multi-POV. We are first introduced to Rusty who is a mid-50s loner who is randomly bequeathed 9 acres of land, a house, and Mouth. He is instructed to feed Mouth, a literal mouth in the ground, many mice every day which he can acquire at the local pet store. In addition to being a mouth in the ground, Mouth is also our second POV character. It is quite sad about the death of Wayne, the previous human caring for it, but is excited to be making a new friend. The third POV is the pet store employee who becomes suspicious of how many mice Rusty is buying; she know snakes do not eat that many mice. So she follows Rusty home one day and discovers Mouth. After an initial rough start, the human pair form a bond over the traumatic pasts they are running away from and the traumatic present they’re in, but the hopeful future that might lie before them if they’re willing to embrace this little found family.

I do think this book could’ve been a little bit longer honestly. There are some plot points and character developments we speed-run through a little bit. I wanted to see the relationship between everyone spend a little bit more time developing before we get to the climax of the story. One of the strongest points of weird fiction is the imposition of something so bizarre and unusual on readers and characters, we are forced to confront some unseemly or unfortunate reality. This book does do that, exploring the idea of “are monster made or born” in a unique and refreshing way.