Open Throat

Open Throat is a blinding spotlight beam of a book that I was completely unable and unwilling to put down. I am not convinced Henry Hoke isn’t a mountain lion. -- Catherine Lacey, author of Pew
I didn't know I would feel such attachment to a mountain lion when I started reading, but in Henry Hoke's talented hands, they become an instantly memorable and endearing protagonist. * Buzzfeed *
Henry Hoke’s narrator is the most credible animal witness to human behavior since Robert Bresson’s Balthazar. Original, fun and completely awakening, Open Throat is a devastating portrait of LA today. -- Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick
Open Throat feels like a comic book and a really good one; it feels the inside of animals, specifically one animal, a mountain lion, and with them we desire blood and I can’t tell you how it ends but I love knowing a mountain lion so much. The beauty and tragedy of all of nature is in this character. Open Throat is a fierce writing act. Henry Hoke makes it true. -- Eileen Myles, author of For Now
In this fantastical, deeply moving, and original adventure--also an unforgettable reckoning with contemporary Los Angeles--Henry Hoke introduces an animal whose life is more than just survival: they are full of longing, regret, memory, sadness, and astute observation. -- Brontez Purnell, author of 100 Boyfriends
Open Throat is an instant cult classic and a bloody masterpiece. Rhythmically brilliant, heart-wounding, and scathingly funny, I’m in love with a mountain lion and in awe of this book. -- Melissa Broder, author of The Pisces
The premise alone makes Henry Hoke's startling achievement worth the purchase . . . Philosophical and heartfelt, Open Throat is the ultimate immersion into the mind of an unlikely protagonist. -- Lauren Puckett-Pope * ELLE *
My favorite book of this century so far! I keep putting off writing this blurb because every time I pick up Open Throat I re-read it and fall back in love with this gay-ass big cat and then I have to spend the whole rest of the day thinking about mountain lions and humans and sex and bodies and death and climate change and bad dads and NY v LA and what is even possible in this world.Henry Hoke is a magician. -- Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
Wholly original, inventive, and surprising on every level. It affirms the capaciousness of the novel as a form. I wish more books took the kinds of chances Open Throat does. -- Diane Cook, author of the Booker Prize finalist novel The New Wilderness
If like many people you are sick of human protagonists that are often nihilistic, self-destructive, fundamentally lonely people, then perhaps you would prefer Open Throat, which is narrated by a similarly lonely mountain lion who lives in the Hollywood Hills. -- i-D, 'fiction to be excited for in 2023' 
Open Throat is a fable for our times that cements Henry Hoke as an essential voice in experimental and deliciously queer fiction. * Electric Literature *
I defy you to hear the premise of this sophomore novel from the always-interesting Henry Hoke and not immediately smash that preorder button . . . a playful, poignant, tragicomic delight. * Lit Hub *
Inspired by a real lion who famously lived in Hollywood, this hilarious and touching tale is blazingly original and really rather brilliant. * The Bookseller, Editor's Choice *
Playful [and] provocative . . . By turns funny and melancholy, this is a thrilling portrait of alienation. * Publisher's Weekly *
Compassionate, fierce, and bittersweet, this is an unforgettable love letter to the wild. * Kirkus *