Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"This surreal collection of stories will blow your mind." --Debutiful BESTIARY MEETS THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED IN THIS COLLECTION OF 11 EERIE, UNCANNY, AND SURREAL SHORT STORIES
In this debut collection, Puloma Ghosh uses the speculative as a catalyst to push her stories and characters beyond what reality allows. Exploring grief, intimacy, sexuality, and bodily autonomy, Mouth leans into the bizarre and absurd while reaching for the truth.
In "Dessication," a teen figure skater with necrophiliac tendencies is convinced the only other Indian girl at the rink is a vampire. A woman returns to Kolkata in "The Fig Tree," where she is haunted by her deceased mother or a shakchunni, or both. "Nip" bottles up the consuming and addictive nature of infatuation while "Natalya" is a hair-raising autopsy of an ex-lover. And in "Persimmons," a girl comes to terms with her own community sacrifice.
Blurring the lines of conventional reality and giving fangs, talons, and singular sharpness to the otherwise ordinary, awkward, and unmentionable, Mouth's surrealism is both unique and captivating. Puloma Ghosh reaches into otherworldly spaces while exploring the everyday struggles of isolation, longing, and the aching desires of our flesh.
Synopsis
"This surreal collection of stories will blow your mind." --Debutiful "These stories are so sharp, so strange, so precise - like perfect razors, meant to cut to the heart and open it up to the gasp of pain but also, to astonishing beauty." --Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
"Mouth is a work that will leave you forever changed." --Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author of Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare
BESTIARY MEETS THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED IN THIS COLLECTION OF 11 EERIE, UNCANNY, AND SURREAL SHORT STORIES
In this debut collection, Puloma Ghosh spins tales of creatures and gore to explore grief, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. Embracing the bizarre and absurd, Mouth stretches reality to reach for truth.
"Desiccation" follows a teen figure skater with necrophiliac fantasies who is convinced the other Indian girl at the rink is a vampire. When a woman returns to Kolkata in "The Fig Tree," she can't tell if she is haunted by her dead mother or a shakchunni -- or both. "Nip" bottles up the consuming and addictive nature of infatuation, while "Natalya" is a hair-raising autopsy of an ex-lover. In "Persimmons," a girl comes to terms with her own community sacrifice.
Full of fangs and talons, Mouth lays bare the otherwise awkward and unmentionable with a singular sharpness. Through surreal and captivating prose, Puloma Ghosh delves into otherworldly spaces to reimagine ordinary struggles of isolation, longing, and the aching desires of our flesh.