Synopses & Reviews
An ambitious debut novel by an original young writer, We Eat Our Own blurs the lines between life and art with the story of a film director’s unthinkable experiment in the Amazon.
When a nameless, struggling actor in 1970s New York gets the call that an enigmatic director wants him for an art film set in the Amazon, he doesn’t hesitate: he flies to South America, no questions asked. He quickly realizes he’s made a mistake. He’s replacing another actor who quit after seeing the script—a script the director now claims doesn’t exist. The movie is over budget. The production team seems headed for a breakdown. The air is so wet that the celluloid film disintegrates.
But what the actor doesn’t realize is that the greatest threat might be the town itself, and the mysterious shadow economy that powers this remote jungle outpost. Entrepreneurial Americans, international drug traffickers, and M-19 guerillas are all fighting for South America’s future—and the groups aren’t as distinct as you might think. The actor thought this would be a role that would change his life. Now he’s worried if he’ll survive it.
Inspired by a true story from the annals of 1970s Italian horror film, and told in dazzlingly precise prose, We Eat Our Own is a resounding literary debut, a thrilling journey behind the scenes of a shocking film and a thoughtful commentary on violence and its repercussions.
Review
"Kea Wilson has written an ambitious, multi-layered novel that follows a director’s dark vision into the depths of the jungle, and into a secret world of political anarchy, murder, and war." Atticus Lish, author of Preparation for the Next Life, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award
Review
"Like Cannibal Holocaust, Wilson's debut wrestles with real versus simulated violence, with Velluto getting the punchline: "There's no such thing as murder in the jungle." This is the smartest kind of horror, one that understands and employs the trappings while making us squirmingly aware of the moral contortions required to enjoy them. A highly unusual breath of fetid air." Daniel Kraus, Booklist
Review
"Inspired by actual events, Wilson shows impressive command of a narrative that weaves back and forth and back again in both time and locale; much like the viewer of a pseudo-documentary horror movie (ever seen The Blair Witch Project?), you wonder throughout whether you should trust whatever it is you're told—and jumping to the end won't help at all. You shouldn't anyway, because Wilson's writing style is hypnotic, tightly wound, and harrowingly evocative of the story's stifling, bug-heavy atmosphere. Even the sunniest skies of this ill-starred shoot are thick with menace and portent. Keep telling yourself, "It's only a novel, it's only a novel"...except an author's note at the end says it's inspired by actual events." Kirkus Reviews
Review
In Wilson’s gripping, ambitious debut novel, a struggling actor flies to the rain forests of Colombia to star in Jungle Bloodbath, a grind house horror film directed by an eccentric Italian auteur…The drama builds palpably and haphazardly, drawing the invading crew and invaded population together until, in a moment of cathartic bloodshed, reality and fiction collide…the story never flags thanks to the ferocious momentum of [Wilson’s] prose. This is a vivid, scary novel." Publishers Weekly
Review
"The jungle is alive and everywhere in Kea Wilson's remarkable debut novel, gorgeous and indifferent, it's ravening appetite the very real horror unleashed by human heedlessness and hubris. Denied all explanation of motivation by his Kurtz-like director, a young American actor finds himself on a harrowing journey, taking us with him—spellbound, resistless—into 'one of the dark places of the earth.'" Kathryn Davis, author of Duplex and The Thin Place
Review
"Reading We Eat Our Own is like floating down a long dark twisting river, the jungle closing in. You know you should turn back, but as in any nightmare or horror flick: you can't. Wilson's whip-smart prose tugs you on, ever deeper into the book's bloody heart. A daredevil debut by a talented young writer." Danielle Dutton, author of Margaret the First and publisher of the Dorothy Project
About the Author
Kea Wilson received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where lives and works as a bookseller. We Eat Our Own is her first novel.
Kea Wilson on PowellsBooks.Blog
There’s a difference between telling a story and that moment when the skin of a story splits open in front of you and you look inside. You realize, with some shock, just how much is in there: blood and bones and organ systems that make the whole thing move...
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