Open Throat

There’s something compelling about a novel written from the perspective of an animal, yet it’s terribly difficult to pull it off without making it a book—however wonderful—more suitable for children than for adults (Watership Down was an exception).

This book threads this needle. Its prose verges on poetry as it opens the reader to the world of a lonely, thoughtful cougar living outside Los Angeles. Especially terrific and unique in my reading experience is how we get a new view of our own species through the eyes of this struggling, sometimes perplexed, but always compelling great cat.