A lot is packed in this short, unique novel in verse. Inspired by a true story, Henry Hoke writes the musings of a mountain lion living on Hollywood Hill before making its way into the city of Los Angeles.
In the novel, we get to see the other side of the story and the way the cougar perceived the humans who projected so much onto him, listening to people’s desires and qualms, thinking about what it means to be a mountain lion – or a person.
We get to know both this unusual character – a mother to make proud, an absent father – and the US, its glitz and violence and complex relationship with nature, as the mountain lion is confronted with the effects of classism and capitalism in the form of hikers and LA residents.
I found this novel oddly relatable and universal in its exploration of loneliness and the character’s search for connection. There is a form of longing (for a home, for a lost mate – the “kill sharer”) that threads through the book and that is very moving. The novel felt both deep and ridiculous, silly and yet serious, landing somewhere between philosophical meditation and fever dream.
I’d never read anything like it before and I loved it.