Mouth - by Kerry Donoghue (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Consumption drives everything, and what we do with our mouths reveals the hidden depths of our desires. MOUTH delves into the American obsession with consumption and the many ways we try to fill our emptiness. In these ten stories, characters are forced to face who they truly are when their hunger cannot be satisfied.

In "Hunger," a newlywed desperate for motherhood secretly battles infertility and anorexia, while her husband trains as a competitive eater. "Fever" follows two siblings who, after losing their mother to alcoholism, cope with grief and addiction-one as a pearl diver in the Tennessee River, the other through gin. "Casualties of the Vainglorious" portrays a father and son navigating divorce and unemployment amid a tense Monopoly tournament. In "The Ovation," a rodeo clown sabotages his best friend, a gold-buckle cowboy, as their partnership nears its end. A long-married couple grapples with fidelity and duty on their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary in "A Step Ahead of the Alligator."

"Climate Change" tells the story of a vengeful car accident victim who manipulates his immobility to control his wife. In "You and Your Cold Soviet Heart," an outdoorsman must choose between unwanted fatherhood with his pregnant fiancée or a seemingly simpler life with a mail-order bride. "Birds of Paradise" exposes the shocking depths of a woman's romantic obsession with her best friend during a medical crisis. In "Refrain," a jazz pianist risks everything to indulge in his darkest secret. And in "Jenny," a voiceover artist wagers her happiness by publicly embracing life as a mermaid.

Perfectionism, alcoholism, infidelity-MOUTH asks, who are we when we hunger?