Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

Thank you Astra House for a copy of Mouth!

Eleven eerie, uncanny, and surreal short stories exploring themes of loneliness, sexuality, longing, desires, autonomy.

Mouth is another collection of short stories that just makes me love the format (or is it a genre?). I first fell in love with short stories after picking up How High We Go in the Dark, and Mouth just continued to strengthen my love for it. I think what I love most about this collection is the overarching themes - the stories are separate but also interconnected. The repetition, so subtle, but it brings you back again and again to its little universe.

Mouth is perfect for fans of Bora Chung, Mariana Enriquez, and K-Ming Chang!

I think I maybe need to diversify the short story collections that I seek out because almost all of them are in the speculative fiction space and that's causing some blur. As per usual, there were a few stories that really stood out—the holes, the anomalies, the winter, the fruit at the end, but I loved the intermittent imagery of mouths, from normal expressions to gaping maws, that solidified the choice of title. It's a little harder to get a sense of the author's perspective from the short concepts they choose to explore, but as a debut, I would definitely be interested in reading more of Puloma Ghosh's work.

In the vein of "short stories that could have been part of one anthology", I think readers of Puloma Ghosh would enjoy the work of Ling Ma, Eliza Clark, Julia Armfield, and possibly Ken Liu.

Thank you to Astra House for the opportunity to read and review!

I fell in the trap again of requesting a book based on a pretty cover. I think this has the potential to be r=great, but as it was, quite unimpressive. None of the short stories really resonated with me or stood out.

As a devoted lover of short stories, I can confidently say that this debut collection exceeds all expectations. It delves into themes of feminism, loneliness, sexuality, and grief with a surreal, dream-like quality — featuring ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and more. Yet, unlike many similar collections, it never feels strange just for the sake of it. Instead, Ghosh weaves the absurd into the fabric of ordinary life while holding up a mirror to our oftentimes universal human experience.

I would like to describe this book as somehing unusually but I'd still read it because everything is weird in the world. The stories are short and riveting and fun, no matter how long it took me to finish this because I was busy with my academics. Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed entering various worlds in this one.

Thank you for the ARC Astra Publishing and Netgalley!

I absolutely loved this book. It was refreshing, disturbing, thought provoking and deeply affecting. As with all short story collections, some were better than others but overall, it was a really great read.

This was a weird, visceral collection of short stories that seemed to be tied to themes of loneliness, sexuality, mother-daughter relationships, and, surprisingly, tenderness - oh, but it's all very fucked up in creative dystopian or horrifying ways.

I kept very brief notes on each story after I read it, worried they would blur together by the end. (Spoiler: they wouldn't.) I do honestly think it's best to go into each story open-minded and without expectations, and see where it takes you - or perhaps that's just my excuse for these barely-coherent, barely-anything notes.

DESSICATION
A lot of different threads this one could have chosen to explore - sapphic figure skating rivals! Necrophiliac teenager! Possible vampire! A world where all men continue to be enlisted in an unknown war! Somehow, this is quite tender (albeit fucked up).

THE FIG TREE
An exploration of grief, ghosts, and familial past - this was rather lovely.

LEAVING THINGS
We’re back in the “fucking weird” category of stories. The atmosphere is the big winner in this one - the story felt desolate, contained, and a feel of only the two of them left in the world.

K
A story of obsession and hauntings and mystery, this story was good! It wasn’t my favourite, but I was intrigued to see where it would go.

IN THE WINTER
The shortest story so far, this one started off very strong and hooked me immediately, but that hook did let go, and overall, this one didn’t resonate with me as much. I think it could have used another couple of pages, perhaps. Still some good, visceral writing throughout though.

ANOMALY
I love time travel, and this wasn’t time travel, but it was time travel-adjacent, and sometimes, that’s enough.

LEMON BOY
Ramona Flowers but make it black holes?

SUPERGIANT
The imagery in this one kind of stuck with me afterwards, and I’m not sure why. I think, like with Anomaly and Leaving Things, this one could have happily had more expansion on the world, but I understand the power of leaving that a touch more ambitious and not wasting precious words.

NIP
Surprisingly tender and filled with longing, but also, you know, fucking weird.

NATALYA
I appreciate the different kind of structure of this, being done as an autopsy, which was a very cool narrative feature. But also perhaps didn’t lend itself to letting the reader sink into the story.

PERSIMMONS
This actually felt the most like a full story, to me. It had time for relationships and also an imaginative premise, and was easily a top story for me.

And now, for a non-definitive ranking of the stories:
The Fig Tree
Persimmons
Dessication
Nip
Leaving Things
Anomaly
Supergiant
K
Lemon Boy
In the Winter
Natalya

This was the kind of creative premises and flowing writing that appeals to me, so I will certainly be checking out future works from Puloma Ghosh.

Thank you to the publisher, Astra House, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

*Jaw-Dropping!* Puloma Ghosh’s debut collection, *Mouth*, is a daring exploration of grief, sexuality, and the intricacies of bodily autonomy, woven through surreal and grotesque narratives. With a fearless embrace of the bizarre, Ghosh crafts stories that challenge the reader’s perceptions of reality and the human experience. Short story collections are always a hit or miss for me. Sometimes I feel like authors mesh stories that don't quite flow well with the rest and it spoils it.

In “Desiccation,” a teen figure skater grapples with necrophiliac fantasies while suspecting a fellow skater of being a vampire, blending dark humor with unsettling themes. “The Fig Tree” hauntingly navigates the return to Kolkata, where the protagonist is confronted by the specters of her past, both familial and supernatural. Each tale is imbued with a visceral intensity, as seen in “Nip,” which incisively examines the addictive nature of infatuation, and “Natalya,” a gripping autopsy of a past relationship.

Ghosh’s prose is sharp and captivating, inviting readers into otherworldly realms where isolation and longing become tangible, often grotesque realities. *Mouth* is a bold and unforgettable collection that pushes boundaries, making it a must-read for those drawn to innovative storytelling that does not shy away from the uncomfortable truths of existence.

I love the concept of this collection of short stories. Some I really enjoyed and some were incredibly boring to me. I enjoyed the conversation around South Asian representation, gender & sexual orientation, and horror. This was wildly refreshing as I feel like I do not see too many horror stories that center South Asians. Horror isn't my title genre, but I love the storytelling of Ghosh and the allegories she used.

the title is quite apt, as i felt the full range of my lower face as i read this collection. the mouth, teeth, jaw, saliva, tongue, cheeks.
this collection feels like a devouring. whether that is of the body, of food, of generational responsibilities and burden
this collection doesnt just discuss what goes into the mouth, but also what comes out
there is a purging: of food, of thoughts, of externally imposed expectations
i enjoyed the complex mother-daughter relationships showcased throughout the collection. even when a mother was absent - or especilly then - she felt present, tangible.

This book was weird in the best way possible. Each story had its unique twists and turns, leaving me guessing what would happen next and wanting more when the story was over. Overall each story left me with more questions than answers, and I was thinking about the stories for days to come. Even though it is a collection of short stories the voice of the author was consistent throughout.

Very eerie stories told with a singular point of view! Excited to see more from Ghosh in the future!

Thank you Astra for the copy! How crazy it is to read something so haunting and singular only to discover that the piece is a writer's debut. Puloma Ghosh's "Mouth" is more like a firstborn child than it is a 'first pancake' — a pridefully treasured darling, the most beautiful thing to come out of her yet. Every part of it kicks and lingers and I'll be happy to have it all ring in my head like a church bell.

Ghosh writes in the likes of Ottessa Moshfegh in a way that's less grotesque but still eerie and monstrous nonetheless. Most if not all of her stories in "Mouth" orbit a monster / ghost of some kind, and they all get increasingly more tantalizing the further you go. My favorites were:
* Anomaly, where a woman goes on a date with a stranger to experience an otherworldly black hole-esque space
* Persimmon, which was the perfect end to this collection and sooo very Shirley Jackson — fruit metaphors are truly the works of god... all of this illustrating around consuming and being swallowed up
* K, a slight revisit of Red Riding Hood, maybe? But with all the ghastliness that the childhood version buried
* Supergiant, in which a pop star's last concert is virtually the end of her road in all aspects. Ghosh wrote this insanely compelling sentence in it: "This body doesn't feel like mine when it's unchoreographed."
* In the Winter, which was brief yet incredibly striking. Ghosh wrote such stunning lines in this story like, "How did I escape the room, you ask, and I'll tell you that to outgrow a room is not to leave it, only swallow hard and walk around with it rattling inside you until eventually you fill up with enough things that it doesn't make a sound."

Anyway, that's all to say Puloma Ghosh is absurdly talented and endlessly inventive. I'm very excited for what she releases next but until then, 5 stars for a brilliant debut

Another Person opens with Jina checking social media to see what people are saying about her after she made a very public post about being sexually assaulted at work. Jina is unable to just “turn it off” as her friend suggests so she spirals knowing that no matter how brave she was in confronting her assaulter she will always be victim blamed.

The book follows Jina as she comes to terms to what is it like being a woman in Korea, how she must conform and what happens when she does now. She tries to piece together what happened to her, how she became a victim, all while trying to find out who is writing these things about her. Jina goes back to her University town to see her friends, and tries to piece together her life and the life of a friend she lost tragically.

I really enjoyed this book, it is a short read but it moves fast and it is very impactful. The author does a great job of taking us into the world of Jine and showing us what she is going through. I loved that there were different POVs throughout the story because it make it more layered and engaging.

I really enjoy the themes, and I love the type of world building used in most of the stories, so I had high expectations. The collection is quite uneven, and it made me wonder at some point if it's an anthology of different authors. Some of the stories really worked for me, and some I simply could not recall days after reading, which can be worse than hating it.
Rating is probably pushed up by the fact that my favourite was at the very end.

Mouth is a delightfully surreal collection of stories. A young woman raises a werewolf boy. A coroner performs an autopsy on her ex-lover. A girl is sacrificed to a persimmon tree to save her community. A figure skater is in love with one of her teammates, who just may be undead. The women in these stories each experience monstrousness to varying degrees. And each character is fully realized -- despite the inevitably short nature of each story.

Mouth is perfect for lovers of queer horror, female-driven short stories, and the bizarre. And it just came out on Tuesday, so you can find it now wherever you source your books!

Mouth stories were very well written and really interesting. I liked the themes explored and would read more from Puloma Ghosh.

It's the summer of the short story collection and Mouth doesn't disappoint! The cover is really special, and the stories live up to its hype. Strange, ghoulish, intimate, brave, utterly moving, I really loved these stories individually and especially together, the thematic ties here are so smooth and surprising and wonderful.

Really solid collection of stories! All slightly unsettling and unique, but still tie back together to a central theme. Will definitely want to revisit this one again in the future.