Love that we are getting more weird girl fiction. Every short story is odd, unsettling, and bizarre. Some involved beautiful exploration of vampires, sapphic love, and dystopian I love the way Puloma Ghosh writes about grief, sexuality, and mothering, I found myself re-reading some of the hauntingly beautiful stories in the novel like "Leaving Things" and "K". I can't wait to own the physical copy.
Thank you Netgalley and Astra house. It was a privilege to read this.

“Mouth” is Puloma Ghosh’s debut and consists of 11 surreal, eerie short stories that sometimes even border on horror. Almost all of them are set in dystopian worlds and explore a variety of themes like alienation, mother daughter relationships, (sapphic) love, loneliness, and grief.
If I’m being honest, some of the stories were a little too absurd for my taste and I felt like the author had a lot of ideas and tried to incorporate as many as possible into this collection. While all of the stories are very cohesive, I still think that some could have used more focus on the characters and less on the eerie plot.
Still, I think this is a great, unique debut and I will definitely be checking out Ghosh’s future work.
3.5 stars

My favorite stories were:
Desiccation
Leaving Things
In the Winter
Supergiant
Nip

Thank you, NetGalley and Astra, for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mouth explores, in eleven short stories, themes of extraneity, loneliness, sexuality and mother-daughter relationships through a supernatural and speculative lens, with a dreamy style, sometimes verging on the tones of unreality.

One of the constants in the work is fruit, and I’ve never seen the word “pith” just as often as I have in these short stories: my literary analysis is not something to be envied, and I failed to grasp the meaning fruit has in the collection. Most of the time it felt like it was there purely out of an aesthetic presence, if not for a reference to bountifulness? Fertility?
What I found really interesting was how the author kept hammering on the idea of becoming monstrous out of a sense of belonging, as opposed to the usual, othering, depiction of monstrosity.

This is the author’s debut work, and as with every short story collection, some works shine more than others: my arc copy didn’t have titles for the individual short stories so I can’t mention them without spoiling them; I enjoyed the third one, where a protagonist takes in a wolf-child in a post-apocalyptic town destroyed by the menace of wolves, and the years old affair told through a lover’s gaze while they perform the autopsy on the body of their old flame.

I think it’s an interesting collection, and despite recognising that the narrative style is not my favourite I really think it could find its audience in fans of Julian K. Jarboe’s Everyone On The Moon Is Essential Personnel and Kate Folk’s Out There.
2.75

Access to the ARC acquired thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A surreal and atmospheric collection of short stories. Some notable themes found in these shorts are identity, love, loss, loneliness, and connection.

What I feel differentiates this collection from others on the market is the perspective. This is my first time reading such uncanny stories told from the South Asian diaspora perspective. If I had to describe my taste in books, I would call it “weird girl fic.” As an enthusiast of this genre, it was really cool to see.

Like all collections of short stories, there are some that stand out and some that won’t be your favorite. In regards to the shorts I didn’t enjoy as much, it’s not that I found them bad, but I often found that while I enjoyed the beginning and middle of them, the endings often fell short in comparison to the buildup. Overall, I did enjoy the collection in its entirety. As it is Ghosh’s debut collection, I will definitely look forward to reading more of their work.

Also worth noting, the cover is an absolute stunning work of art.

I loved this collection of strange, often horrifying stories. Each was immensely enjoyable, and I felt drawn into the worlds immediately. If I could think of a connecting thread it would perhaps be loneliness? Though in their strangeness alone there's a connection there. These were great, and I'll read anything Ghosh writes next.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

THIS. OMG. THIS. I am forever grateful to Astra House Publishing for sending me an advanced copy of Mouth: Stories before it hits shelves on June 11, 2024. I know this is a ways away, but yall need to have like pre-ordered this one YESTERDAY or something because, HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP, that was amazing.

This is Puloma Ghosh's first novel, but you'd hardly be able to tell because the writing is so exquisitely scrumptious, leaving me craving more after every story. There were narratives of all shapes and sizes, covering most sapphic angles and breaching into monstrous territories. Overall, there were continuous themes of Body Horror, and I just ate these stories up. From sacrificial persimmon trees taking first-born daughters, to ghosts of roommates' past coming for a visit, and even vampiric figure skaters taking what they're owed... there's something here for everyone.

PRE-ORDER IT NOW!

Each story in Puloma Ghosh's debut, Mouth, gnawes its way to your brain with its sharp teeth of prose. Sucking you into its dark holes of worlds. Worlds that are a little too bizarre but modernly original. In Natalya, you intimately dissect her cadaver, her warmth once memorized. In Persimmons, you witness a martyr's welcoming embrace for the state of ruination. A dystopia awaits in Leaving Things, raising a boy wolf into a man. These are just three of the eleven mouth-watering stories of surrealism, queerness, grief, and sometimes ambiguous loss. Truly a feast of tangy endings.

I don’t normally tend to gravitate towards short stories and I find myself asking questions and not getting into the story by the time it ends but these 11 short stories all felt very fleshed out and descriptive. These were all creepy, dystopian and captivating in the best way and I’ll definitely be reading future work by this author!

I included this wonderful collection in a round-up article on books I am looking forward to in 2024 at Michigan Quarterly Review. Here is what I wrote about it:

"Beautiful and unsettling, creepy and so deeply human: this collection delights with the unexpected, in the gorgeous prose, in the unbound imagination in the stories, and in the formal play. It presents us with ghosts, bottled infatuation, teen figure skaters with a necrophilic bend, and a story in the form of an autopsy report. All while interrogating lies, truth, and what is real in the vivid description that brings the world Ghosh creates alive."

hooooly moly, new fav alert!!!

I was utterly obsessed w/ this collection of stories. these stories were dark, weird, captivating, sapphic and surreal. I kept being so satisfied with each story, waiting to lose interest as the stories progressed, and I never did! I loved the topics explored, a lot of magical realism, grief, heartache, and dystopian themes. seriously devoured this and will devour anything else ghosh puts out into the world. a seriously incredible debut <3

thank you net galley and astra house! I will be thinking + talking about this one for a while.

Mouth by Puloma Ghosh contains eleven short stories that explore themes from vampiric entities to mysterious spaces in between reality. I loved this reading experience, each story was very well written and incredibly unique, I can happily say i’ve never read anything like it and am stunned that it’s this authors debut! My favourite stories from this collection were Persimmons and Anomaly!
Highly recommend picking this up when it releases on the eleventh of june 2024.
Thank you to Astra Publishing House and Netgalley for the ARC!

What an INCREDIBLE short story collection and debut author! I don't give out such compliments lightly, but Puloma Ghosh to me is on the same level as Han Kang, Otessa Moshfegh and Lisa Taddeo when it comes to writing raw, poignant, relatable and hard-hitting stories.

I loved all of these stories, though my absolute favorites were the fig tree (it perfectly captures what it feels like to be grieving and to feel disconnected from your home town), leaving things (it reminded me of The Vegetarian by Han Kang and this is the biggest compliment I can give a book honestly), supergiant (how unique!), anomaly (one of the coolest stories I have ever read, blew me away, pure perfection), & Natalya.

I will gush about this book for the rest of the year OMG!

This was such an amazing short story collection. The writing was beautiful and lyrical - I highlighted so many quotes that really resonated with me. Each story was unique but there were similar themes of love, grief and of course mouths. I loved how each story was set in a world similar yet different to our own. It was surreal, weird and sometimes sad but I absolutely loved reading it.

My favourite stories were:
The Fig Tree - A great display of grief. Tender but with a sliver of weirdness too.
Anomaly - Such an interesting concept and beautifully told.
Natayla - I loved how it was told as an autopsy report. Heartbreaking.

I cannot recommend this enough!

What a debut! This short story collection is for all those who love the absurd and bizarre.
It's very impressive how eloquent each single story was and how atmospheric they were. I would definitely read something by the author again.

A stunning short story collection! Fantastic world building and characterization, something that always feels impossible to pull off in a short story but Ghosh makes it look breezy. Every story felt new and fresh while the collection still felt like a whole piece.

My only complaint is that a few of the stories would have benefited from a longer length. Because these stories have are so rich in world building, the short lengths made the stories feel more like ideas. I think some of these stories could be incredible novellas or even full-length novels.

Very strong collection overall and I’m so excited to follow Ghosh’s career.

Short stories tend to be a harder sell for me - by the time I find myself invested it usually ends and leaves me questioning the point. The author does an incredible job here of fully fleshing out entire worlds within each of the stories, creating surreal backdrops for bizarre things to happen that still feel familiar and even make sense in twisted ways. I loved the common theme of devouring and being devoured in return present throughout each story, and they were all distinctive while remaining cohesive. This is a collection that I think will stay with me, and I’m excited to see what’s next from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC to review!
All the stories were deliciously eloquent and there was a substantial amount of twists through that blew my mind. These stories are engaging and morbidly humorous and I simply couldn’t get enough. As i’m writing this review, each one of these stories are on the top of my mind and I don’t think I will be able to forget them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Astra House for the ARC

Mouth - story individual rankings
Desiccation
- hot ! five stars

The fig tree
- fun ghosts, slow pace. my Engl profs would love teaching this one, and I think I’d like it more in discussion

Leaving things
- Marie de France would be proud with how the Bisclavret tradition has become
- Also Freud
- My favie so far

K
- “be careful with words that aren’t yours”
- ending was yummy, the narrator was kind of flat and sour

In the winter
-

Anomaly
- confusing, “romantic?,” can absolutely see this happening.

Lemon boy
- Good story,, weird ending? Could’ve been more conclusive imo

Supergiant
- sexual, but in a clinical way. It’s easy to find meaning in a love curated for the shell of your old self

Nip
- I’m not so sure abt this one. A little too abstract, but beautiful nonetheless

Natalya
- Obsessed with this form of an autopsy report amongst lovers

Persimmons
- EAT

An amazing short story collection! With human sacrifices, autopsies of ex lovers and humanoid creatures this collection ranged from creepy, to funny, to sad, to strange. Really impressive debut and I will definitely be checking out the authors future work as well.

My favorite short story collection I've read this year.

I am blown away. This is an absolutely incredible collection of short stories. And it's a debut?! It is so well written and captivating. It is weird and unusual but in the best ways. I can't wait to read more from this author!! I'm so thrilled to have read this. Thank you, NetGalley, for the copy to review.