Mar 12

Mar 12 What We Fed to the Manticore

Author: Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
Publisher: Tin House
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Through nine emotionally vivid stories, all narrated from animal perspectives, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri’s debut collection explores themes of environmentalism, conservation, identity, belonging, loss, and family with resounding heart and deep tenderness. In Kolluri’s pages, a faithful hound mourns the loss of the endangered rhino he swore to protect. Vultures seek meaning as they attend to the antelope that perished in Central Asia. A beloved donkey’s loyalty to a zookeeper in Gaza is put to the ultimate test. And a wounded pigeon in Delhi finds an unlikely friend.

In striking, immersive detail against the backdrop of an ever-changing international landscape, What We Fed to the Manticore speaks to the fears and joys of the creatures we share our world with, and ultimately places the reader under the rich canopy of the tree of life.

TL;DR Review

I absolutely loved What We Fed to the Manticore. It’s a collection of beautifully rendered short stories, all from the perspective of animals, ruminating on grief, hope, war, and climate change. Please read it.

For you if: You like deeply resonant stories that play with atypical narrators and forms.

Full Review

What We Fed to the Manticore has been on my radar since it came out, but its inclusion on the Aspen Words Literary Prize longlist AND the Carol Shields Prize longlist bumped it up on my list. And I’m so glad it did. This collection is smart, creative, and beautifully rendered.

This is a slim book of nine short stories, each of which is told from the perspective (sometimes first person, sometimes third) of a different animal all over the world. For example, we have a donkey in Gaza, vultures in Asia, and a pigeon in Delhi. Sometimes they can converse with humans, and sometimes they can’t — the reason for which is explained in the author’s note — and some are like fables, some deeper or more narrative.

The wonder of this book is that it’s so much more than a simple look inside these animals’ heads or anthropomorphism for its own sake. It’s teeming with humanity and resonance with the state of the world today — climate change, grief, war, family, and home. It can be heavy, definitely heart-wrenching, but it will also draw you in and hook your heart.

If you like short stories — or really, even if you don’t usually, because I think these do a good job of feeling complete without leaving you wanting more — definitely pick this collection up.