A truly astounding debut for Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, "What We Fed to the Manticore" is a collection of short stories told from the perspective of animals.
Above all else, it is a beautiful, poignant, imperative lesson in empathy.
These stories reflect important conversations that we are running out of time to have: conversations on climate change, on deforestation, on conservation, and simply on what it means to care for the creatures of this earth. Woven with dazzling, emotional prose, Kolluri's seemingly-simple stories will leave an irrevocable impact on, let's face it, any reader with half a heart.
I literally wept through some of these stories; this collection is an awakening in the best way and yet also in a painful way. There's a deeply-spiritual element it in the way the animals talk, experience a world they don't fully understand, and view humans in the stories. "What We Fed to the Manticore" is to be read, savored, and remembered.
Rating: 5 Stars
Publication Details: Out Now, Tin House Publishing
*Huge thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing my review copy!*
