BookBrowse Reviews What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri

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In nine vivid short stories, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri explores humanity's relationships with other species inhabiting our planet from the animals' point of view.

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From a polar bear hunting in the barren Arctic to a hound in Africa guarding rhinos from poachers, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri brings readers inside the minds of the creatures with whom we share our world. Her poignant collection of short stories, What We Fed to the Manticore, spans both species and the globe. The tone of the stories ranges from tragic to hopeful, with the majority leaning toward melancholy.

The through-line tying all the stories together is the relationship between the animal narrators and the humans they encounter. Readers are reintroduced to familiar concepts such as war, zoos, poachers and puppets from a perspective that makes such things new and strange. On a wider level, the stories explore the relationship between humanity and the natural world, placing us both as an integral part of and foreign to the rest of the animal kingdom. Even in stories where individual humans do not appear, their effects can be felt. As might be expected from stories focusing on human-animal relations, many of the plots involve our impact on the environment. In "The Open Ocean is an Endless Desert," the sound of boat engines disrupts the songs whales use to communicate and navigate; in "The Dog Star Is the Brightest Star in the Sky," depletion of Arctic ice has brought the polar bear narrator and his beloved fox companion to the brink of starvation. Still, these relationships are not all negative; in "The Good Donkey," the narrator shares a deep bond with its zookeeper, and in "Let Your Body Meet the Ground," an injured pigeon relies on the kindness of strangers in order to heal.

Perhaps the most compelling part of these stories is how the author has developed the worldviews of the various characters. She brings a feeling not just of their reaction to the current moment, but also of how their species and lives have shaped their understanding of events. Each of the animals has a distinct sense of history and culture. The creation myth of polar bears, the romances of whales and the social customs of sled dogs are all vibrantly brought to life. There is a tradeoff, however. These stories immerse the reader in the question of how other species see the world. They are, as a result, very character-driven, and readers who prefer a focus on events and clear resolution of plots may find them unsatisfying.

All of the stories naturally have some element of fantasy, but the amount varies. In some, animals and humans can speak directly to one another, while in others this is not the case. The story that lends its name to the collection includes the only mythical creature—the manticore, a monster with a human head, lion body and scorpion tail. However, all of the stories are clearly rooted in real-world situations. The source list at the end of the book provides direction for anyone interested in learning about the actual circumstances and events referenced in the stories.

Kolluri's collection offers a chance to look at our own world through a different lens. Her imaginative work builds off what we know of the natural world to develop rich inner lives for her non-human characters. She introduces readers to mundane human concepts from a perspective that makes them foreign and mysterious, while at the same time allowing us to empathize with creatures very different from ourselves.

This review first ran in the November 2, 2022 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.