Genre Fiction
![Antoine Wilson - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001JP4ZLK.jpg)
Mouth to Mouth: A Novel
"An enthralling literary puzzle...This powerful, intoxicating book's greatest tension is that we have no idea where it is heading." -The New York Times
A successful art dealer confesses the story of his meteoric rise in this "sleek, swift, and graceful" novel "with unexpectedly sharp teeth" (Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author).
In a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life-a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man.
Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate-or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. He takes the younger man under his wing, initiating him into his world, where knowledge, taste, and access are currency; a world where value is constantly shifting and calling into question what is real, and what matters. The paths of the two men come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel's staggering ending.
Sly, suspenseful, and engrossing, Mouth to Mouth masterfully blurs the line between opportunity and exploitation, self-respect and self-delusion, fact and fiction-exposing the myriad ways we deceive each other, and ourselves.
A successful art dealer confesses the story of his meteoric rise in this "sleek, swift, and graceful" novel "with unexpectedly sharp teeth" (Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author).
In a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life-a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man.
Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate-or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. He takes the younger man under his wing, initiating him into his world, where knowledge, taste, and access are currency; a world where value is constantly shifting and calling into question what is real, and what matters. The paths of the two men come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel's staggering ending.
Sly, suspenseful, and engrossing, Mouth to Mouth masterfully blurs the line between opportunity and exploitation, self-respect and self-delusion, fact and fiction-exposing the myriad ways we deceive each other, and ourselves.
Editorial Reviews
"[An] enthralling literary puzzle… Wilson is a gorgeous writer, pulling you in and compelling you to keep reading. The story, and the story-within-the-story - the twists and turns, the attention lavished on motivation and emotion, the efforts to rationalize or at least explain strange or unsavory behavior - recall the cool prose of Paul Auster… This powerful, intoxicating book's greatest tension is that we have no idea where it is heading, right up to the shocking final sentence." -Sarah Lyall, The New York Times
"[A] taut, compulsive chamber piece of a novel, which you'll struggle not to rip through in one sitting… Mouth to Mouth is an elegantly told and supremely gripping tale of serendipity and deception-and delivers a brilliant ending that will leave you guessing about everything that came before." -Vogue
"Antoine Wilson's Mouth To Mouth is the best book I've read in ages. Narratively ingenious, delicately written, intriguingly plotted, it is literature of the highest quality. I see you now, dear Reader, with this novel in your hand and already losing track of time…." -Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less
"Mouth to Mouth is that rarity, a perfect narrative machine, working by its own laws. The cool nervous clarity of the prose enmeshes the reader in a trap of complicity, one snapping shut on narrator and reader at the same instant. Bravo." -Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude
"Antoine Wilson's Mouth to Mouth is sleek, swift, and graceful, an agile novel of ideas with unexpectedly sharp teeth." -Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies and Florida
"[A] propulsive… page-turner… A deliciously nasty morality play in the guise of a thriller." -Kirkus Reviews
"The sinewy and mesmerizing narrative of Antoine Wilson's masterful novel aims straight at the heart of the mythologized self, which, like the world of art and commerce that provides the story's backdrop, trades in all forms of performance and deception. Not unlike the novel itself, which asks us to believe and doubt and then believe again within the space of a single sentence. Wilson's on a high wire and he never makes a wrong move." -Marisa Silver, author of Little Nothing and The Mysteries
"Antoine Wilson has written a spellbinding novel of laserlike insight and exquisite technique that reveals how stories can function to conceal other stories. I read this book in one rapturous sitting, jotting down line after line, riveted until the final shocking, clarifying sentence." -Sarah Manguso, author of Ongoin...
"[A] taut, compulsive chamber piece of a novel, which you'll struggle not to rip through in one sitting… Mouth to Mouth is an elegantly told and supremely gripping tale of serendipity and deception-and delivers a brilliant ending that will leave you guessing about everything that came before." -Vogue
"Antoine Wilson's Mouth To Mouth is the best book I've read in ages. Narratively ingenious, delicately written, intriguingly plotted, it is literature of the highest quality. I see you now, dear Reader, with this novel in your hand and already losing track of time…." -Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less
"Mouth to Mouth is that rarity, a perfect narrative machine, working by its own laws. The cool nervous clarity of the prose enmeshes the reader in a trap of complicity, one snapping shut on narrator and reader at the same instant. Bravo." -Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude
"Antoine Wilson's Mouth to Mouth is sleek, swift, and graceful, an agile novel of ideas with unexpectedly sharp teeth." -Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies and Florida
"[A] propulsive… page-turner… A deliciously nasty morality play in the guise of a thriller." -Kirkus Reviews
"The sinewy and mesmerizing narrative of Antoine Wilson's masterful novel aims straight at the heart of the mythologized self, which, like the world of art and commerce that provides the story's backdrop, trades in all forms of performance and deception. Not unlike the novel itself, which asks us to believe and doubt and then believe again within the space of a single sentence. Wilson's on a high wire and he never makes a wrong move." -Marisa Silver, author of Little Nothing and The Mysteries
"Antoine Wilson has written a spellbinding novel of laserlike insight and exquisite technique that reveals how stories can function to conceal other stories. I read this book in one rapturous sitting, jotting down line after line, riveted until the final shocking, clarifying sentence." -Sarah Manguso, author of Ongoin...
