A Mouth of Vowels
By Sophie Anne Edwards
A Mouth of Vowels, a novel that experiments with both form and language, is a beautiful piece of visual and poetic art. Throughout most of it, the writing only appears on the bottom two-thirds of the page, sometimes with fuzzy letters or sentence fragments scattered along the top. To the unknowing reader, the appearance of the book might seem nonsensical. But the concept behind the form is a strong and important message - that is, the deeper truth in someone’s story is subtler than the direct story, but rather shown best through the footnotes. For this protagonist, a woman facing domestic abuse, this is especially important. Telling her story in the footnotes, which includes motherhood, consequently erases his story from view.
Truth be told, I most often read traditional style novels, both in form and in prose. I read some poetry as well, though find that I often need to be in a particular frame of mind before picking up a poetry book, whereas a traditional novel is easier for me to dive into. But having heard so much about the concept behind this novel, I wanted to see where it would take me, and it did not disappoint. The language, although on the surface often illogical, frequently took me by surprise in its poetic poignancy. One of these lines for me was: “The formation of a particular cloud confirms that if she holds the baby too long, the holes in her body will replicate onto the baby’s skin.” The violent, fearful, and protective imagery imbedded in these words, combined with the visual representation of its appearance on the page, is just one example of the remarkable artwork that speaks volumes about the complexity of this protagonist’s experiences, a representation of too many women in society.
As the novel progresses, there is less a sense of climax than you would find in traditional writing, but rather the words slowly move further up the page. There is an energy in the movement experienced as one turns the pages to find the protagonist’s story moving into focus, no longer as confined to the margins. No longer existing only in its hidden corners.
As I was reading, I jotted down a few words that came to mind. These are both reflections on the author’s writing, and the protagonist’s state of mind. Perhaps these disjointed words say it all.
I hope you’ll check out this fascinating book. I’m so glad I did!
