Open Wide

by Jessica Gross

Open Wide will quite literally get under your skin - a weird, electrifyingly original love story about the mad, troubling and vulnerable things we do to get close to others

'Will leave you questioning the boundaries we draw around those we love' CHELSEA BIEKER
'Unputdownable' MARIE-HELENE BERTINO
'Smart, unsettling, sexy and hilarious' CLARE BEAMS
'Obsessed' Mirror

Olive is desperate to get close to Theo – really, really close.

Despite being a radio host, she’s always struggled to connect with people. And now she’s in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social clues and find a way to be less alone.

Then Theo turns up for a shift at the food pantry where she volunteers. He’s a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former football player, and possibly as weird as Olive. For the first time, someone seems to crave and understand her.

Every recording Olive makes of Theo is a balm – which just makes her more afraid of losing him. The only solution seems to be to bind him to her forever. Luckily, the gap between Theo’s front teeth is just wide enough for something – or someone – to slip inside.

'Strange, ominous and darkly alluring' PENG SHEPHERD
'Uncomfortably delicious' MEGAN MILKS

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Romance, Adult

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

Jessica Gross's writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The Paris Review Daily, among other places. She holds an MFA in fiction from The New School, a Master's degree in cultural reporting and criticism from New York University and a Bachelor's in anthropology from Princeton University. She has received fellowships in fiction from the Yiddish Book Center (2017) and the 14th Street Y (2015-16), where she also served as editor of the LABA Journal. She currently teaches writing at Eugene Lang College at The New School. Hysteria is her first novel.

Reviews

[Brandon Baker]

DNF at 10%

She lets her dog lick her “toy” after she’s done using it.

**edited to add, this is supposed to be like a weird/unhinged girl book in the same vein as like Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh or Boy Parts by Eliza Clark, but this is just ridiculous imo.

[Ryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Banging my fist on a table*
I LOVE INSANE WOMEN IN LITERATURE

I was nauseated, I was unable to put it down, I was unnerved, the perfect insane girl book.

Jessica Gross has taken the obsessive girl sub-genre and completely turned it on its axis. She’s managed to capture a woman’s romantic obsession to the point where you as the reader can feel the all consuming power of it. This is such a unique book that my words won’t be able to do it justice.

I’m obsessed just like the main character, I’m sat for another reading, I’m adding her debut novel Hysteria to my Barnes and Nobel cart.

*Thank you NetGalley and Abrams Press for allowing me access to an arc copy. All reviews expressed are entirely my own*

[Jan Agaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

this took the "I wanna be inside your skin" meme to the next level. I loved that I read this just a few days after seeing the movie Together lol this was the perfect amount of unhinged obsession from multiple angles, & I absolutely loved it.

[Brandy Leigh]

Yes having a dog lick your dirty vibrator is animal cruelty. And no I don’t care if you consider this a spoiler.

I’m having trouble rating this one to be honest (even if I push all the sexual scenes with a dog present aside), I feel like it was “just okay”.

[Mel || mel.the.mood.reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever loved someone so much you wanted to pry them open with your bare hands and climb inside?

No? Me neither. But Olive, my current nominee for feral, obsessive weird girl of the year absolutely has. Open Wide is for the true weirdos, my fellow baddies who love David Cronenberg and Michael Haneke films, who have ever watched surgery videos on YouTube, who inhale (or make their own) Hannibal/Will Graham fan edits -shipping toxic love between two people who may also not so secretly want to eat or be eaten by the other.

In her short, sharp, novel, Jessica Gross turns the power dynamics and uncertainty inherent to our most intimate relationships into body horror. Ghostface when asked “what do you want?” in the forever iconic opening scene of Scream simply replied “to see what your insides look like”. Open Wide reframes this idea not as a horrifying declaration of murderous intent, but of utmost devotion. Can you ever truly know someone if you haven’t seen what their internal organs look like? Olive toes and then careens over the ledge separating love and obsession as her meet cute with Theo the colorectal surgeon, blooms into something serious. Olive is perpetually fearful of losing Theo, which only fuels the fire of her desire. In addition to waging an internal war with her own insecurities, Olive also has an unhealthy relationship with her mother, and the true depth and nature of this festering wound is strategically revealed as the story progresses. Fellow readers with mommy issues, consider yourself warned!

Open Wide may not blaze any new trails in terms of the central themes and ideas being discussed, but to see co-dependency and obsession unpacked in such a visceral, literal way was both exhilarating and mind boggling to behold. Also my favourite ending I’ve read so far this year.

If you’re a weird lit superfan, seek this one out! Pub date is August 5th.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

[Sidney]

Dnf

i'm so sorry but I can't read this any further & I feel even worse knowing it's an arc but as someone who's a dog owner who sees their baby as their literal child I can't push through. there's a part in this where the mc talks about using a vibrator & letting the dog lick it clean & goes even further to explain it as a "ritual". huh!? What!? Yuck no thank you.

apart from this, the chapters are long & don't hold my interest. Both the mc & her boyfriend are dull & boring. Felix needs a new owner.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

[kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olive is a 30-something-year-old woman who has always struggled romantically. Desperate for her chance, she strategizes: bring a book to the bar, visit open houses across Manhattan, volunteer at a food pantry. Her other strategy: voice record every moment of her day so she can go back and listen for social cues later. When she meets Theo, she finally feels like she has her shot. As she plays back the recordings of their conversations, she grows more and more fascinated with him and just as fearful of losing him; she refuses to let that happen. In addition to her increasingly strange dynamic with Theo, readers are drawn in to Olive’s complicated relationship with her mother, allowing for parallels to be drawn between the two.

Gross uses this wildly unique, demented, and comedic novel to explore the messiness of relationships—intimate, platonic, and familial—and the intricacies of intimacy, belonging, and privacy and consent. At times repulsive and disconcerting, other times sexy and alluring, but always evocative and fun.

If you are looking to add another absurd and obsessive girl to your literary cannon and have a willingness to accept the fantastical, look no further than Open Wide. Just beware about entering if you are squeamish about bodily functions. You may enjoy this book if you enjoy Ottessa Moshfegh, Mona Awad, and Maud Ventura.

Thank you Abrams Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Available Aug 05 2025

[Kobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love weird unhinged women

[Natalie Meagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost DNF’d a million times but especially when she mentioned her nightly routine of letting her dog lick her toys clean after masturbating…

I need someone smarter than me to explain why I shouldn’t give this 1 star. I’m prepared to wait for a big brain somebody to come along and tell me that all of this bullshit meant something.

[jocelyn • coolgalreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

my first five star read in well over a month oh yes

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio. Thanks to Netgalley and the author and pub! The narrator, Alice Whey, is very perky and sounds younger than the 30ish main character but she’s easy to listen to. Her cadence reminds me of a romance narration but since a lot of this book is about a romantic relationship (albeit a wholly unhealthy one) that makes sense.

Anyhow, radio host Olive is 33 (I think, I didn’t write it down) and wants a partner real bad. Really bad. Like annoyingly, can’t-think-of-anything-else bad. I once knew someone like this and the character portrayal felt very realistic in a story that is otherwise kind of wild. Olive quickly forms an obsessive attachment to a young surgeon she meets while volunteering. Fortunately, for her, he is a happy go lucky type and seems to not mind her often too clingy affection and attention. But she has a weird habit of secretly recording every damn thing and listening back to choice bits later. She fears discovery because deep down she knows it's not a cool thing to do without consent but her boundaries are broken for deeply seated reasons.. As the story moves along, she starts fantasizing about crawling inside his body and I’ll just leave it there.

I read a lot of strange and sometimes icky books but this one was really out there. I’m not sure I enjoyed it but it definitely gave me a feeling of ick at the overstepping of boundaries and, well, just the general ickiness of some of the thoughts, dialogue and actions of the characters, especially the more than slightly unhinged main character. I didn’t find it obscenely or explicitly gross but I’ve probably read too many disturbing books for these things to bother me. It is a very strange novel and if you like dogs there’s a scene or two that you may wish you could unread. You’ll know it when you/if you read it, lol. I’m not going to type spoilers (you can read other reviews that do that) but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Do I recommend it? It depends on your tolerance for the ick, I suppose. And also your tolerance level for a needy main character. I found parts of it a little tedious. Being inside Olive’s brain for extended times was exhausting because I’m just not a super fan of needy types no matter the reasoning behind it but the rest was rather bizarre and inventive. So a 3 it is.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, wild, feral, unhinged, obsessive, abusive, conflicted.

That’s my summary of this story. If you liked “Maeve Fly” by CJ Leede, you should check out this book too. Some parts were pretty gross/disturbing so fair warning.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Abrams Press for a copy!

[Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

idk about all dat

[♡ retrovvitches ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a wild ride from start to finish. we always need more literature surrounding insane women and some really outrageous and abhorrent decision making. this was sorta plain gross sometimes, and a lot of people have the same criticism as me with the whole dog thing. overall i give this 3!

[Sky • aquariusannotations · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you made a pyramid of weird girl books, Open Wide would be the glittering jewel at the very top. Jessica Gross takes the classic “I can’t stop thinking about you” vibe and cranks it up. It’s the perfect metaphor for that early-stage, brain-rot kind of love where you basically want to consume the other person.

In Open Wide, Olive, a socially awkward radio host, secretly records her chats in hopes of figuring out how to actually connect with people. Then she meets Theo, a surgeon with a taste for the bizarre, and her mild crush quickly morphs into an all-consuming fixation. What starts as fascination turns strange, blurring the line between affection, consent, and something a little more…feral.

I’ve honestly never read anything like this before. It’s unique, bold, and disgusting. I imagined the ending going a couple of different ways so I was pleasantly surprised on how it wrapped up. It had good writing style and character development. If someone asked for a recommendation on a book that would make them say, “What the f*** did I just read” I would immediately hand them this book.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making light of things is Olive & her fam’s forte—to a fault. Olive’s mom made everything 1) about her 2) way too intense & 3)….idk dude, weird. Weird af. Think 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 on steroids that are on steroids (yes, roids x2). Through her relationship w her mom & her mom’s—then by extension sisters’—ability to explain away even the strangest of things, you see how Olive descended into this headspace & what contributed to 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 manifestation of obsession.

Jessica wields small truths as anchors, helping to pull you in & relate to the 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 when the 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 are out of reach. For how truuuly truly weird this is, it sure 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 nonchalant. Like 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 the weird one for being left dumbfounded, bc who doesn’t wanna be so close w the person they love that you’re nestled in w their organs? She describes body parts as objects & objects as body parts in this personification-adjacent way that feeds right into the underlying nausea. Food comparisons always get me, esp when executed to perfection, & this is chock full of em 🤢 Mix in the body horror (also done perf) & you’ve got the horror I liiveee for.
What surprised me most tho was the pure intelligence shown (that sounds mean hahahaha lemme clarify, I didn’t think Jessica was dumb! I just wasn’t expecting to be schooled (in a good way) on writing, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 her writing! Her time spent teaching is screaminggg to be acknowledged. At one point I had to take a step back & appreciate what she’d accomplished—writing fiction about writing nonfiction, some real 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 sh!t. Tbh, considering the way she weaves in accessible concepts to keep ya grounded, she’s 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 teaching, thru 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙒𝙞𝙙𝙚. I learned so much about the art of writing. & some of the other things she says in the realm of consent, parent/child dynamics, intimacy & impulse I’d consider profound. Gah this is just
𝐒𝐎 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 while simultaneously nailinggg the “ what the actual F?” factor. EV-ER-Y-THING had intent, so impressive.
I highly rec to fans of 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝘼 𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝘽𝙞𝙜 𝙎𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙨 or 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 but want/can handle weirder, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙢𝙗 (execution of said premise aside!), or the episodes of The Magic School Bus when they cruise around inside their classmates 👍🏼
Even if you hated all of those, I still can’t rec this to ya enough. If you can get words from a page into your head in any fashion, read this.

Thank you bunches to Abrams, Jessica Gross and NetGalley for the DRC & STUNNNNNING physical ARC for review ❣️

[Theresa Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Olive is in her early 30s and has struggled with establishing romantic relationships. Growing up, she struggled with enmeshment with her mother following her parent’s divorce. She is a successful radio interviewer; she holds audience with writers who are between projects. She has always been fascinated with recording conversations and the ambient sounds in her daily life and does it constantly, compulsively.

Then she meets Theo. A 35-year old surgeon with whom she is obsessed, instantly. He seems to feel similarly.

This book grappled with relational themes like boundaries, consent, transparency, jealousy, and longing. I liked how the exploration of things that can feel so messy became, well, tangible.

I remember my first love and what it was to feel like you could never get close enough. I think that it’s such a human experience. This story asked, how far would you go to stay close? To keep the outside world at bay and live inside of your love? And what would you be willing to sacrifice?

What a ride. The last few pages brought me to tears. I was not expecting to be so surprised or so deeply affected. I highly recommend Open Wide and I’m looking forward to reading more by Jessica Gross.

*Thank you to Abrams Books & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.*

[sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 i guess. okay sure i think the author was leaning on shock value in a Moshfeghian way (derogatory) and none of that was very interesting or unique or useful in furthering the point of the book. BUT. listen. sad-weird-freaky girl lit with a LOT of body horror that's actually a stand-in for diabolical mommy issues and the debilitating fear of having to Live Life? yeah man. yeah. this definitely had more juice than the average weirdo book. and it was quite yucky (yay!)

so, did i like it? no, not really. did it compel me? yes, duh. do i wish it had been about lesbians? well of course. will i think about this book again? probably not. such is life

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

You ever read a book and go: WHAT THE ACTUAL F?!

Know nothing except this follows an increasingly obsessive radio host who tests boundaries she didn’t know existed and the surgeon who might, just maybe, hopefully, matches her crazy.

I caveat this review with the well-known fact I don’t typically get on with weird girl literature.
This had such a compelling writing style, I was weirdly drawn in.

You get unfiltered thoughts into the ‘weird girl’ in question. It’s demented and crazy and gross and out there.

If you’ve ever seen the: "I wanna be inside your skin" meme and gone, lol same. Read this.

Audiobook arc gifted by publisher.

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[Maddie Brown]

Um… bizarre. Lots of random one liners that were incredibly uncomfortable. Someone call animal control plz and thank you

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0/5

A surreal exploration of the desire to consume, and be subsumed, by one’s lover.
Open Wide also examines the suffocating effect of having a codependent mother who disregards boundaries and becomes enmeshed, quite literally, in Olive’s life.
I found the novel rather slow until around the midway point when the body horror kicks in. At times it seemed the author was specifically going hard for the shock factor which I find off-putting.
I preferred Gross’s debut, Hysteria, more than Open Wide.

[KDub · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, well, I have a line, and apparently, it's drawn where the FMC casually and *gleefully* talks about letting her dog lick her vibrator after she uses it. I didn't think I'd ever have to say that, but here we are. No thanks. I'd say that I appreciate the ALC, but I kind of don't. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[akacya ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 reads: 263/300

i received a complimentary audio copy as part of libro.fm’s influencer program. i am leaving this review voluntarily.

olive, a radio host, has always struggled to connect with people, but when she meets theo, a surgeon, she thinks she may have finally found someone as strange as her. she’s desperate to keep him close, and luckily, the gap between his front teeth is just wide enough for something—or someone—to slip through.

this was such a captivating depiction of love, obsession, and mommy issues. every description of olive crawling into theo’s skin made my skin crawl (which is a good thing, seeing as this is a horror novel). it was also interesting how olive recorded nearly every conversation she had so that she could later analyze the recording for social cues. (most of) the people in this novel hated it, but honestly, it’s not the worst idea…and, of course, it was even more interesting when she started recording her ventures to theo’s insides. alice way’s narration of this weird book was perfect, and i think it was a big contributor to why i liked this book so much. i will be looking out for more from jessica gross!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

What makes the ‘unhinged women’ narrative compelling to me is that fine balance between transgression and depth, chaos and prose style. I remember liking Jessica Gross’s Hysteria, but this feels like a shallow, shock-for-shock’s-sake provocation.

[lexluvsb00ks · Rating 1 out of 5]

the gross comments about her dog ruined this for me and why is no one acknowledging how disgusting and unnecessary that was.... i will not be picking up another book by this author.

[•°☆°•Mattie •°☆°•]

talk about a stage 5 clinger

[Shae Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ - Okay. Weird doesn’t even begin to cover this one, but I was completely here for it. This is unlike anything I’ve read before. Incredibly gross, bizarre, and yet kind of sweet all at the same time.

The story follows Olive, a 33-year-old radio host who has been recording her life obsessively since she was gifted a tape recorder as a child. She meets Theo, a charming (and slightly weird) colorectal surgeon, while volunteering at a food pantry, and they immediately click. What follows is one of the weirdest relationships I’ve read to date. Olive’s fascination with Theo grows into a possessive obsession that is simultaneously disturbing, heartbreaking, and had me saying "what the actual fuck?" out loud. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be so close to the person they love that they’re literally nestled amongst their organs?

Gross has a way of taking intimacy and turning it into something grotesque. She describes body parts as objects, objects as body parts, and presents it all so casually that you start to feel like you’re the weird one for questioning it. It’s somehow both nauseating and mesmerising, like a horror story and a love story folded into one gloriously twisted package.

Gross uses relationships (romantic, familial, and platonic) to explore belonging, consent, and the messy, unpredictable ways humans connect. Olive’s relationship with her mother adds real depth, and their dynamic, complicated and fraught, mirrors Olive’s struggles with intimacy and control.

This book is horrifying, hilarious, and weirdly sexy all at once. It’s literary, it’s horror, it’s body horror, and it’s one of the most unique explorations of obsession and desire I’ve ever read. If you enjoy weird girl lit, obsessive relationships, family dynamics that are a little off-kilter, disturbing plots, and tender-but-strange romances, you need to read this! I will probably be thinking about this weird-ass book for the rest of my life.

[nineinchnovels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I too want to climb inside of someone I love.

[Angyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a weird nasty little unhinged book for all the "I wanna be inside your skin" girlies 🤪

Olive meets Theo and is desperate for connection. She wants to make sure this relationship lasts and will do anything to get close to Theo. She becomes obsessed with the little gap in his teeth and consumed with the idea of climbing inside him.

I'm torn with this one because I really enjoyed following the characters and the deeply unsettling thoughts and actions of Olive. Yet, I find myself a bit let down by the end. I just think what happened was a bit too obvious and I was hoping the book would end a little differently, but oh well. Recommend for the weird horror loving girls!

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely loved the writing in this. what a weird little freak book!