Open Wide by Jessica Gross | Weird Fiction Review

This was a weird one!

My 2 Cents for Free!

Wide Open by Jessica Gross

Released August 2025

Source: Netgalley

See more @ Goodreads

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 think 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!

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Publisher Plot Synopsis 

A provocative novel about intimacy, love, and consent, following an increasingly obsessive radio host who tests boundaries she didn’t know existed

Olive is desperate to get close to Theo—really, really close. 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 same food pantry where she volunteers. He’s a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former soccer 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.

Arresting and immersive, Open Wide explores the boundaries of love and the body, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal.

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.

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