With Teeth: A Novel

With Teeth opens with a startling scene—Sammie Lucas’s young son Samson is nearly kidnapped, seemingly willingly, by a strange man in the park. This is just the first of many moments in Samson’s life where Sammie is confused by her son and his inscrutable inner world. As Samson grows up, Sammie struggles to understand Samson’s quiet nature and often callous behavior, shouldering the main work of mothering as her wife Monika works a high-powered and time-consuming job. With Teeth tells the unidyllic family story of a less-than-perfect mother, her less-than-perfect son, and their less-than-perfect life.

With dark humor, Kristen Arnett vividly portrays the gruesome trials of raising a child, navigating crumbling and emerging relationships, and reckoning with one’s own past. Arnett’s depiction of a queer family is complex, funny, and textured, and she renders Sammie’s imperfection with nuance and humanity. This novel will leave readers at the edge of their seats, terrified to discover what terrible mistake Samson—or Sammie—is about to make next but unable to tear their eyes away from the dark, funny, and deeply human mess.