Suckle

Benjamin Salmon

Runamok Books Softcover $13.95 (274pp) 978-0-9978256-2-6

Suckle is an ambitious look at the decisions made by a man struck with an extraordinary talent.

An outlandish exploration of the ways loneliness, love, and loss manifest themselves in a seemingly ordinary man, Suckle, by Benjamin Salmon, is both funny and heartbreaking.

The bulk of the text is written as a manuscript in the first person by protagonist Benjamin (known as Benny). His story is gritty, centered around his discovery that he has the ability to lactate on command. Aided by a new love interest, a prostitute named Rosie, Benny finds himself in a host of weird situations, from Rosie publicly suckling him at a governor’s ball to the two following an evangelical preacher’s revival around healing the sick with his “man milk.” Interspersed throughout Benny’s manuscript are entries from one of his editors, a man who is breathlessly checking Benny’s sources while dealing with romantic troubles of his own.

Suckle‘s biggest credit is that it is delightfully bizarre—a book about a lactating simpleton performing miracles with his prostitute girlfriend has to be. Salmon’s choice of letting Benny narrate his own story is a smart one, allowing