Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Lanny

This is a book to read not for the plot nor the characters, but rather the beautiful language which vividly describes each of the moments creatively and meticulously. This book is first begins by introducing characters and adjusting the reader to the writing style, which then becomes complete chaos, eventually evolving into a perfectly rounded, satisfying ending. I personally feel the second section of the book dragged on for a bit too long as it is primarily made up of short passages of fleeting words (which is supposed to be the point but it's 30% of the books length) and the I personally felt the writer shines in the longer passages of the book.

A surprisingly mature book which tells a tale of whimsy without shying away from ugly and gritty thoughts which everyone has, through perfect use of wordy but rhythmic language. Would recommend for anyone who loves poetry.

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lethargarianreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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miles's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lanny is my current favourite book and has fuelled the writing of my portfolio dissertation, and yet I still don't know how to properly describe it. Certainly not without giving the plot away. I shall try anyway.
Lanny is a wonderful, mesmerising, folktale-y story about an enchanting and curious child. Lanny seems not quite like a human child, even to his parents and Dead Papa Toothwort - a sort of tree god, if you will, who has been in the small English village the story takes place in since the very beginning - has taken a liking to this strange, wonderful child. Why would DPT see Lanny as his favourite if there wasn't something truly otherworldly about him? Everything we learn about Lanny just screams 'changeling' to me and I love it. Anyway, I digress. I love this book too much.

The writing is absolutely brilliant, Porter captures me like no one else has in a very long time. Reading and re-reading Lanny fills me with a sort of creative juice that I haven't felt in a long time. It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel like I can take on the world. I don't know what it is, I can't explain it but my god do I love Max Porter's writing and stories and ideas. I love books that play around with fonts and boldness and font size and other funky formatting stuff that makes a text almost three-dimensional and that much more real. I struggle a lot with being able to visualise character actions and appearances in stories, but Porter's writing speaks to me on a bone-deep level. I know all of this sounds weird and over-the-top but it's all I have to describe it. It's a feeling that I can't put into words very well. There's obviously still a lot of stuff in Lanny that I'm not able to fully follow visually because it's so weird and fucked-up (in the best way), but it doesn't make me feel unimaginative or confused like other novels do and for that I fucking love it.

TL;DR I went a bit off-topic and just raved about Max Porter, but anyway Lanny is a masterpiece and you definitely NEED TO READ IT RIGHT NOW and then recommend it to everyone you see.

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mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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siluetas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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