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1969sl 's review for:

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
5.0

#audiobook
I think I wanted to actually read "Watership Down" and somehow accidentally started this one instead. Listening audio book was actually surprisingly rewarding experience, because I love my walks and listening to a gentle, soothing voice was just brilliant, I must admit that these moments were the highlight of my day. If I was reading, I might skip some pages but since I was listening, I simply followed the reader's voice and my heart almost burst when at some points he started gently singing as it was part of the story.

"The Wind in the Willows" is adorable fable with four friends (Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad) as the main characters - they all live as friendly neighbours and its kind of Hobbit animal world where animals and humans somehow live together and nobody finds it unusual. In fact, some of the best moments come when situation is clearly impossible, as when Toad is driving the horse-drawn caravan or when he is camouflaged as a washerwoman and nobody notices. Because all four of them are so different, the story about their friendship is a pure delight and this might be my biggest literary discovery of the year - there was something soothing about listening to somebody else reading the book to me, not to mention the whole magic of the story itself. There are many hilarious, happy chapters mixed with superb poetic moments as when the Rat and Mole encounter "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" who is clearly God Pan protecting the animals. I think this was the prettiest thing I read in 2023 and might just continue with children's books.