Lanny – Max Porter | Hit or Miss Books

Lanny by Max Porter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: PRH Canada
Published: May 2019
Publisher: Strange Light
Recommended Age: 14+
Genres & Themes: Adult, Fantasy, Mystery, Magical Realism, Dark, Creepy, Short, Family

REVIEW:

This is an odd little book that I did not want to stop reading one second. It’s perplexing, confusing and creepy at times, but it has a fairytale-esque atmosphere that gives it a mystical quality, as though you’re lost in a forest, trying to find your way out of it, and the only way you can do that is by getting to the end of this story.

It’s told from multiple POVs. Everyone but Lanny helps tell Lanny’s story. Except, while the focus is on him and everyone is connected to one another thanks to him, this isn’t only his story. Because Lanny is not the only one living, breathing, pondering and dreaming. But he is a little boy with a developed imagination and uncanny abilities or qualities that can simultaneously get him in and out of trouble. And a dead creature seems rather interested in him.

Truthfully this book is quite the experience. Some novels have a smooth writing style that makes it easy to follow the story and enjoy the ride. Other books, such as this one, care little about being pretty or elegant or smooth. They want you to feel, to immerse your pretty little head into something that can capture your soul and reconfigure your system so as to include this story as part of its components. I will not soon forget Lanny and cie.

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