Lanny: A Novel - BookWyrm

Fionnáin reviewed Lanny by Max Porter

A boy, an artist, a mother, a village, a myth

4 stars

Max Porter has a truly unique and fascinating process of storytelling. His debut Grief is The Thing With Feathers is one of my highlights of recent years, and this follow-up is just as strong, bleak, compelling and engrossing. It centres on a boy called Lanny, who is not really like other boys, and who begins to learn art from a local artist who himself is a misfit character.

The premise remains narrow, yet Porter's incredible ability to bring flat characters to life is astounding. The green man, a mythical figure, oversees the adventure, and becomes central to it in a hypnotic and dreamlike section near the end. Every page drips with poetry, with each character made flesh through the skill and ability of Porter. A brilliant book, and it is exciting to have a writer like this making work today.

Taru Luojola reviewed Lanny by Max Porter

Niitä kirjoja, joita lukiessa on koko ajan 🤏 hilkulla ymmärtää mutta jotka pakenevat ymmärrystä

4 stars

Aika väkevä kuvaus — mistä oikeastaan? Vaikka mistä! Omalaatuisesta lapsesta, joka teini-iän kynnyksellä joutuu ahtautumaan muottiin johon ei sovi mutta joka onnistuu säilyttämään taiteellisen henkireikänsä? Vanhasta ja maineikkaasta taiteilijasta, joka uransa ehtoopuolella löytää vielä uutta merkitystä elämälleen? Pienten kyläyhteisöjen gentrifikaatiosta ja niistä jännitteistä, joita se aiheuttaa? Juorujen vallasta ja sensaatioteollisuuden ajojahdeista? Vanhemmuudesta? Iänvanhoista mytologioista?

Niklas reviewed Lanny by Max Porter

Review of 'Lanny' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Finally, a fictional novel that combines modern-day Britain with non-Western thinking! This is both an existential and experimental book in one. I hate using the term "unputdownable", but I couldn't really stop reading this book.

The start of it threw me a bit. It's like reading Alan Moore's "Jerusalem" and Peter Ackroyd's "Hawksmoor" while being as accessible as Sally Rooney's "Normal People"; the experimental bits didn't put me off, but actually made me instantly want to dig deeper into the book.

The dialogue might seem lackadaisical but is, to me, engaging:

She didn’t miss the acting work but she got bored sometimes, when Lanny went to school, when her husband went in to the city. She was writing a book, she said. A murder thriller. Sounds bloody horrid, I said. It is very bloody and horrid, she said, but thrilling.

The language is beautiful:

We trampled down the dog-walk path …

Finally, a fictional novel that combines modern-day Britain with non-Western thinking! This is both an existential and experimental book in one. I hate using the term "unputdownable", but I couldn't really stop reading this book.

The start of it threw me a bit. It's like reading Alan Moore's "Jerusalem" and Peter Ackroyd's "Hawksmoor" while being as accessible as Sally Rooney's "Normal People"; the experimental bits didn't put me off, but actually made me instantly want to dig deeper into the book.

The dialogue might seem lackadaisical but is, to me, engaging:

She didn’t miss the acting work but she got bored sometimes, when Lanny went to school, when her husband went in to the city. She was writing a book, she said. A murder thriller. Sounds bloody horrid, I said. It is very bloody and horrid, she said, but thrilling.

The language is beautiful:

We trampled down the dog-walk path towards Hatchett Wood and it was ever so beautiful. The thick wall of green between the common and the wood bursting with life, clematis clambering through and over it, a properly paintable riot, the yarrow glowing a bit, the blackthorn and maple all hugged up together, foxgloves leaning out like thin beckoning arms and I was still wiping tears of laughter from my eyes and considering how surprising it was, me, an old man, tailend of a good career but a mainly lonely life, finding such a good friend in this little kid.

I can find no drawbacks with this book. It is a wondrous example of what experimental art can do. I really want to reread this book again, at once.