Fascinating and captivating! Really enjoyed this book. It is written very differently to most books but it only makes it so uniqe, you can't put it down once you start. Highly reccomend.

I’d picked this up several times in the bookshop and then put it back down - not sure if it was “for me”. Last week I took the plunge, and I’m so glad I did - it’s fabulous! The narrative style of the book it’s highly unusual. The closest comparison I can think of is Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor - which I also very much enjoyed. Notwithstanding the style, and the “mystical” aspect to the story, it’s a gripping read with a swift moving tale to tell. Very highly recommend.

Since reading this in 2019, it has remained my favourite book. The interweaving of folklore and daily life is spectacular. The form of Dead Papa Toothwart is somehow one of the strongest character descriptions I've come across and yet he is ever-changing and moving. Anyone that has ever lived in a small town will recognise the village and the people in it. Imaginative typography and poetic writing creates almost a soundscape. A book I will recommend to anyone who asks.

It is not often that I finish a book and left totally exhausted, staggered even, by what I had just read but this book achieved it. In fact, the first words I uttered as I put the book down were "bloody hell". I had high expectations going in to this book, having previously read Grief is the Thing with Feathers, the author's debut novel, a book that I had adored. Initially, as I read part 1 of the book, I was convinced that the book was sadly not up to the same standard as Grief, and the pace seemed to me to be somewhat slow. But the author was being very clever, providing us with a lot of information, foreshadowing what was to come, with the mythic, almost dreamlike quality of the opening. As I started part 2, I had pretty much abandoned any hope that the book would trigger the same emotional response that Grief had done. Which meant that I was all the more shell-shocked when what happened to Lanny actually happens (see how careful I am being to avoid spoilers so as not to ruin it for you). The way in which the characters reacted to what had happened almost felt like throwing yourself into a thunderstorm in a cesspit, as the less than edifying thoughts of Lanny's neighbours are family are laid naked on the page. As I headed into part 3 I am pretty sure my heart rate had skyrocketed, as I turned page after page, desperately hoping for a resolution. And when it came... again I don't want to give any spoilers so I really don't want to write about my reaction to the ending. And I recognise how frustrating that can be, but I do believe that it is best to come to this book raw, without expectation, and without any judgment. Embrace the odd narrative style, allow yourself to float with the shifting points of view. This book is an utter treat.

There is magic in these pages. Lanny is a glorious thing, and completely beguiling. The strange mystery of it is also the basis of its majesty; by turns a fairy tale, and then a melodrama, and then a fairytale. These are the books that live with you forever, because they are so original and so rare. It is a thing of wonder, and is wonderful.