This book was so experimental in the way that Max Porter gives us very little in terms of setting. All we know about the English village is that it’s just that: a village. Said village has no name. Said village has no specific characteristics that we can pinpoint, outside of the fact that it’s shrouded in unruly nature. Said village is only really characterised by the fact that it’s simply not London. Through using white space, Max Porter strips the story down to conversations, to the things villagers say behind closed doors about a young boy named Lanny who seems to have his head in the clouds. This book is all about being eccentric, about the limitless imagination of youth, about not fitting into societal mould and the way in which one’s community can react to that, about the way xenophobia, superstition and outright racism can be aggravated in moments of crisis. 

Because this book is quite literally stripped back to nothing more than conversations, I really think it’s best experienced as an audiobook. Honestly, I’m not sure I would’ve enjoyed this so much if I simply read the text. The audiobook uses several voice actors and I really felt the community come alive as voices began to overlap… It almost felt like I was standing in a village hall during a community meeting.