I can’t be the only one who occasionally picks books up on a whim, right? Especially lately, since I’ve been less and less up to date with new releases, I tend to just pick whatever catches my eye. So when the library had this book on their book picks for “getting lost”, I was very much into it. A story about a Green Man character, a being as old as the forest itself, who is so aptly named Dead Papa Toothwort? Oh, you’d better believe that I was invested.

As it turns out, I was right to feel that way. This story feels like going back in time, to the days when stories were told around a fire. From the very opening, Max Porter builds this atmosphere that is hard to ignore. A tiny town, full of people going about their daily lives. A being in the woods, watching. Waiting. Dissatisfied in the lack of attention to nature and whimsy that people have developed. That is, except for one little boy. One spot of bright in the dark.

Lanny’s character is hard to describe. He of course has the quintessential “little boy” personality, but he is so much more than that. He is the child that all of us were at one point, before the world tried to convince us that magic wasn’t real. Porter weaves a story, with Lanny at the center, that is full of intrigue and enchantment. Here is a boy who still sees the beauty in things. A boy who doesn’t care about fitting in, because that’s not what is important at all. I loved that his two parents were on such different spectrums about how to act towards him, because it felt like the way all of us are looked at by the world. It was gorgeously done.

Alas, I have to stop here or otherwise I run the risk of spoiling things on accident. I will say that this story definitely took a turn that I wasn’t quite expecting, but I loved it all the more for that. This is my favorite kind of folk tale. A little dark, a lot magical, and brimming with atmosphere. I truly recommend the audio book! Take some time, and get lost in this wonderful story.