Fatherfolk

Review: The Faith Of A Child by Stefan Lanfer

BY 

CHRIS SINGER

Cross posted from His fantastic blog: http://bookdads.com/

About Stefan Lanfer – Stefan Lanfer is a dad, husband, master (woof woof!) blogger,author,playwright, foundation strategy guy, twitterer, and catcher of flying babies. He lives with Ashley, James, Maya and Scout the Dog in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. You can learn more about Stefan Lanfer, the dad and husband, from his blog Dad Today. The Faith of a Child is his first book.

About the book

(from www.stefanlanfer.com)

Preparing for fatherhood? Freaked out? Help is here.

When a woman prepares for motherhood, other women guide her on her way. Not so a dad-to-be, who gets pats on the back, corny jokes, or vague assurances he’ll do fine. Until now, his best hope was by-moms-for-moms baby books–a gap filled by Stefan Lanfer’s The Faith of a Child and other Stories of Becoming and Being Dad.

According to Lanfer, when his wife was pregnant, “I was STRESSED out, and the guys around me no help—until, just in time, I hosted a group of dads at our home. I fed them dinner. They fed me their stories.” As he listened, says Lanfer, “I got inside the dad head space. Finally, I felt ready.”

To pay forward this gift, Lanfer shares his stories in The Faith of a Child, which tracks tracks Lanfer’s journey to – and into fatherhood.  To dads-to-be, Lanfer says, “If you want tips, tactics, and advice for childbirth and parenting, you’ve got dozens of choices. But, if you want real stories that actually let you picture fatherhood, The Faith of a Child is for you.”

My take on the book

It seems like it was forever ago when I was working my tail off reading book after book, and writing an endless stream of papers in order to complete my Bachelor’s in Literature at SUNY Purchase. I had great professors there who I still think about often, and who introduced me to incredible pieces of literature. As sweet as that time was for me, I have to admit it may have spoiled me from being able to enjoy reading recreationally. Over the years, I’ve been unable to finish more books than I’ve actually read through, and I have just about given up on trying to read a work of fiction.

I say all of this to you in preface to my comments about Stefan Lanfer’s, The Faith of a Child, because I want you to know that there is not one bit of hyperbole present when I tell you how incredible a read this was. This is quite simply a work of literature and a work of art. It’s been a long time since I read something that resonated so deeply inside of me that it could draw out the emotions I feel as a first-time father.

Maybe it is the structure of the book itself which lends itself to this. The book is written in a very unique style that doesn’t quite look like prose, but also doesn’t really match poetry. Lanfer, a playwright as well, lets us know in the first chapter, which incidentally isn’t the right term either, that this style was influenced from reading many plays and writing personalized no-thank you cards. The “chapters,” in The Faith of a Child, indeed read more like scenes or vignettes from a play than the typical memoir.

While this book was written and intended for dads-to-be, the potential audience who would enjoy this read is much larger. I can see grandparents, moms, and “veteran” dads also enjoying this book. For me, a dad for a mere 13 months, I found myself finally finding the words to describe my emotions about being a father. That is a powerful experience, I can assure you. I found myself getting tears in my eyes throughout my reading of this book. Not tears of sadness either, but happy tears at finding so many similar memories and experiences as I read.

My favorite vignette from the book is entitled, “Peace.” Here’s a few sentences that conclude this vignette:

Mostly, I think the peace I feel comes from staring at Maya,

from watching her sleep in my arms,

or watching her, wide eyed, stare past me into the clear blue sky.

At some level I know that all is not right in the world.

But in these moments it is right enough,

because she is.

This is just one of the many “YES! THAT IS IT RIGHT THERE!” moments I had while reading this book.

Get this book

This is a great read and I think it would make a great gift to any father for this coming Father’s Day!

You can order your copy (or copies) today from the Book Dads store.