Reviews - The Borrower | The StoryGraph

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760 reviews for:

The Borrower

Rebecca Makkai

3.54 AVERAGE

boleuzia's review against another edition

3.0

***1/2

adrifrazer's review against another edition

3.0

You know, I liked the book, but I could never quite *get* Lucy's motivation. I just didn't believe that she wouldn't do something at the beginning. I had to keep reminding myself to just go with it.

heavymetallibrarian's review against another edition

2.0

This was surprisingly bad. It pains me to say it, considering that I am the absolute target market for this book and I felt like the author tried really hard. Normally I am a total sucker for literary allusions of any type, and this book had some decent ones, but generally they were eye-rollingly heavy-handed. I felt like I was being hit over the head with one message after another, rather than having the story and characters and motivations unfold for me. The outright comparisons to Nabokov, Humbert and "Lolita" really pushed me over the edge. I mean, if your main character is constantly asking the reader, "Am I a reliable narrator? Can I be trusted? What are my motivations?" then your story is no "Lolita" and you, ma'am, are no Nabokov.

moongazerbunny's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

krnlchrissy's review against another edition

3.0

This was a quick and easy read, but it did have its shortcomings. The premise was pretty implausible and if you go into the story with some suspension of disbelief you will be better off. Twenty-six year old children's librarian Lucy kidnaps 10-year-old Ian after he runs away from home. What initially is going to be her driving Ian home ends up as a cross country road trip. What bumps this to 3 stars is the fact that it did make me laugh out loud at one point so that calls for bonus points. And I did enjoy the little literary references strewn throughout the book.

catchem06's review against another edition

4.0

I received this book as a gift, which automatically predisposed me (with my giant to-be-read pile all of my own selecting) to loving it just by virtue of not having to find it myself. It was charming, and meaningful, and book-about-books-y in a subtly great way. Not your average tale about a children's librarian!