Take a photo of a barcode or cover
servemethesky 's review for:
The Borrower
by Rebecca Makkai
I have a few problems with this novel. I expected to like Lucy Hull. But I didn't. In fact, by the end of the novel, I was pretty close to not being able to stand her. She LETS this 'kidnapping' happen, without having the OUNCE of common sense it would require to get Ian safely home, and then proceeds to drive aimlessly around America, exploring her mixed up feelings on her Russian heritage and not doing a whole lot to change Ian's life, though that's her weak justification for their jaunt.
Lucy didn't even feel real to me, though many of the other characters did. The whole Russian Mafia and stories/lies from her family history felt fake, concocted, and not even absurd, as they were supposed to- just irritating. I felt like as a reader, I deserved better than this jumbled, half-hearted mess.
The book is also hugely dissatisfying in the end. While I'm well-versed in the modernists, and am perfectly capable of recognizing and appreciating the way in which this whole plot amounted to nothing, it was in a bad way, not a good way. Ulysses does it right, this novel does not.
Also, I cannot believe Lucy just ABANDONED poor Rocky! The way she casually discarded him and Sophie Bennett makes her just seem cruel.
I was also really annoyed by how hard the author tried so hard to make her own writing Nabokovian. Yes, Nabokov is great. No, you are not Nabokov. And Lucy's so-called crime does not even come close to those of Nabokov's infamous villains. It really bothered me the way she kept forcing the story/her style into this Nabokovian defense of the accused type thing.
However, there were elements I did like. I liked Ian, I liked Tim and the theatre Lucy lived above (though gay actor is an easy enough cliche to write), I liked the Christian magazine filled with reading lists- that was a really nice touch. I just really didn't like that we found no meaning in the end, and were left with annoying, philosophizing Lucy trying to sleep at night. Waah. Poor her.
I feel like I've been unnecessarily harsh with this book. I did enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered reading the whole thing. This book proves a fun read, but not particularly amazing, life-changing, or moving.
Lucy didn't even feel real to me, though many of the other characters did. The whole Russian Mafia and stories/lies from her family history felt fake, concocted, and not even absurd, as they were supposed to- just irritating. I felt like as a reader, I deserved better than this jumbled, half-hearted mess.
The book is also hugely dissatisfying in the end. While I'm well-versed in the modernists, and am perfectly capable of recognizing and appreciating the way in which this whole plot amounted to nothing, it was in a bad way, not a good way. Ulysses does it right, this novel does not.
Also, I cannot believe Lucy just ABANDONED poor Rocky! The way she casually discarded him and Sophie Bennett makes her just seem cruel.
I was also really annoyed by how hard the author tried so hard to make her own writing Nabokovian. Yes, Nabokov is great. No, you are not Nabokov. And Lucy's so-called crime does not even come close to those of Nabokov's infamous villains. It really bothered me the way she kept forcing the story/her style into this Nabokovian defense of the accused type thing.
However, there were elements I did like. I liked Ian, I liked Tim and the theatre Lucy lived above (though gay actor is an easy enough cliche to write), I liked the Christian magazine filled with reading lists- that was a really nice touch. I just really didn't like that we found no meaning in the end, and were left with annoying, philosophizing Lucy trying to sleep at night. Waah. Poor her.
I feel like I've been unnecessarily harsh with this book. I did enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered reading the whole thing. This book proves a fun read, but not particularly amazing, life-changing, or moving.