A review by heavymetallibrarian
The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

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.