brynebo 's review for:

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

3.0

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There are two things I loved about this book: 1) the hilarious heavily accented use (and mis-use) of American expressions by the Russian father ("[here in America] there is world class KGB to be had on the cheap!"); and 2) the use of phrasing techniques from clearly recognizable children's books (in a book about a children's librarian and a boy who loves to read). Sadly, the depressing weight of the knowledge that their "adventure" could not possibly end well seriously impaired my ability to maintain that love. Sure, it ended better than I thought would, but only because the resolution was not particularly plausible. As a reader of fantasy novels, I am certainly not anchored in realism, but don't ask me to suspend my disbelief at the end of a book whose plot is otherwise fairly mundane.