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600bars 's review for:
The Borrower
by Rebecca Makkai
My attention span has been decimated harder than ever before, and so I wanted to read something familiar so I wouldn't need to use my brain so I could try to reset. I chose this because it's been in my room for ages and I noticed that it was by the same person as great believers! I fucking loved that book. It caused me to sob on the couch for a whole afternoon. So I couldn't believe how much I didn't like this!!!
-First of all, I started to feel retroactively sussed out by Gr8 Believers. I don't know much about Makkai, but why do both of these books have straight female main characters who take it upon themselves to save gay men/in this case a 10 year old ppl suspect is gay? I didn't think much of it in the other book because that was such a great story, but the pattern makes me suspicious. I do have some problems with Lucy thinking she can be a better parent than Ian's parents, even though I get where she's coming from, but I won't harp on that too much as there would be no story without the kidnapping. I can suspend my disbelief about the premise but the ethical and moral questions raised by it barely got answered/explored.
-This is the second book in a row where the author makes a point to have a specifically insufferable character attend Oberlin College lmfao......Glenn the annoying would-be boyfriend in this book worked in the con library
-The points the book was trying to make about Russia vs America and wherever you go you take yourself etc etc just felt clumsy. The depiction of Russia was so cartoonish! The mobster dad really sleeps with ice packs to feel the cold of Mother Russia in spite of the fact that the midwest of America also has the same climate??? That's a tiny detail and granted I've never been to Russia but I just felt like whatever she was trying to do here was not working. I know ppl's experiences are valid etc etc but the latent tankie inside my soul just can't help but roll my eyes at stories about capitalist revolutionaries who risk it all for a chocolate factory. At least she didn't try to present America as a perfect place
-None of the characters felt real or likeable at all. Jamming in the high school gay friend's suicide as a back story felt like "shit, I gotta have a motivator, uhhhh" like none of the story elements felt organic
-Why did there have to be a Humbert Humbert reference? Like yes it's a road trip with an adult and a child who are not supposed to be on a road trip, but Lolita has such predatory and sexual connotations that do not apply to this situation.
-The russian KGB guy getting them out of the situation idk I just was rolling my eyes left and right! I try to rank books against themselves, like I'm never going to care that there's a stupid character when I'm reading a cheesy murder mystery bc I know I'm not trying to get a grand literary experience or whatever. I think my annoyance at this book is just because of my love for Great Believers. This does prove without a doubt that people are capable of improving !! Makkai basically did a Speedin bullet 2 heaven --> Kids See Ghosts with the rankings imo. The plot, characters, and emotions are so much more developed.
-First of all, I started to feel retroactively sussed out by Gr8 Believers. I don't know much about Makkai, but why do both of these books have straight female main characters who take it upon themselves to save gay men/in this case a 10 year old ppl suspect is gay? I didn't think much of it in the other book because that was such a great story, but the pattern makes me suspicious. I do have some problems with Lucy thinking she can be a better parent than Ian's parents, even though I get where she's coming from, but I won't harp on that too much as there would be no story without the kidnapping. I can suspend my disbelief about the premise but the ethical and moral questions raised by it barely got answered/explored.
-This is the second book in a row where the author makes a point to have a specifically insufferable character attend Oberlin College lmfao......Glenn the annoying would-be boyfriend in this book worked in the con library
-The points the book was trying to make about Russia vs America and wherever you go you take yourself etc etc just felt clumsy. The depiction of Russia was so cartoonish! The mobster dad really sleeps with ice packs to feel the cold of Mother Russia in spite of the fact that the midwest of America also has the same climate??? That's a tiny detail and granted I've never been to Russia but I just felt like whatever she was trying to do here was not working. I know ppl's experiences are valid etc etc but the latent tankie inside my soul just can't help but roll my eyes at stories about capitalist revolutionaries who risk it all for a chocolate factory. At least she didn't try to present America as a perfect place
-None of the characters felt real or likeable at all. Jamming in the high school gay friend's suicide as a back story felt like "shit, I gotta have a motivator, uhhhh" like none of the story elements felt organic
-Why did there have to be a Humbert Humbert reference? Like yes it's a road trip with an adult and a child who are not supposed to be on a road trip, but Lolita has such predatory and sexual connotations that do not apply to this situation.
-The russian KGB guy getting them out of the situation idk I just was rolling my eyes left and right! I try to rank books against themselves, like I'm never going to care that there's a stupid character when I'm reading a cheesy murder mystery bc I know I'm not trying to get a grand literary experience or whatever. I think my annoyance at this book is just because of my love for Great Believers. This does prove without a doubt that people are capable of improving !! Makkai basically did a Speedin bullet 2 heaven --> Kids See Ghosts with the rankings imo. The plot, characters, and emotions are so much more developed.