Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by maddy_mp4
The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
3.0
i get why people don’t like this book, why people are upset with the actions lucy takes - i get it, but i don’t agree!
i notice many of the negative reviews on here are from the time when the book was published, and i can understand how this book being your first introduction to makkai’s work could be off putting. but having read the great believers and i have some questions for you and absolutely LOVED those, i quickly developed an appreciation for this book. evidently the work of a budding novelist, i can see how the ideas and choices makkai made in here would come to inform and better her later works. this story especially feels like a spiritual prequel to what she’d do in i have some questions for you
but, on the other hand, i think i just don’t agree with the criticism because i don’t think lucy is evil like a lot of other reviews seem to imply. i think she makes absurdly terrible decisions, definitely, but i think she’s misguided. she’s hopeful and trying to convince herself of her goodness and the morality of her actions in favour of the morality of ian’s family’s actions; while also being informed by her father and his choices and questionable relations.
this book doesn’t reach its full potential, i’ll admit it! but it’s charming to reflect on it as a stepping stone in makkai’s transformation into a brilliant novelist!
i notice many of the negative reviews on here are from the time when the book was published, and i can understand how this book being your first introduction to makkai’s work could be off putting. but having read the great believers and i have some questions for you and absolutely LOVED those, i quickly developed an appreciation for this book. evidently the work of a budding novelist, i can see how the ideas and choices makkai made in here would come to inform and better her later works. this story especially feels like a spiritual prequel to what she’d do in i have some questions for you
but, on the other hand, i think i just don’t agree with the criticism because i don’t think lucy is evil like a lot of other reviews seem to imply. i think she makes absurdly terrible decisions, definitely, but i think she’s misguided. she’s hopeful and trying to convince herself of her goodness and the morality of her actions in favour of the morality of ian’s family’s actions; while also being informed by her father and his choices and questionable relations.
this book doesn’t reach its full potential, i’ll admit it! but it’s charming to reflect on it as a stepping stone in makkai’s transformation into a brilliant novelist!