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The Borrower

by Rebecca Makkai (Goodreads Author)

3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 · rating details · 4,129 ratings · 1,119 reviews

In this delightful, funny, and moving first novel, a librarian and a young boy obsessed with reading take to the road.

Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten- year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy's help to smuggle...more

Hardcover, 324 pages

Published June 9th 2011 by Viking Adult (first published 2011)

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Aug 22, 2012 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-mt-bookpile

Oh, where to start? I just couldn't buy into the premise no matter how much I really tried. When you have a book that essentially a two-hander, you need to like both characters - Lucy just irritated me too much for that to happen. Which is too bad because the book parodies and games are charming.

Lucy is the head children's librarian at a small public library in Missouri, reporting to an alcoholic director, living over a small theatre, and no real direction in life. One of the children that comes...more Oh, where to start? I just couldn't buy into the premise no matter how much I really tried. When you have a book that essentially a two-hander, you need to like both characters - Lucy just irritated me too much for that to happen. Which is too bad because the book parodies and games are charming.

Lucy is the head children's librarian at a small public library in Missouri, reporting to an alcoholic director, living over a small theatre, and no real direction in life. One of the children that comes into her space is Ian, a voracious reader. Unfortunately, Ian's family is some flavor of evangelical and his mother comes down to the children's area demanding that he not be allowed to borrow books that didn't have "the breath of God" in them (the paranormal, for example, including classics like Tuck Everlasting). Ian rebels by hiding the books he's borrowing, and Lucy abets by checking them out under her own name.

Lucy and her friends Sophie and Rocky suspect that Ian is gay, and when Lucy learns that Ian is being sent to a sexual rehabilitation camp, she's eager to do something to help him escape what she now feels is a horrible, abusive home. One day her chance arrives: Ian's run away, much like Claudia and Jamie do, only he's hidden in the library instead of the Met. For reasons that elude Lucy (and the reader) she decides to "take him home", a trip that ends up in Vermont, near the Candaian border. She also lies about her whereabouts, who Ian is, and where she's going/what she's doing.

There's much here to delight ("If You Give a Librarian a Closet", for example), but Lucy's motivations bothered me, as did her demeanor. I'm not going to get into the argument over her even being a librarian (she doesn't have her MLS, nor is she in library school) or her feeling that the First Amendment trumps all (even the Second Amendment). It was more her certitude that she was saving Ian - who clearly wanted an adventure but seemed to not see that he needed "saving", per se - and her clumsy handling of how to save him, in addition to her eagerness to believe in the power of story to the extent that (I think) she buys into the "kidnapping" because it's just another story. I'm sure I'll be alone in this, which is fine.

ARC provided by publisher.(less)

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Jul 08, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Let me say it straight out: this book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Those who cherry-pick the Bible – who ignore the parts that say “you can’t ever eat pork or shellfish, and women should cover their heads, and you can’t plant two crops in the same field”, yet laser in on two little verses that may or may not imply that God doesn’t like gays – will likely be offended.

Certainly, the existence of those who believe not in absolute rights but in their particular absolute right offends the...more Let me say it straight out: this book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Those who cherry-pick the Bible – who ignore the parts that say “you can’t ever eat pork or shellfish, and women should cover their heads, and you can’t plant two crops in the same field”, yet laser in on two little verses that may or may not imply that God doesn’t like gays – will likely be offended.

Certainly, the existence of those who believe not in absolute rights but in their particular absolute right offends the protagonist, Lucy Hull, a young children’s librarian. Her heart goes out to her favorite patron, a young 10-year-old boy named Ian Drake who is likely gay. His uptight mother, rather than accepting him as he is, promotes a strong anti-gay, evangelist agenda, wanting him only to read books with “the breath of God”. When Lucy finds him camped out in the library after hours, she makes a split-second decision: she spirits him away from his parents and finds herself on the lam on an improvised road trip to Chicago and points east.

It is here that I felt the book goes temporarily off course. If this were not a parable but a story about flesh-and-blood people, surely Lucy would understand the ramifications of leaving abducting a young child. And certainly she would quake at the consequences of such an action and seriously consider what she was doing. Her motivation – or should I say, lack thereof -- for such a bold move nearly derailed my reading experience.

Fortunately, I stuck with it and discovered the book was less about Ian’s own journey toward his coming-of-age intellectual awakening than Lucy’s. Lucy – the daughter of a Russian Mafia father – has lived with illusions her whole life. As she finds out, everything is not so black-and-white in one’s personal history.

And along the way, she learns that there is also no happy ending in many cases. Lucy runs head on into her own sense of hubris when she reflects on her key goal in fleeing with Ian: “There was a picture from somewhere of a place I would take him, maybe a place from a book: a white-walled, sunny house where people took care of children…” Yet as she discovers, “I had failed to understand that the reason you can’t change who you are is that you can’t change where you’re from.”

There are some delightful plot twists and some implausible ones. The characters can be engaging…at times, infuriating…and in at least one case, superfluous. The theme, though, remains constant: we cannot lazily rely on accepted platitudes or religious homilies. Instead, we need to be mindful of our journey of self-discovery… and sometimes, that journey takes us back to a place called home. I applaud the author for taking on such an emotionally charged topic. (3.75)

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Mar 22, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, realistic-fiction

We need more books with children's librarians as the main character! What a great concept. And the ending was perfect. I loved that I was reading this during a long car ride with lots of hotel stops (from Indiana to South Dakota), because the librarian is on a long car ride too, without knowing her destination or when the trip will be over. The other main character in the story, 10-year-old Ian, is great too--I can picture him perfectly: smart as a whip and funny and charming in many ways, but e...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Julie Ekkers rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

What a delightful book! It concerns a sort of listless librarian and her friendship--and sudden adventure--with a 10-year-old boy, who might be gay, to the horror of his very Christian parents. There are references to all kinds of children's books which all readers who were bookworms as children will have fun recognizing and remembering. What I loved most about this book is the manner in which it pays homage to those formative reading experiences, and acknowledges that for many of us, books cont...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, books-of-2012, anything-library-related

But books, on the other hand: I do still believe that books can save you. ...and because I knew the people books had saved. They were college professors and actors and scientists and poets. They got to college and sat on dorm floors drinking coffee, amazed they'd finally found their soul mates. They always dressed a little out of season. Their names were enshrined on the pink cards in the pockets of all the forgotten hardbacks in every library basement in America. If the librarians were lazy eno...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This author can NOT be a parent, first of all. To create this kind of storyline...
However her character (can't recall her name now)obtained this 10 year old boy purposefully or not - just the fact that she didn't call his parents from moment ONE makes me feel like jail is a proper sentence for her. As a mom, I would have had an AGONIZING week wondering what kind of perv or loon had my kid; along with all kinds of horrendous images. Unforgivable.
Then...it was suggested in the beginning that the...more This author can NOT be a parent, first of all. To create this kind of storyline...
However her character (can't recall her name now)obtained this 10 year old boy purposefully or not - just the fact that she didn't call his parents from moment ONE makes me feel like jail is a proper sentence for her. As a mom, I would have had an AGONIZING week wondering what kind of perv or loon had my kid; along with all kinds of horrendous images. Unforgivable.
Then...it was suggested in the beginning that the parents were in some way abusive? There was a very negative image presented of the parents. As the story went along, I realized that - unless I missed something big - the issues given regarding the mother were that 1.She wanted to ensure her 10 year old was reading appropriate books (christian oriented to complement the family values) & 2.She had enrolled her son in a religious class dealing with self actualization, thinking it may be possible that the boy was gay & if so, the class should prevent it. This right here just gets me on SOOO many levels - First, HE'S TEN YEARS OLD! How could you possibly make those kind of assumptions about a child? He was a smart kid, kinda geeky maybe, didn't relate well to kids his age...that kind of thing. So what? Where do you get gay from that?? AND THEN...who does this librarian think she is to decide that if he WERE gay - she knows the correct and BETTER way to handle it than the parents. She questions him about the 'self-actualization' class he took at the church & there was not one thing in the experiences he related to make me think that it was in ANY way inappropriate. He was absolutely clueless to the message it was that she was trying to convey when she told him the class & the church were wrong in their way of thinking & he should just ignore that & be 'who he is' because these are things you cannot change. And her expertise dealing with such issues is - WHAT?? - to make it in ANY way appropriate for her to have been involved in ANY way at all, much less kidnapping the kid to tell him that being gay is okay.
My point is that parents have the right to parent according to their values. There are so many children with parents who don't care if their kids ate for the day, much less pay attention to what books they're checking out at the library. This was certainly not a case of abuse or anything remotely similar to that. This was a case of an author who has some kind of beef with Christianity & set out to create an appearance of Christian parents as overprotecting bullies who don't agree with her line of liberal thinking. Look, I'm not a religious fanatic, I rarely even go to church; but this just has me STEAMING. As a former social worker, I've seen REAL abuse/neglect cases. Overbearing parents may not be perfect but they're CERTAINLY preferable to those who take no (or negative) notice of their kids!
I really didn't realize this book affected me to this degree until I started ranting on this review. I felt better that in the end the main character admitted her inability to become a parent herself and sort of acknowledged the experience she helped put those poor parents through for over a week.
To me, this was just a silly attempt to make the author's liberal views known - hoping to hijack my feelings and achieve a 'feel sorry for the poor forced Christian kid' as a tactic to see it her way. Uh-uh. Quite obviously worked the opposite on me!
Putting two sentences together & having the ability to make it sound pretty okay - does NOT an author make. WHO published this anyway? (less)

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May 13, 2012 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Hull is a children's librarian, more or less by accident. She is the daughter of a Russian immigrant whom she suspects is a member of the Russian "mafia" in Chicago. The family has always had plenty of money, but her dad is kind of vague about where it comes from. As Lucy recalls how she got the job, she remembers that she was soon to graduate magna cum laude, but had given no thought to what she would do afterwards. Perplexed, the Career Counselor gives her a printout of the English Depart...more Lucy Hull is a children's librarian, more or less by accident. She is the daughter of a Russian immigrant whom she suspects is a member of the Russian "mafia" in Chicago. The family has always had plenty of money, but her dad is kind of vague about where it comes from. As Lucy recalls how she got the job, she remembers that she was soon to graduate magna cum laude, but had given no thought to what she would do afterwards. Perplexed, the Career Counselor gives her a printout of the English Department alumni and suggests that Lucy use those connections to land a job. She doesn't want to accept her father's offers of assistance, so she begins at the first of the alphabet, emailing each of the listed alumni. As it happens, Loraine Best, class of '65, needs a children's librarian replacement fast, and isn't quibbling over the Master of Library Science degree.

Lucy warmed quickly to the job and might have stayed on forever, but for one of her favorite patrons, Ian Drake. A 10 year old almost daily visitor to the library, he stood out because of his unique behavior and his precocious reading habits. Even Loraine, the Head Librarian, refers to him as "that little homosexual boy." Lucy becomes concerned when she meets Ian's mother, who comes into the Children's department with a list of forbidden topics and titles for Ian. Ms. Drake acknowledges that Ian loves the library, "but what he really needs right now are books with the breath of God in them."

When Ian gives Ms. Hull an origami baby Jesus at Christmas, she displays it on her desk for a week and then unfolds it to place in the shredder. At this point she realizes it is a printout of an email Ian's mom has written to a ministry dedicated to salvaging sexually confused children. Lucy is appalled. Though she realizes this was never meant for her eyes, she becomes very concerned about what damage could be done to this child in the name of religion. When Ian "runs away" the following March it is to the library, and Lucy discovers him when she opens up the next morning. She is sympathetic, but knows she must return him to his parents. At first he balks, but once in the car, Ian's detailed directions take them to a lovely home in a nice neighborhood. But just as Ian is preparing to get out, the homeowner steps out to get the paper and Lucy knows that is not Ian's dad. She drives on, still torn about where to go or what to do. Before she knows it they have driven out of town, following Ian's imaginative directions. She is not sure who is kidnapping whom (but she does know who is driving and how it will read in the police report)!

This is the story of their road trip, which Ian seems to thoroughly enjoy while Lucy experiences increasing angst, knowing this cannot possibly end well for her, yet wanting to protect Ian even more than she wants to save herself.

In spite of the serious ethical issues that rise in this story, the book contains lots of humor and tons of allusions to children's literature in every chapter, if not on every page. Lucy learns a lot about herself, her dad and her roots. Ms. Makkai is a clever story teller and peoples this tale with interesting and creatively drawn characters that are a pleasure to come to know.

I expect you'll enjoy the entire book, but the ending is creative and unexpected (by me, at least,) and will have you thinking about this story for quite awhile after you put the book down, I'm thinking. (less)

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Jan 22, 2012 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-grown-ups, featuring-libraries-and-librarians

Reading The Borrower is like having a long sit-down with an old friend, full of asides and references you're supposed to know. It's great!

I could pick this book apart, if I wanted to: Lucy is not a believable character: She's super-smart, but has no career plans, gorgeous, but doesn't date or have friends, "falls into" a job that requires an advanced degree she doesn't have, and allows herself to be led into a criminal act by a ten year old boy.

BUT

It is a fantastically enjoyable read. Makkai giv...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you ever worked at a library (especially as a children's librarian), you should read this impressive debut novel. Twenty pages or so into it and I'm chuckling and nodding. Wonderful writing style. Enjoyed 26-year-old children's librarian, Lucy and her "abductee," 10-year-old Ian, immensely. Lucy's favorite library patron's parents worry he's gay, so cart him off to Pastor Bob's special "youth group" where he promises to turn Ian straight and "normal" with God's help. Lucy seeks to protect Ian...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Zhanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read it in one day, that's how much I liked it.

However, I could have done without those short italicized sections. I didn't think they really brought anything to the story. But that's probably my only criticism.

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Apr 29, 2013 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm torn and perhaps would give this three-and-a-half stars if I could. Sometimes I enjoyed this book a lot --- it had its moments. I was comfortable with the writer's style and entertained by her sense of sarcasm. But there were many times where I was almost literally shaking my head at the ridiculousness and absurdity of what was going on, feeling things were far too exaggerated and extreme to have had any reasonable chance of actually happening. I just can't believe the main character could h...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Edel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 29, 2012 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: loved

"I'm not the hero of this story. I'm not even the subject of this prayer".

Loved this book. Looking at reviews, I see quite a few people bitching & complaining that Makkai must not be a parent, and should NEVER be a parent due to her writing a novel about a librarian who allows herself to be manipulated into going on a road trip with a 10 year old patron. She often spends time trying to figure out if it is Ian or herself that is motivating the continuation of it all.
Recently I read Huck Finn...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars, fiction

Unsolicited advice for reading this book: approach it like a bedtime story. It's a tall tale, a story told with unrealistic & nigh unbelievable strokes, every so often offset by glittery little gems of real world details and emotional insights that make it feel real, even when we recognize just how unreal, unbelievable, and often unlikeable the story really is.

I liked the lead-up to the departure of the two main characters (Lucy, a small-town children's librarian, and Ian, a running-away-fro...more Unsolicited advice for reading this book: approach it like a bedtime story. It's a tall tale, a story told with unrealistic & nigh unbelievable strokes, every so often offset by glittery little gems of real world details and emotional insights that make it feel real, even when we recognize just how unreal, unbelievable, and often unlikeable the story really is.

I liked the lead-up to the departure of the two main characters (Lucy, a small-town children's librarian, and Ian, a running-away-from-home young patron), but after that, I found it pretty hard not to be stressed out by Lucy basically kidnapping Ian. If, like me, you can't let go of the fact that a trusted adult takes off with a child, and often blames Ian for his manipulation even as she's charmed by him, it might be an uphill battle to enjoy the bulk of the book. Lucy does struggle with her actions, with her inability to understand her own motives, which is at least appreciated, but I still felt severely unimpressed by her actions and her thoughts.

The writing itself was lovely, clever and full of love for classic and contemporary childhood favorite books. I didn't find all the literary references annoying; they were stylistically and practically slipped in throughout the story in a way that felt organic. And just that super quick, and unexplained, mention of "The world is quiet here" filled me with glee. And I think the reason why I stuck with this book and why I gave it three stars despite not always enjoying the book, is because it's one of those books that's full of love for books, for storytelling, for reading. And not in a pretentious way, not in a "these books are good, but THESE books rot your brain and have no redeeming value" way that I feel "books about books" too often stick to, but in an all-encompassing way that embraces how books and stories and reading are absolutely sublime. Warm fuzzy feelings.

Content advisory: the narrator kidnaps a child, albeit a willing one, and often blames that act on the child; negative views on homosexuality depicted; single and one-dimensional portrayal of Christianity's views on homosexuality; narrative obsession (i.e. multiple characters do it for no good reason) with describing one character's thinness as a reason to gawk and as a character defect and "anorexic" used as a pejorative(less)

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Aug 02, 2012 Shana Hampton rated it 5 of 5 stars

my mom says her proudest moment when i was young was also mine. it was when i got my adult library card. i had to write a letter to the library director asking special permission because i was nine and had read all the books in the children's department and i was DYING to check out books from upstairs but you needed to be 12. so, permission was granted and on that day i showed my shiny new library card to everyone i saw. strangers heard about how i had to ask permission but now i could check out...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Anne Tommaso rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a story for readers who love books, libraries, and finding joy in unexpected or peripheral places. It instantly went to the top of my list to read. There were many moments I enjoyed and where I found greater depth than the descriptions and words on the page. The story provides many opportunities for literary allusions and wittiness. Makkai uses many of these...but not all. I so appreciate what she's established in terms of character, plot, and questions, but overall (and I say this with...more This is a story for readers who love books, libraries, and finding joy in unexpected or peripheral places. It instantly went to the top of my list to read. There were many moments I enjoyed and where I found greater depth than the descriptions and words on the page. The story provides many opportunities for literary allusions and wittiness. Makkai uses many of these...but not all. I so appreciate what she's established in terms of character, plot, and questions, but overall (and I say this with humility), I don't think the novel lives up to its promise.

My biggest hold up with this story is that it is conscious of itself in the American genre of misadventure established by novels like Huck Finn, Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, etc. The opening pages are full of direct literary references, even verbatim re-quotations--all smart and funny. It feels like through Lucy and Ian, we're going to get a new glimpse into the genre through a character with 2012 values and aesthetics.

But it ends there. Those novels I mentioned--all involved first person unreliable narrators--confront the chaos of a journey that ends worse off than it began. The meaning eludes the narrator and so leaves it up to the reader to do the thinking. (Humbert might be the exception). By being peripheral picaroons, characters like Huck and Holden rebel agains the rules of the unfair world and learn about themselves in deep, painful ways they're not completely conscious of. It is clear the writer of The Borrower knows this essential American genre because she has wittily included so many references and creates the terms of the runaway to acknowledge the tradition. Makkai's twist is a story about saving someone from being saved...and then realizing one should not be a saver. Religious fundamentalism and a lack of tolerance are the evils, but I don't feel the characters confront them authentically. Maybe it's the three chapters of epilogue that reveal too much wisdom, or maybe it's the lack of moments during the journey when epiphanies don't feel earned or in the moment, or maybe it's the fact that Lucy is too aware of what she is rebelling against. She's out of control, but she says so.

And then there is the whole Russian mafia thing. I can't tell if the story is in earnest or laughing at itself.

I'd like more attention to the complexity of Lucy, the dimensions of her voice and how it can reflect the quality of knowing in the moment, or more perhaps--more excitingly--not knowing. Let the reader try to figure that out. (less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here's the first thing that people should understand about The Borrower: it's not realistic. Here's the second: that doesn't matter. Allow yourself to go with it for a moment before condemning Lucy for driving away from Hannibal, Missouri with Ian Drake, or doubting that she would do it in the first place. I just don't feel that author Rebecca Makkai was expecting us to believe that any 26 year-old librarian would go on a week-long secret road trip with a 10 year-old child, even one whose parent...more

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May 12, 2012 Kaitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book about an accidental child abduction by a well-meaning, but naive, librarian. I loved reading about Ian, a precocious 10-year-old who reads voraciously. I also liked Lucy the librarian, but that was a little more difficult, given that she doesn't even know what she thinks of herself. The characters, even the ancillary ones, are drawn well, and I found them believable. As others have said, the plot is not super believable, but it makes for an interesting read, and the author does a...more

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May 08, 2012 Kassel rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Forget that that the book is decidedly liberal. Forget that it's anti-George Dubya Bush. Forget that it's pretty much anti-evangelical. A librarian should not be so obsessed with a 10-year-old boy and her infatuation with the boy starts the book out on the creepy foot.

Everyone has decided from the get-go that poor 10-year-old Ian Drake is bound to become some kind of homosexual including his parents. So Ian goes to anti-gay classes and Russian-American librarian Lucy Hull (Hulkinov) wants to SA...more Forget that that the book is decidedly liberal. Forget that it's anti-George Dubya Bush. Forget that it's pretty much anti-evangelical. A librarian should not be so obsessed with a 10-year-old boy and her infatuation with the boy starts the book out on the creepy foot.

Everyone has decided from the get-go that poor 10-year-old Ian Drake is bound to become some kind of homosexual including his parents. So Ian goes to anti-gay classes and Russian-American librarian Lucy Hull (Hulkinov) wants to SAVE Ian!

Problem is, Lucy's not a very interesting character. She tries to convince us she is, but she's really not. (I finished the book only because it was a book club selection.) Lucy's obsession with Ian, however, hits a high point when she and Ian hit the road from Hannibal, Missouri and drive across the country to Vermont with stops in Chicago and Pittsburgh. They somehow kidnap each other except what happens along the way isn't really all that interesting. Somewhat interesting characters like Glenn, Lucy's sort-of boyfriend, and Rocky Walters (readers are unsure of Lucy's romantic status with him) are dropped in, only to be disposed of thoughtlessly by the end of the book. To be honest, I wasn't sure what Glenn added to the story except for a twist during one scene.

Lucy makes it all the way to Vermont with Ian and how will she and Ian get back to Missouri? Well, she put him on a Greyhound bus with some reliable, former ex-KGB operative. Lucy, however, decides to hightail it back to Chicago where her parents live and loaf around for a while, leaving her job in Hannibal as a children's librarian. Lucy learns she can't change Ian, and I think the road trip was a symbolic journey that was supposed to change her, and it somewhat does, but as a reader, I don't care. I am not invested in Lucy. Her father is an interesting character, but Lucy herself is not as interesting.

I guess this is a long enough review. There were some good parts to the book (I'd give it 2.5 stars), but the ending was disappointing to me, especially since Lucy technically didn't have to own up to anything or face any consequences for her actions. (The beginning didn't capture me either.) It might have made for a more interesting book if she'd confronted Ian's parents, but that's just me. (less)

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May 06, 2012 Anne-Marie van den Bosch rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Het denken in andere uitwegen - oplossingen - is denk ik wat me zo aantrekt in dit boek; zoals de parallel naar het verhaal van De Tovenaar van Oz, een verhaal dat ook altijd onweerstaanbare aantrekkingskracht op mij heeft.
Twee mensen maken contact, beide in een isolement (een gedwongen - een uit eigen keuze) en delen het lezen. Verhalen geven zoveel meer mogelijkheden tot oplossingen, inzichten, visie.
Wie zegt doet het onmogelijke niet mogelijk is? Het onwaarschijnlijke realiteit?
Zo ook de L...more Het denken in andere uitwegen - oplossingen - is denk ik wat me zo aantrekt in dit boek; zoals de parallel naar het verhaal van De Tovenaar van Oz, een verhaal dat ook altijd onweerstaanbare aantrekkingskracht op mij heeft.
Twee mensen maken contact, beide in een isolement (een gedwongen - een uit eigen keuze) en delen het lezen. Verhalen geven zoveel meer mogelijkheden tot oplossingen, inzichten, visie.
Wie zegt doet het onmogelijke niet mogelijk is? Het onwaarschijnlijke realiteit?
Zo ook de Lener: ik vind het hele gedeelte van de road movie en het eind totaal niet aannemelijk maar wellicht mogelijk en vast ook helemaal niet relevant in die zin dat twee mensen elkaar helpen zich te ontwikkelen (ook de veel oudere Lucy is coming-of-age), om staande te blijven in dit leven, door middelen waar wij op onze beurt als lezers ook in geloven. En daarmee zijn we direct betrokken, en "medeschuldig", en is het mogelijk
En dan het vergelijk met de Russische familiegeschiedenis met de chocolade fabriek met de Oempa Loempa's terwijl er ook de suggestie is dat vaders voor de Russische mafia werkt. Is hier dat het meest onwaarschijnlijke gewoon mogelijk is? Soms is Lucy tijdens de reis ontzettend irritant naief maar bovenaan blijft de door mij gedeelde wens iemand te helpen en zeker de wereld van verhalen te delen.

De subtitel "Zij leende een kind. Hij gijzelde haar." lijkt de wereld op zijn kop te zetten en is veelzeggend voor het verhaal - zowel in het werkelijke gebeuren als de boodschap achter het verhaal.
Prettig boek dat heerlijk de wereld van boeken uitdraagt, en zaken binnenste buiten keert (zoals boeken ook kunnen), en tracht het zware onderwerp van het onderdrukken van een persoons identiteit hulp te bieden door het creëren van meerdere werkelijkheden als ondersteuning (of als tijdelijke uitvlucht? Lezen als vlucht wordt vaak geopperd maar persoonlijk vind ik het woord "vlucht" niet accuraat gekozen. Ik zie het als verrijking en stimulans voorbij de grenzen van onze eigen of door de omgeving opgelegde horizon).

Het leest makkelijk, ietwat langdradig, veel humor en knipogen naar andere verhalen. Een goed open eind die in het interview achterin het boek nog onderbouwd wordt, waar tevens een lichte leesclubvragenlijst is toegevoegd.
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Apr 25, 2012 Danique rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romans

Een boek over boeken. En een ontvoering door een tienjarige jongen. De lener, debuutroman van Rebecca Makkai, is een vreemde eend in de bijt, maar een knap geschreven roman.

De jonge en slimme Lucy Hull werkt als bibliothecaresse in een dorp. Een van haar vaste gasten op de kinderboekenafdeling is de boekenwurm Ian Drake, een tienjarige jongen uit een strenggelovig gezin. Ian heeft het zwaar, met zijn ouders die denken dat hij homo is en hun verbod op talloze boeken die hij wil lezen. De enige m...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Mary Louise Sanchez rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Jan 22, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

As a youth serving librarian myself, the first part of this story, following Lucy's life as a Children's Librarian ring alternately uncomfortably true and annoyingly, inaccurately stereotypical. However, it was refreshing to see someone document the often overlooked relationship between librarians and the youth for whom they're often the most reliable and caring adult. Whether working in an urban setting, or a small town like Lucy, all of us have had an Ian Drake, the 10year-old protagonist in t...more As a youth serving librarian myself, the first part of this story, following Lucy's life as a Children's Librarian ring alternately uncomfortably true and annoyingly, inaccurately stereotypical. However, it was refreshing to see someone document the often overlooked relationship between librarians and the youth for whom they're often the most reliable and caring adult. Whether working in an urban setting, or a small town like Lucy, all of us have had an Ian Drake, the 10year-old protagonist in this tale, who desperately needs to be saved. Whether their being abused, neglected, or in Ian's case, Evangelically brainwashed out of their burgeoning sexual orientation, we're often powerless to do more than be a listening ear, a recommendation of resiliency building books and programs and a connector to agencies with more teeth. Thankfully, Ian takes matters into his own hands, when he runs away from home and into the library where events transpire to lead Ian and Lucy to kidnap each other and embark on a road trip across the country. Along the way there are humorous moments with Lucy's Russian father and his suspect business partners, family friends with ferrets and the observations of a very creative 10year-old boy. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of whining. Lucy's not particularly likeable. Sure this is a bit of a post college bildungsroman, but that's a bit annoying in it's self, the self-indulgent ramblings of a trust fund baby who can afford to feel self-congratulatory about not taking daddy's money. She dates a man she doesn't particularly like from the moment she meets him, and mocks him behind his back. Her response when she learns that her best friend's wheel chair is due to his actions as a war hero, is to whine that he should have told her? Seriously. Get over yourself. The ending is rather pathetic too, with Lucy playing the role of Tom Sawyer to Ian's Huck, or Jim for that matter and then whining about her fate. The little picture book inspired inserts are a fun touch, and librarians will no doubt keep checking it out and recommending it since it contains one of their own, but overall I felt like a went for a long ride and ended up nowhere.(less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Dec 19, 2011 marymurtz rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved, loved, loved this book!

Lucy Hull is a librarian in the children's section of a library in a town she calls Hannibal, Missouri (although she insists it's not THE Hannibal, MO, just a convenient town name).

She is particularly close to a boy named Ian Drake, who is a voracious reader, even at the age of ten. Ian is precocious and funny and has read almost everything in the children's section. One day, his mother shows up and tells Lucy that Ian is not to read any books that lack "the brea...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Lisa Lilly rated it 4 of 5 stars

"I might be the villain of this story. Even now, it's hard to tell."

Those first two lines pulled me in immediately. The author goes on to show a friendship growing between the narrator, Lucy, a just-out-of-college children's librarian, and Ian, a ten-year-old boy who loves to read and whose parents' religious views begin to worry Lucy. While I loved the writing overall, at times I found the tone a little jarring, particularly the asides told in the form of tongue-in-cheek lists (other people mi...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Erin Rogers rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

What a unique read! The Borrower tells the story of Lucy, a small-town twenty-something librarian who inadvertently finds herself caught up in a cross-country road trip with one of her favorite library patrons, a 10 year-old boy named Ian. Lucy suspects that Ian may be gay and that his parents are sending him to one of those infamous "pray the gay away" camps. When Lucy discovers Ian has run away (to the library! Exactly where I would have gone when I was 10!) Lucy scoops him up and they hit the...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Alex Templeton rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars, really. I was immediately taken by Makkai's narrator: a mid twenty-something who works as a children's librarian at a small Midwestern library. As a book geek and especially a children's book geek, I adored all of the references to famous works of children's literature that peppered the book. I expected great things from the premise: Lucy (the librarian) discovers that one of her favorite charges, Ian, has run away from home and is camping in the library. Ian's parents have recently b...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Felicity rated it 4 of 5 stars

To all my library friends out there...you have to read this book (which, naturally, I picked out from the Librariana collection at the School of Library and Information Studies Library!). The book is about a twenty-six year old renegade children's librarian, Lucy Hull, who kidnaps one of her patrons, the young Ian Drake. Ian's parents are members of an evangelical Christian cult, and consequently, have a long list of prohibited topics about which Ian can read (think J. K. Rowling, Tolkien, C.S....more

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Sep 29, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was great! The story revolves around Lucy, a young librarian who runs the children's area of the library in a small town in Missouri. She has a fondness for ten-year-old Ian, a misfit who loves to read and spends a lot of time at the library. Lucy finds out that Ian's parents are religious fanatics and have enrolled him in a program to keep him from becoming gay. One day she discovers Ian is running away from home, and Lucy leaves with him, driving him half-way across the cou...more

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About Rebecca Makkai

"Rebecca Makkai is the author of the novel The Borrower (Viking, 2011), and her short stories have appeared in four consecutive issues of The Best American Short Stories (2008-2011). She was an elementary Montessori teacher for twelve years, and lives north of Chicago. She has two daughters."

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Books by Rebecca Makkai

The Best American Non-Required Reading 2009

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Quotes from The Borrower

“I believed that books might save him because I knew they had so far, and because I knew the people books had saved. They were college professors and actors and scientists and poets. They got to college and sat on dorm floors drinking coffee, amazed they'd finally found their soul mates. They always dressed a little out of season. Their names were enshrined on the pink cards in the pockets of all the forgotten hardbacks in every library basement in America. If the librarians were lazy enough or nostalgic enough or smart enough, those names would stay there forever.” — 16 people liked it

“And second, everyone is so weird, but they're all completely accepted. It's like, okay, you have a pumpkin head, and that guy's made of tin, and you're a talking chicken, but what the hell, let's do a road trip.” — 14 people liked it

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