OK, so I admit I loved this book before I even read the first page. I've read several short stories by Rebecca Makkai in the last few years in various publications and on her website and, truth be told, I can't remember how I first discovered her, just that I fell instantly for her story lines, her prose, her startling truths about life (always my favorite!). And so it was that I had forgotten all about her forthcoming first novel and happened across it one day in the library, when I needed nothing to read, just to use the facilities and burn a few minutes before a job interview. Thank you, Rebecca!

The Borrower is about a 26 year old children's librarian with a deep, Russian streak of self-righteousness and fight, which she inherited from her father and his illegal, illicit ways. She's also, like so many of us at that age, dissatisfied with her life, gently flailing, if you will, and unsure what to do next. Naturally, she follows the instructions of ten year old Ian Drake on a fictional grandmother goose chase from small town Hannibal, Missouri to the upper reaches of Vermont, along the Canadian border. Poor Ian has runaway from home, from his oppressive, narrowly religious parents who are sending him to gay rehab classes - all of this Lucy knows about and feels she must rescue him.

Makkai writes humor into this wonderfully fictional tale - I could never see it going down like this in real life but love the what if and why not of such a premise - and captures the silliness and energy of a ten year old boy with just enough cute to make you fall for him. Of course, there is the matter of Lucy's father and his heroic tales, a very literary horn reference to a facial imperfection, and an inner battle for good over evil, truth over lies, direction over running away.

I love this book for it's beautifully concise sentences - which I know Makkai spent hours combing through despite the ease with which they read, giving me the feeling that she knew exactly what she was doing when she wrote the first sentence - and it's humor, it's truths, it's fun. Bravo!