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The Borrower

Rebecca Makkai (Goodreads Author)

3.49 · Rating details · 10,583 ratings · 2,089 reviews

Lucy Hull, a children’s librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. Ian needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes. Desperate to save him from the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian when sh ...more

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Hardcover, 324 pages

Published June 9th 2011 by Viking (first published January 1st 2011)

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Jul 23, 2011 Elaine Lincoln rated it it was amazing

Well I'll be honest: I joined Goodreads just so I could review this book. It is one of those ones that makes you want to grab strangers on the street and force them to read it while you watch their face to see their reaction. But more about that in a minute...

I do read reviews on Goodreads from time to time, usually after I finish a book (oddly), and two things were bothering me about the responses to this book, and I felt compelled to respond to them. It seems I had to join to do that! First, i Well I'll be honest: I joined Goodreads just so I could review this book. It is one of those ones that makes you want to grab strangers on the street and force them to read it while you watch their face to see their reaction. But more about that in a minute...

I do read reviews on Goodreads from time to time, usually after I finish a book (oddly), and two things were bothering me about the responses to this book, and I felt compelled to respond to them. It seems I had to join to do that! First, it's odd to see so much moral judgment of a character in a book where the very first line is "I might be the villain of this story." It's almost as if other readers have conflated the author with the narrator, and figure that if in the end the narrator is culpable then it must have failed as a book. How very strange a response. I'd love to see these same readers' responses to Crime and Punishment! Let's give the author a little credit here: if she'd wanted to make this a clear moral case, it would have been so easy (maybe too easy) to do that. Instead she chose to make her narrator just as flawed as Ian's parents, and that's what makes it a great story. (I've been troubled in recent years by the obsession with "likability", people demanding that their characters make good choices or become better people in the book, but I digress.)

Secondly, as a retired school librarian, I need to say this to the librarians on here saying they refuse to like the book because Lucy doesn't have an MLIS: first of all, there ABSOLUTELY ARE libraries, way out in the cornfields, where someone could end up in even an administrative position with nothing more than a BA. I even know of two different public libraries where the "head librarian" (argue if you will about whether that should be her title) has no MLS. To me, this was sufficiently explained in the book by the boss being drunk and not caring, and being in crisis over losing her children's librarian to cancer when Lucy's resume showed up in her mailbox, and in a very small, isolated town. it seemed fully in character. This is not a real person who took a job away from a real qualified librarian, for pete's sake. But REGARDLESS of all that: who in the hell cares? My husband was a surgeon for forty years, and if he dismissed out of hand every TV show, movie and book that didn't play true to life on medical details, he'd never have enjoyed anything. This is a book that every politician in Washington should be forced to read before they even dream of cutting library funding. This is a book that is a love letter to libraries, and librarians who quibble over the little details are missing the point.

And back to my main point: this is an amazing book. It's very of-the-moment, with Michelle Bachmann's "reparative therapy" business in the headlines, and it's a book that every PFLAG member, every school guidance counselor, every gay adolescent should read. And everyone else, too. ...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: old-reads, mt-bookpile-2011

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 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. ...more

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Jan 06, 2020 Swaroop Kanti rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Cool, dramatic, spontaneous and hilarious!

Come, hop on and just enjoy the drive... don`t waste time judging or finding the critic within yourself.

“Isn't it what all librarians strive toward, at least in the movies and cliches? Silence, invisibility, nothing but a rambling cloud of old book dust.”

This book is about the crazy road trip story of Lucy Hull, a children's librarian from Hannibal, Missouri and 10-year-old Ian Drake.

I started this book thinking it was about books, libraries and librari ...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Jill rated it liked it

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 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)

...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Nicholas rated it really liked it

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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Jun 22, 2011 Robin rated it it was amazing

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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Jun 28, 2011 Julie Ekkers rated it really liked it

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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Oct 23, 2019 Lisa rated it it was ok

Shelves: books-bookstores

I was drawn to this book by its bookish theme and by the author whose "Great Believers" I loved. But a road trip that is an "accidental abduction" of a 10 year old boy by a librarian was not amusing to me but anxiety producing. I could not relax into the flippant tone of this book at all. ...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Kim rated it it was ok

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 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? ...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Jojo rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Oh how I wanted to love this book! It has so many things that I adore: libraries, quirkiness, a book reference on almost every page, a journey, a possibly-gay 10 year-old boy, various unrequited loves...

The book turned out to be grounded more in farce than in reality, which would have been ok except that the protagonist was so dull you couldn't really root for her, and in a farce, you need to have some attachment to the main character in order to swallow all the unrealistic situations and coinci Oh how I wanted to love this book! It has so many things that I adore: libraries, quirkiness, a book reference on almost every page, a journey, a possibly-gay 10 year-old boy, various unrequited loves...

The book turned out to be grounded more in farce than in reality, which would have been ok except that the protagonist was so dull you couldn't really root for her, and in a farce, you need to have some attachment to the main character in order to swallow all the unrealistic situations and coincidences.

Also (this is not a spoiler but the main idea of the book) she kidnaps a child!! She kidnaps a child!!! She. Kidnaps. A. Child. I don't care how bad she thinks his home life is, she should not have kidnapped the child.

This book does a disservice to real librarians who work hard to get their MLS degrees, since Lucy Hull just plods her way into a job that actually requires some expertise.

I don't even want to get into the gay-kid aspect of the novel. It hits too close to home for me. Ian may or may not be gay (the only reason he may be is because some adults think he is; that wasn't reason enough for me to buy into it. What, he's a voracious reader, has a soft voice and likes to sing? Most of the boys I know who fit that description are straight.) The fundamentalist Christian aspect was, I think, handled more realistically.

And as long as I'm ripping this book a new one, can I just say---and I don't think this is petty---the Hush Puppy dog is a Bassett hound, not a beagle. She keeps calling it a beagle!! I kept waiting for someone to correct her---Glenn or Ian---but no one did, and I can only assume that this point slipped past a bunch of people as the book was being readied for publication. What the hell.

I hated the ending, which really made me lose respect for the book. I might have been able to deal with all of the other stuff because I did love the literary references, the parodies, and the basic idea of the story. But the string of coincidences at the end were just silly. I wanted some triumph for Ian; I put so much time into making sure he was ok.

Two and a half stars. I just can't round it up to three because I felt the pacing was off: started out ok and then just dragged. They spent so much time at their final destination, time that didn't need to be spent, that I almost started to hate what is actually one of my very favorite states. ...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Darby Zimmerman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction

This book will have its detractors, and I imagine that most of them will have missed the sort of tongue-in-cheek, this-didn't-really-happen aspect of the book. (Once the narrator tells you that you're supposed to call the town Hannibal, Missouri but that it's not really Hannibal, Missouri, and then confesses twenty pages in that she's already lied to you, I think all protestations of a story being unrealistic are null and void.) Lucy is an unreliable narrator -- my favorite kind -- and she takes ...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Elaine rated it liked it

Shelves: ebooks

This started out wonderfully. I was immediately drawn the liberal librarian and the winsome boy whom she sneaks books to, books his parents obect to, but which are children's classics. The librarian's rationale is that the boy wants to read those books and she is not a censor. The ethical and moral issues here are never worked out. Do parents have the right to judge what books are suitable for their children? Do parents have the right to decide what religious beliefs their children should hold? This started out wonderfully. I was immediately drawn the liberal librarian and the winsome boy whom she sneaks books to, books his parents obect to, but which are children's classics. The librarian's rationale is that the boy wants to read those books and she is not a censor. The ethical and moral issues here are never worked out. Do parents have the right to judge what books are suitable for their children? Do parents have the right to decide what religious beliefs their children should hold? Apparently not, since the parents are presented as unlikable tyrants. The librarian who goes against their wishes is portrayed sympathetically.

Actually, ethical, moral, and, ultimately, legal issues abound in this book, which is what kept me reading. At the end, Makkai seems to suggest that people who meddle, but who are on the "right" side of the fence, may be as guilty of playing with someone's life as those who are on the "wrong" side. Most readers will detest Ian's bigoted mother and Parson Bob, the anti-gay crusader, but Lucy's intervention doesn't square with Ian's beliefs, and what she does to "save" him is reprehensible in my opinion. What was she saving him from? To what lengths will she go to save him? The plot finally fizzles out. Nothing is resolved. Nothing is changed, as far as I could see. Thhe very real ethical issues raised are not resolved.

The second half of this novel is an on-the-lam road trip. This should have been exciting, especially considering what went before. Makkai has drawn several memorable and interesting characters and portrays their activities with wit and vivid vignettes.

So, I found myself slogging through the road trip, thinking it would get better. It didn't. It wasn't a bit believable. We learn nothing new about our heroine or about Ian. Journeys are usually written into novels to show character development. This one showed nothing except, perhaps, that the FBI and the police are mighty casual about an ostensibly kidnapped child.

Makkai has talent. That shows in the first half of the novel, but the road trip is written in a very pedestrian manner, and the ending is unconvincing, at least to me. ...more

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Jun 28, 2011 switterbug (Betsey) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Debut novelist and elementary schoolteacher Rebecca Makkai combines a wily, madcap road trip with socially poignant conundrums and multiple themes in this coming-of-age story about a twenty-six-year-old children's librarian, Lucy Hull, and a ten-year-old precocious book lover, Ian Drake, in fictional Hanibal, Missouri. (Guess who is coming-of-age? Answer: not so evident.)

Lucy isn't entirely sure that she's a reliable narrator--part of our reading pleasure is to figure that out. She tells us in t Debut novelist and elementary schoolteacher Rebecca Makkai combines a wily, madcap road trip with socially poignant conundrums and multiple themes in this coming-of-age story about a twenty-six-year-old children's librarian, Lucy Hull, and a ten-year-old precocious book lover, Ian Drake, in fictional Hanibal, Missouri. (Guess who is coming-of-age? Answer: not so evident.)

Lucy isn't entirely sure that she's a reliable narrator--part of our reading pleasure is to figure that out. She tells us in the enigmatic prologue "I'm not the hero of this story." Is she the villain? And, if she is not the hero, who is? The answers turn out to be thoughtfully complex and yet exquisitely simple for those of us--and only for those of us--whose love of reading is almost religious (upside down pun there).

Lucy has been sneaking laudable books to Ian, whose evangelical, anorexic mother, Janet, will only allow him to read books "with the breath of God in them." No books with content matter related to magic, witchcraft, wizardry, the occult, weaponry, adult content matter, evolution, or Halloween. No authors/books that question authority and explore complicated issues, or that have morally ambiguous themes. Oh, or contain a "sensitive" male character.

Janet has enrolled her son in the Glad Heart Ministries youth group with Pastor Bob, in order to de-gayify her son for his proto-gay behaviors. Pastor Bob is a "former" homosexual married to a "cured" once-upon-a-time lesbian, who believes that "sexuality is a choice, not an identity." His goal is to "speak to our children before the secular media has reached them with its political agenda." It makes your hair stand up and splits your ends.

One morning, when Lucy opens the library, she discovers that Ian has been camped out there all night. This sets the stage for the fugitive scene--adult and child on the lam, playing spontaneous road trip games and mimicking passages of children's books. (OK, the reader needs to suspend a little judgment here on how Ian maneuvers this, but this is fiction, so waive a little realism for a little magic, capisce?).

Lucy, as it turns out, has some, ahem... issues. A Chicago-raised Mount Holyoke graduate with a Russian émigré father and Jewish-American mother, she has a predilection for flight and self-flagellation. Her dad was a revolutionary, and his shady business dealings and questionable money sources have been a cause of discomfort all of Lucy's life. It seems she also has a knack for prevaricating. And indolence. Her adult decisions have, up to this time, been aimed at not taking action in her life, other than putting distance between her and her parents. She's "a would-be revolutionary stuck at a desk."

As Lucy and Ian cross state line after state line, she has moments of doubt and dread about her hapless journey with a juvenile. Although she tries to remind herself that Ian maneuvered this odyssey, she acknowledges her complicity. Lucy wants to save Ian from the clutches of religiosity. She impugns Janet Drake for wanting to censor a highly intelligent boy's mettle. But is she trying to censor the censor? She has doubts. But the voice of her insurrectionist father vexes her.

There are flaws, admittedly. Yet, they are easy to ignore when trumped by the nimble narrative and crack characterizations. Librarians beware--Lucy doesn't have her Masters of Library Science. And, as mentioned above, the inadvertent "kidnapping" scene raises a few eyebrows of believability.

But this beguiling story captivates, nonetheless. Ian and Lucy have a tart, biting relationship rather than a sentimental, precious one. Additionally, Makkai deftly weaves in children's literary lore, including THE WIZARD OF OZ, MADELINE, CHARLOTTE'S WEB, and many others, bolstering the narrative. Moreover, Lucy's subversive deeds in the name of social liberty are ripe and riveting. Makkai pushes the envelope, and the reader may wonder if the story will wax pedantic, but the author doesn't disappoint with easy answers; she doesn't manipulate Lucy's rant into her personal crusade.

THE BORROWER appeals, inevitably, to the ardent reader whose love of books starts with the mind but voyages to the soul. It is a journey of self-discovery and sanctuary, finding home wherever you are, and having the courage to face your future.

...more

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May 26, 2011 Kathrina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-that-changed-me, american-fiction

I finished this book almost two weeks ago, but I've struggled in how to write this review. This book was a personal treasure to me, and writing my thoughts on it feel almost too intimate, too vulnerable, to bare to the world. And that's strange to me, because this is not high literature, no one will be studying this in a classroom, and it likely will never be a bestseller, but it spoke to me, or maybe echoed to me, all the things I try to say about what drives me and what I want to do with my li ...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Kristin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-of-2012

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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May 20, 2019 Chris rated it really liked it

A charming close relationship between a young librarian (Lucy) and a precocious young boy (Ian) that revolves around the library and books. Lucy treats the library and books as if they were her own. This young boy, Ian, loves books; is addicted to books and to the library and looks to Lucy for suggesting good books for him to read. Unfortunately his mother is not keen on him reading certain genres, so either the boy or the librarian, devise ways to smuggle out his books (in his pants, under his A charming close relationship between a young librarian (Lucy) and a precocious young boy (Ian) that revolves around the library and books. Lucy treats the library and books as if they were her own. This young boy, Ian, loves books; is addicted to books and to the library and looks to Lucy for suggesting good books for him to read. Unfortunately his mother is not keen on him reading certain genres, so either the boy or the librarian, devise ways to smuggle out his books (in his pants, under his coat).

Before long, things start to get out of control; the mother sends the son to see some weird pastor who will hopefully, help “turn his gayness away.”

Ian “runs away” by secretly hiding and spending the night in the library, only for Lucy to discover him the following morning. They both, essentially take matters into their own hands from there, and an unexpected “road trip” ensues, which Lucy has thoughts of getting out of town and perhaps “saving” this kid and raising him as her own somewhere.

There are religious beliefs/aspects in this story, as well as Russian family history and mafia. It’s a story of relationships, and also of deceit and kidnapping and finding ones’ self. It’s about the atmosphere of libraries and what they have to offer in more ways than one, and the true love of good books.

This little boy, Ian, was a smart, feisty little guy. His communication and antics from the get go were heartwarming and funny. The librarian, Lucy, was in a life rut, settling for less than what she was actually capable of, a small town children’s librarian.

Before the reader even knows what’s happening, they are both taking off on a “road trip” together (more like a hijacking/kidnapping). Their dialogues and their “plan” is rather helter skelter and mostly thought out/planned by Ian himself! Which is hilarious the reasoning this kid comes with. This kid is smart! They are at times, short of money, have a strange guy in a similar car following them around, a former boyfriend shows up for part of the road trip, they eat candy bars and sleep in cut rate hotels to avoid the public eye or suspicion. They are on the run. Lucy knows this is all not a good idea and has heavy guilt but knows this could all end badly for her and Ian. She could well be put in jail for kidnapping. And what about Ian? She does not want him to suffer.

Alas, you really must read the book to work out all the details, from beginning to end, which is quite amusing and yet a bit sad.

A very unusual, and adorable read (because of Ian’s well done character) of which I’m rating it 3.5 stars. The friendship and bond between these two characters and books and libraries was something very special to read about and witness.
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May 30, 2018 Wanda rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018, libraries-museums-archives, public-library, female-authors

I’m not sure yet why I didn’t love this book as much as I expected to. Perhaps it’s because I never have read Mary Norton’s The Borrowers , and therefore couldn’t appreciate the parallels that Makkai was making.

The main character, Lucy Hull, is a children’s librarian, who becomes overly concerned with the welfare of her favourite library patron, Ian Drake. Being in library work myself, I usually adore books involving libraries and librarians. This one also references many books of childhood, ano ...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Caren rated it it was ok

Shelves: adult-fiction

I wanted to read this book because the blurb said it was about a children's librarian. Well, that wasn't exactly true. The protagonist is a twenty-something college grad who happens to work in the children's section of a small town library, but she has not actually had any professional training (no masters degree, in other words).I couldn't see that she had had any prior experience of any kind with children, so one wonders how she landed this job. (There must have been a dearth of applicants and ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Paula Lyle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

A librarian and a boy on the run. When I read the reviews on this book, they all seemed to imply a lighthearted caper, which confused me as it also seemed to be about a librarian who kidnaps a child. Now having finished it, I didn't find the book to be very light-hearted and it's not about a kidnapping. You can quibble about whether or not the story is realistic, but the deeper truth is one that anyone who works with children (I teach second grade) can identify with.

There are children that you w ...more

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May 08, 2012 Kassel rated it it was ok

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 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. ...more

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Apr 29, 2014 Vonia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites, libraries, books-about-books, unexpectedly-funny, child-s-perspective, adventure, debut-novel

Where to begin? I loved it! Makkai & I would, no doubt, have been kindred spirits in grade school, reading at recess, going to the library after school, hiding by the night light after hours... Every single time I believed The Borrower could not be more reflective of my childhood reads, another of my favorite titles was mentioned. On page 275, when William DuBois's The 21 Balloons was finally mentioned, I am almost embarrassed to admit how estatic I was. Almost. There are only two titles to whic ...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Larry H rated it it was amazing

Boy, did I love this book.

Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri. In general, she lacks drive—she keeps doing her job because she enjoys it but she doesn't really want to pursue anything else, she keeps personal relationships at arm's length, and she doesn't care that her life is fairly boring. But all that changes as she deals with one of the library's most voracious readers, 10-year-old Ian Drake. When Ian's evangelical mother tells Lucy she only wants Ian reading books tha Boy, did I love this book.

Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri. In general, she lacks drive—she keeps doing her job because she enjoys it but she doesn't really want to pursue anything else, she keeps personal relationships at arm's length, and she doesn't care that her life is fairly boring. But all that changes as she deals with one of the library's most voracious readers, 10-year-old Ian Drake. When Ian's evangelical mother tells Lucy she only wants Ian reading books that contain "the breath of God" in them, as well as those that focus on stereotypically masculine characters and don't include magic or fantasy, Lucy helps Ian check out the "forbidden" books in secret. And when Lucy finds out that Ian's parents are sending him to religious classes in order to cure him of any potential SSAD (same-sex attraction disorder) when he gets older, she doesn't know how to help him.

One morning she arrives at the library to find Ian camped out, with a knapsack of provisions (including his pool pass if he needs to show identification). Somehow he part-convinces, part-threatens Lucy to take him on a road trip, and Lucy sees this as an opportunity to free Ian of the restrictions being placed upon him by his mother. Yet the road trip, like much of Lucy's life, doesn't have much of a plan, and Ian starts trying to lead her all over the country. They head from Hannibal through Chicago, to Pittsburgh and Vermont, as Lucy tries to rationalize her actions and draw Ian into telling her he needs her help. And along the way, Lucy learns a little bit more about herself and her family, which she has always kept a distance from, and how what you think is the truth is never quite absolutely true.

While clearly implausible in many ways, this was a terrific story. It had the potential to be preachy but it skated around the controversial issues fairly well. And while I felt that Rebecca Makkai made Lucy's Russian family and friends seem a bit stereotypical, I felt that the rest of the characters in this book were unique, complex and fallible—you wanted to know their story and you grew to care about them even if you didn't like them 100 percent. I would have liked to have known what happened to Ian as he grew up, even though that might have killed some of the book's magic, but overall, I really, really enjoyed this. Any book about the love of books does right by me. ...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Cody rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In general: I really enjoyed Rebecca Makkai's style of writing. She did not follow the main-stream, continuous, and often stuffy structure. Instead, she opted for a more stream of consciousness set-up that established a more direct connection with me. Breaking away from the narrative to inject humor and wit by adding lists and diagrams absolutely cracked me up. I very much look forward to reading her upcoming work as I honestly felt connected and engaged to her as an author.

Subject matter: It w ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Bonnie G. rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbt-and-gender, audiobooks, literary-fiction, midwest

I loved that this truly served as a tribute to my favorite children's books, many of which involved children hitting the road, escaping parents who were disconnected, or cruel, or who simply didn't understand them. The "kids on their own" trope, whether in the Mixed up Files or Harry Potter or the many other books that employed it, is magical. Less magical is the kid with an adult accomplice spiriting him around in order to try to outrun her own discontent and alleviate her ridiculous boredom. ( ...more

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Aug 16, 2015 Sherry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-this-year

I haven't written a review until now because I was completely awe struck by this novel. An unlikely pair - a young librarian and a ten year old boy - take a road trip that will change their lives. The story is an unusual mix of the serious as well as humorous ways our past shapes our present as well as a hopeful glimpse into the future. I adored this book. ...more

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Mar 24, 2017 Bill Khaemba rated it really liked it

Shelves: highly-rated-books, humor, contemporary-adult-realism

Oh my God this was really good... I didn't expect to like that much :0 Full Review Soon ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Vicki rated it really liked it

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 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. ...more

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Jul 26, 2014 Nigel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I confess I wasn't sure how a story about a librarian who effectively shelters a runaway 10 year old and then goes on a road trip with him was going to work. However it grabbed me very early on and lasted well for me. The engaging story of the road trip taken by these two book lovers is lovely. It is s gentle story wandering around parts of the USA with Lucy (the librarian) questioning herself deeply about why she has effectively abducted Ian and although that concept of gentleness and deep ques ...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Holly rated it really liked it

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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Oct 06, 2012 Blair rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, 2011-release, read-on-kindle

Now and again, in between all the new books I read, I try to pick something older off my long-suffering to-read pile. I was quite surprised when I glanced over the blurb for The Borrower and found it described as 'delightful, funny and moving'. Somehow, in the five years it's been hovering around the fringes of my reading plan, I'd formed an impression of it as a dark story with transgressive elements. And the opening chapters only added to that – the first line is 'I might be the villain of thi Now and again, in between all the new books I read, I try to pick something older off my long-suffering to-read pile. I was quite surprised when I glanced over the blurb for The Borrower and found it described as 'delightful, funny and moving'. Somehow, in the five years it's been hovering around the fringes of my reading plan, I'd formed an impression of it as a dark story with transgressive elements. And the opening chapters only added to that – the first line is 'I might be the villain of this story'; immediately afterwards, the narrator compares herself to Humbert Humbert. This dramatic voice is, however, not sustained, and gives way to a softer tale of unlikely friendships and quirky misadventures.

The Borrower was Rebecca Makkai's first novel. Its central character is Lucy Hull, a twentysomething children's librarian in a small Missouri town: 'I was four years out of college, had started biting my nails again, and was down to two adult friends.' Story Hour is the highlight of her job, and her favourite regular is Ian Drake, an enthusiastically bookish ten-year-old with a wild imagination. The trouble begins when Ian's evangelical mother comes to the library with a long list of themes he is not allowed to read about, including the likes of wizards, Halloween and evolution. Later, Lucy discovers Ian's family have also enrolled him in Bible classes run by a pastor notorious for his attempts to 'cure' what he calls 'Same-Sex Attraction Disorder'. When Ian runs away, Lucy attempts to take him home, but he misdirects her, and what unfolds after that is a sort of inadvertent kidnapping.

There is something of the zany comedy about this novel, what with the eccentric Russian relatives, Lucy's cornball boyfriend turning up during the middle of the kidnapping-cum-road-trip, and the odd-couple bond between Lucy and Ian. The dichotomy between tone (touching, comic) and actual plot (adult taking someone else's child on the run) makes the narrative feel uneven; with that said, I found it very involving. A prologue that seems to give away the ending is often an irritating thing, but in this case it adds to the intrigue. I couldn't see how the scenario could possibly play out without Lucy ending up in prison, yet the prologue suggests she is indeed free – and still working as a librarian.

While certainly not as good as Makkai's The Hundred Year House or her short story collection Music for Wartime, The Borrower is an entertaining novel, a story that keeps sparking interest without ever quite catching fire. There's also a deep, dark streak running through it – perhaps it's telling that the book it most reminded me of was the much more disturbing Lamb. And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the twee ending, wrapped up in a neat message about the power of reading, doesn't fit with the rest of the story at all.

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About Rebecca Makkai

Rebecca Makkai

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"Rebecca Makkai is the author of the short story collection MUSIC FOR WARITIME (Viking, 2015) and the novels THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE and THE BORROWER. Her short stories have appeared in four consecutive issues of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES (2008-2011). She lives in Chicago and Vermont." ...more

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“I might be the villain of this story.” — 47 likes

“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.” — 38 likes

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