The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

 

On face value, The Borrower is a story about a librarian, a small boy and the primacy of the written word; on second thought it is a political satire, but of individual governance rather than the state. Makkai is a lauded short story writer who applies her tricks to her first novel: the first page snatches your heart and while the intensity lessens over the following pages, the rest of the story keeps you stuck in a balanced moment. The story is populated with larger than life, farcical characters who all serve satirical purposes. These include Lucy the librarian who embodies an unengaged twenty-something, unchallenged to such an extent that she stages her own personal revolution out of boredom. The first half recounts events preceding the 'borrowing'; the moment when Lucy, under duress from the boy, effectively kidnaps him. The second half is, naturally, full of bad decisions, the kind we rationalise in moments of desperation and which only trigger more. Although a seeming death spiral, in what follows all of the action without consequence. It is a neat commentary on the tenets that govern us but because consequences aren’t meted out, the fairytale ending makes it a slightly trivial read. [Renée Rowland]