The Borrower reviewed in The New York Times, 6/16/11
“[
The Borrower is] an appealing, nonromantic love story about an unexpected pairing — and a surprisingly moving one.” (more)
Reviews
[tk] reviews Praises The Borrower
[tk] reviews calls The Borrower “deliciously inquisitive,” and goes on to say that “Makkai draws a pale, fine line between the narrator and her ward, and what keeps you hooked by the story is bewilderment at who, if anyone, is in charge.”
The Daily Clue calls The Borrower “Light enough for the beach, but whip-smart”
Natalie Danford reviews The Borrower at The Daily Clue, saying it “hits the sweet spot where compulsively readable and emotionally engaging intersect.”
The Borrower in O Magazine!
The July issue of O Magazine, on stands now, asks, “How could any reader of any age resist Rebecca Makkai’s charming The Borrower?”
More features will be available on the Oprah Magazine iPad app, including an excerpt!
BookPage Reviews The Borrower
The Borrower gets a lovely and generous review in BookPage: “It may seem inappropriate to call a novel involving a kidnapping heartwarming, but that’s exactly what The Borrower manages to be.” Read the full online version here!
The Borrower in Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping briefly reviews The Borrower in their June issue, out now, calling it “a delightfully quirky debut.” Click here to read the online version. (Comments from those who know me about the irony of my name appearing in a magazine called Good Housekeeping will be indignantly ignored.)
The Last Book I Read reviews The Borrower →
This is not coming out until June, so put it on your to read list!
The Book Frog reviews The Borrower →
The Borrower is a book for readers, for lovers of personal freedom and the beauty of being oneself, whoever that self may be. If you get all the book references (“Where’s Papa going with that ax? said Fern”), then so much the better, but you’ll enjoy this wonderful novel either way.
- Tiffany Baker, author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen CountyAn electrifying debut about the moral choices we’re confronted with in today’s America. Uproariously funny, but with a bittersweet core, Makkai’s voice is so assured and lovely, she had me hooked by the end of her first paragraph and quite sorry to come to the end of her last one.”—
- Booklist (starred review)An accomplished short-story writer, Makkai has written a splendid first novel that cleverly weaves telling references to children’s books into her whimsically patchwork plot. Larger-than-life characters and an element of the picaresque add to the book’s delights. Best of all, however, is Lucy’s absolutely unshakable faith in the power of books to save. From her lips, readers, to God’s ear.
