The Borrower

April 4, 2011
Makkai shows promise in her overworked debut, an occasionally funny crime farce about a hapless librarianâcumâaccidental kidnapper. Lucy Hull is a 26-year-old whose rebellion against her wealthy Russian mafia parents has taken the form of her accepting a children's librarian job in smalltown Missouri. After an unnecessarily long-winded first act, the novel picks up when Lucy discovers her favorite library regular, 10-year-old Ian Drake, hiding out in the stacks one morning after having run away from his evangelical Christian parents, who censor his book choices and are pre-emptively sending him to SSAD (Same-Sex Attraction Disorder) rehab, and Lucy soon aids and abets his escape. The tale of their subsequent jaunt across several state lines dodging cops, a persistent suitor of Lucy's, and a suspicious black-haired pursuer is fast-paced, suspenseful, and thoroughly enjoyableâthe real meat of the book. Unfortunately, the padding around the adventure too often feels like preaching to the choir (censorship is bad, libraries and independent booksellers are good) and the frequent references to children's booksâincluding a "choose-your-own adventure" interludeâquickly go from cute to irritating. There's great potential, but it's buried in unfortunate fluff.

May 1, 2011

A children's librarian in Hannibal, Mo., finds herself on a long, strange trip in Makkai's ruminative first novel.

Lucy Hull feels sorry for Ian Drake, the most devoted attendee of her read-aloud on Friday afternoons. Ian's reading is severely circumscribed by his mother's fundamentalist strictures, which rule out everything from Roald Dahl to Harry Potter. Lucy is further appalled when she learns that Ian—whom everyone assumes is gay, though he's only 10—is forced to attend weekly classes with Pastor Bob, who specializes in rehabilitating "sexually confused brothers and sisters in Christ." So when Lucy finds Ian hiding in the library one morning with a knapsack, she decides to help him run away. They wind up on a meandering journey that passes through her parents' home in Chicago, where Lucy picks up some cash from her father, an affluent Russian immigrant with vaguely unsavory business ties. En route to Vermont, where Ian claims his grandmother lives, Lucy tries to figure out how she got herself into this mess and how she can avoid being arrested as a kidnapper. Makkai takes several risks in her sharp, often witty text, replete with echoes of children's classics from Goodnight Moon to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as well as more ominous references to Lolita. Lucy and Ian don't bond in the warm and fuzzy way of Hollywood movies, and there's no big payoff where he recognizes and renounces his mother's bigoted ways. He remains a smart, difficult kid whose inner thoughts are opaque. This is Lucy's story, and we have known from the opening pages that her road trip will shake her loose from Hannibal; the interest comes from discovering how and why. The novel bogs down for a long time in the middle with an excess of plot, but the moving final chapters affirm the power of books to change people's lives even as they acknowledge the unbreakable bonds of home and family.

Smart, literate and refreshingly unsentimental.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

Children's librarian Lucy Hall adores ten-year-old Ian Drake, her most faithful patron. Still, it's a dilemma when she discovers Ian in the library after hours, all packed up and ready to go; he's running away from his domineering mom and Pastor Bob, whose antigay classes he's forced to take. Soon, Lucy finds herself on a picaresque journey with Ian, as they travel from Missouri to Vermont with a mysterious stranger on their tail. Excellent to have a librarian and a reading-obsessed boy as protagonists, and first novelist Makkai's many stories have won praise. With foreign rights to six countries; definitely a good bet and a good book group pick.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2011
Lucy, a 26-year-old childrens librarian, has a favorite patron, a bright, book-loving 10-year-old named Ian. The trouble is, the boys fundamentalist mother insists he read only books with the breath of God in them. When the parents enroll their son in a behavior-modification program designed to cure him of his nascent homosexuality, the boy runs away, and Lucy decides she must help. Borrowing the boy, Lucy takes Iantwo fugitives nowon the road. But who is really running away? Is it Ian or is it Lucy, replicating the experience of her 'migr' parents, who, years before, had run away from their Russian homeland? And is America, as a friend of Lucys family claims, truly a nation of runaways but with no place left to run? Time (and considerable driving in Lucys ancient car) may tell. An accomplished short story writer, Makkai has written a splendid first novel that cleverly weaves telling references to childrens books into her whimsically patchwork plot. Larger-than-life characters and an element of the picaresque add to the books delights. Best of all, however, is Lucys absolutely unshakable faith in the power of books to save. From her lips, readers, to Gods ear.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2011

A children's librarian in Hannibal, Mo., finds herself on a long, strange trip in Makkai's ruminative first novel.

Lucy Hull feels sorry for Ian Drake, the most devoted attendee of her read-aloud on Friday afternoons. Ian's reading is severely circumscribed by his mother's fundamentalist strictures, which rule out everything from Roald Dahl to Harry Potter. Lucy is further appalled when she learns that Ian--whom everyone assumes is gay, though he's only 10--is forced to attend weekly classes with Pastor Bob, who specializes in rehabilitating "sexually confused brothers and sisters in Christ." So when Lucy finds Ian hiding in the library one morning with a knapsack, she decides to help him run away. They wind up on a meandering journey that passes through her parents' home in Chicago, where Lucy picks up some cash from her father, an affluent Russian immigrant with vaguely unsavory business ties. En route to Vermont, where Ian claims his grandmother lives, Lucy tries to figure out how she got herself into this mess and how she can avoid being arrested as a kidnapper. Makkai takes several risks in her sharp, often witty text, replete with echoes of children's classics from Goodnight Moon to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as well as more ominous references to Lolita. Lucy and Ian don't bond in the warm and fuzzy way of Hollywood movies, and there's no big payoff where he recognizes and renounces his mother's bigoted ways. He remains a smart, difficult kid whose inner thoughts are opaque. This is Lucy's story, and we have known from the opening pages that her road trip will shake her loose from Hannibal; the interest comes from discovering how and why. The novel bogs down for a long time in the middle with an excess of plot, but the moving final chapters affirm the power of books to change people's lives even as they acknowledge the unbreakable bonds of home and family.

Smart, literate and refreshingly unsentimental.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2011

This entertaining first novel reads like a liberal librarian's illicit fantasy--save a child from an overbearing, ultrareligious mother by surreptitiously introducing him to new ideas through great literature. Lucy Hull is a young, accidental children's librarian with few friends. Her one interest is ten-year-old voracious reader Ian, who she predicts will come out one day. Lucy willfully ignores the list of forbidden subjects that Ian's mother presents to her, checking out books for him on her own library card. When Lucy discovers Ian camped out at the library, backpack and getaway plan at the ready, it doesn't take much convincing for her to drive off with him, launching a wacky, aimless cross-country road trip. Lucy is a self-centered, exasperating heroine, but her relationship with Ian is charming and original. VERDICT Librarians may beef that Lucy's reading suggestions and Makkai's descriptions of library practice are not current, but the general public probably won't notice. Overall, a stylish and clever tale for bibliophiles who enjoy authors like Jasper Fforde and Connie Willis. [See Prepub Alert, 12/13/10.]--Christine Perkins, Bellingham P.L., WA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.