Rebecca Makkai: The Borrower has a captivating premise. A young librarian decides to “rescue” a prepubescent boy who his parents fear is gay. She runs away with him. The parents are not evil (depending on one’s perspective). Their treatment of their son is based on belief, and they don't cross the line, such as withholding food or beating him. Overall, the book reminds me of The Goats by Brock Cole and an episode of Law & Order in which a not entirely stable woman kidnaps a child in foster care to replace the one she lost. On the one hand, the viewer wishes she had succeeded. On the other, people really shouldn’t do that.
Makkai’s book is more about the narrator, the woman, than the boy, or, rather, about how one cannot heroically transform another person’s life through radical action. Consequently, one of the most chilling aspects of the book–which I assume is unintended but perhaps not–is how much the Pastor, who is trying to “fix” the potentially gay kids, sounds like a trans-activist.
Alexander Maksik: A Marker to Measure Drift tells the story of a woman in flight. She is running from trauma (I know this from the dusk jacket). I was reminded, in a way, of My Side of the Mountain–only the event in the book is more unsettled. The book is well-written. It is also written by a writer who attended an academic writers’ workshop, and I’ve begun to recognize the style of writing. That isn’t (necessarily) a criticism, only…it’s a particular style of writing. Every school, every discipline has its own style.
Malamud: I had heard of Malamud but had no idea who Malamud was in terms of time period. Malamud (1914-1986) was contemporary with Flannery O’Connor. I read “Notes from a Lady at a Dinner Party,” and it’s a real short story: crisp language, narrative arc, non-first-person. Not a diary entry. I guess masters are masters for a reason!
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