Borne: A Novel

On one level, this is a brilliant work of speculative fiction, describing a dystopian world (or worlds--we're never sure) ravaged by climate change and the unchecked development of biotechnology. Rachel, the narrator, recalls her childhood, most of which she spent as a refugee after her island home succumbed to rising seas. Somehow—she can't remember how—she loses her parents and ends up in a poisoned, devastated city where she has to eke out a living as a scavenger. You have to employ a willing suspension of disbelief. The most destructive of the biotech is Mord, a building-sized, flying bear who tyrannizes the city. The title character is a talking, shape-shifting, self-reflective, hilarious squid-like creature. They work because of VanderMeer's skill at world building and his humorous touch. On another level, the book is an insightful examination of the motives that build and break relationships: love, trust, jealousy, betrayal, and forgiveness. The emotional center is the relationship between Rachel and Borne. Rachel salvages Borne, finding him matted in Mord’s fur and hiding him under her shirt, where he "beat against [her] chest like a second heart.” Rachel raises Borne, experiencing many of the typical joys and fears of parenting as well as deep uncertainty about Borne’s nature. Their relationship turns into something else, something I can’t quite define, something like friendship, but deeper. When, despite her lessons (or maybe because of them), Borne becomes something other than what she wants, her heart is broken. Prepare yourself to be hard hit emotionally; I cried more than once. I found Rachel's relationship with her partner, Wick, to be less compelling. He is not a likable character, but this isn’t a fault of the writing: Rachel herself often paints him in a less-than-flattering light. Wick’s explanation at the end for much of his behavior—including his jealousy of Borne and betrayal of Rachel—left me cold. I think that's one of VanderMeer's points: expecting people to be as we want them to be is futile. On yet another level, the work is a meditation on the questions that we all want answers to: why are we here? Is each of us unique, and does that mean we are alone? What is our purpose? Do we even have a purpose? What does it mean to be a person, and is that synonymous with being human? Is there sentient life that isn’t human? Why do people commit evil? What becomes of us if we knowingly commit heinous acts just to survive? Where do we go when we die? Much of the emotional resonance comes as Borne grapples with these questions with a child-like simplicity and struggles to be good despite irrefutable evidence of what he is. How he answers at least some of these questions and finds peace … wow. So poignant. Buy this book now and find out for yourself.

If I could describe this book in one word it would be: Bizarre. I want to comment on the genre, because though it is definitely science fiction, I think there's an argument for survival horror in there as well (and I sort of reveled in it). The writing style really clicked with me here. It was both poetic and punchy. It complemented the overall feeling of the book while still being impactful, and I'm really excited to check out this author's other works in the future. The beginning starts tame enough. Just another day in the post-apocalyptic neighborhood, scavenging for biotech. Climbing giant psychotic killer bears and rifling through their stinking blood matted fur. Yes, that's the tame part. Rachel brings home an odd piece of biotech she's never seen before and decides to name it Borne. He's an invertebrate sea anemone type creature who can change shape and size. Her lover and roomie Wick, an ex-biotech scientist and a memory beetle drug dealer, immediately wants to break him down, crack him open and see what's inside. But Rachel likes him. Rachel wants to keep him. Rachel puts him in the window like a decorative plant. This is where the fun begins. Borne was far and away my favorite character here. I loved the way he spoke. I loved the way he learned and grew. I loved that you could never really trust him. I loved that when it came to Borne, Rachel wasn't exactly reliable. She loves him the way any mother loves her child, blindly. I enjoyed Rachel and Wick's characters as well, and I think Vandermeer did an excellent job making them all very human. The story could be slow going at times. The action part of the plot is centered on day to day survival, while in the background the reader has all these mysteries propelling them forward. What is Borne? Can he be trusted? What is happening at the Company? What's wrong with Wick? Why can't Rachel remember what happened to her? The ending is ambiguous and will leave you with questions unanswered and many things to think about. My only real complaint about the book, was that the world that all these characters lived in occasionally felt devoid of other humans. For example, Wick is a drug dealer. He sells memory beetles to people who can't cope with reality and just want to forget, or remember someone else's life instead of their own. I really would have loved for the author to have done something with this concept. The world is filled with monsters galore, but there were no other people (save for one other person, who I won't spoil). I just kept wondering, who is Wick selling all these memory beetles too? Where is everyone else? There is talk of territories between the drug dealers but it never seemed like there would have been enough humans to sell all these biotech drugs to. Overall I enjoyed it. It was unique. It was weird. It was fun. It gave me something to think about. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for something different, a little change in their regularly scheduled programming.

An outstanding novel. A brilliant ending with many plot twists long the way. Pure reading enjoyment from a master story teller.

I don’t find this book to be the original masterpiece that it’s sometimes been made out to be, but it’s worth reading. Some parts are both rather boring and predictable, but others are interesting, exciting and even emotional; as a whole you want to keep reading to find out how it’s all going to end. The authors writing style is easy to read and follow, while retaining an adult voice. The story is a pleasant slow burn that I am unlikely to reread, but it has me curious about the other’s other works, and I will be reading more. The book itself is a standard paperback copy. The pages seem to be glued well, with good thickness to the covers.

I was going to put MY review in here, but I found guidance from amazon on what to write so as amazon proposes- on advising me to write down why I gave it my star ratjng- I reviewed it as five stars because one star signifies immense dislike and five stars signifies like, therefore as I liked it muchly and so gave it five stars, this is why, thanks Amazon. Also as advised by Amazon, 'what I liked about it' was the story, the style, and the characters, generally everything written in the book. And finally as advised by Amazon, 'who' I'd recommend it to, well, Darren of course, and maybe Peter, but Peter doesn't read much, so, maybe just Darren. Thanks Amazon, for advising me on what to write for my book review, look how well it turned out, it really helped me to cut out anything helpful, like the emotions this book brings to the surface, or the really clever subplots outlining our own current state of being, or the way one is left with an... Well, you get the point, maybe advising book lovers how to review books is not really the most sensible thing to do. MAYBE providing advice for all the non book reviewers would be more helpful, as the man said, 'watcha reedin for? - so I don't gots to be a waffle waitress' -Bill Hicks. Great book, read it, but its Sci Fi so be aware of fantastical amazing things along the way.

scrittura ricca, tensione, atmosfera, immaginazione, un ottimo romanzo di fantascienza, mantiene alto il livello di lettura filosofico pur senza arrivare agli eccessi della trilogia dell'area x (secondo me bellissimi, ma per un pubblico meno ampio, credo)

A moving story of love and redemption that keeps revealing itself all the way to the end. I loved this book.