The Borrower (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Lucy Hull: young Hannibal, Missouri children's librarian. Mount Holyoke grad with a degree in English. Supporter of First Amendment - Freedom of Speech. Apartment above a theater two towns north of Hannibal
• Loraine Best: Head librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, a drinker
• Ian Drake: An over-programmed 10 year old avid reader with very strict Fundamentalist parents, everyone assumes that Ian is gay--except he has shown no interest in females. Bright and troubled.
• Janet Marcus Drake: Ian's over-bearing, controlling mother who wishes to censor his reading and include more books with the "breath of God" in them
• Mr. Rocky Watlers: wheel-chair bound co-worker at the Hannibal library.
• Glenn: pianist at library fund raiser, percussionist with St, Louis Symphony and composer attracted to Lucy
• Paster Bob Lawson: A former homosexual, now married with children and the founder of Glad Heart Ministries - dedicated to the rehabilitation of sexually confused brothers and sisters in Christ
• Sophie Bennett: 4th grade teacher and friend of Lucy's, she has Ian in her class at school.
• Tim: Lucy's homosexual landlord. Partner is Lenny. Artistic director of theater two town's north of Hannibal, with apartments above the theater
• Lenny: Tim's partner, non-actor
• Sonya: Ian's babysitter - a Filipina woman with a five year old daughter
• Mr. and Mrs. Leo Labaznikov: former Russian friends of Lucy's father, lives in Pittsburgh and raises ferrets.
• Roald Dahl: Author of many beloved children's books
• Mr. Hull: Lucy's father, a Russian immigrant whose name was shortened from Hulkinov to Hull. Wife is an American Jew. Quasi Chicago Russian Mafia/ black marketeer
• Janna Glass: Add a description of this character.
• Alexei Andreev, a.k.a. "Mr. Shades"

Quotes edit see section history

• “Before all this began, I told Rocky that one day I'd arrange all my books by main character, down through the alphabet. I realize now where I'd be: Hull, snug between Huck and Humbert. But really I should file it under Drake, for Ian, for the boy I stole, because regardless of who the villain is, I'm not the hero of this story,”

  Lucy Hull

• “(In a library in Missouri that was covered with vines - Lived Thousands of books in hundreds of straight lines - A boy came in at half past nine every Saturday, rain or shine - His book selections were clan-des-tine.)”

• “I refused to have bookshelves, horrified that I'd feel compelled to organize the books in some regimented system–Dewey or alphabetical or worse≠ and so the books lived in stacks, some as tall as me, in the most subjective order I could invent.Thus Nabokov lived between Gogol and Hemingway, cradled between the Old World and the New; Willa Cather and Theodore Dreiser and Thomas hardy were stacked together not for their chronological proximity, but because they all reminded me in some way of dryness (though in Dreiser's case I think I mostly focused on his name.; George Eliot and Jane Austen shared a stack with Thackeray because all I had of his was Vanity Fair and I thought Becky Sharp would do best in the presence of ladies (and down deep I worried that if I put her next to David Copperfield, she might seduce him).”

  Lucy Hull

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Vermont: Green Mountain State
• Chicago: Where Lucy's parent's live and she grew up
• Hannibal, MO: Small town where the story is set
• Russia: Where Lucy's father immigrated from
• Canada: Across our Northern border
• Pittsburgh PA: Where Lucy's father's friends the Labaznikovs live.
• St. Louis, MO.
• Ohio
• Siberia: eastern part of Russia - cold and desolate
• New York
• Burlington: One of largest cities in Vermont. Located on Lake Champlain
• St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia
• Hawaii
• Cleveland, Ohio

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Freedom of Speech: Guaranteed by the first amendment, freedom of speech also includes freedom to read, and librarians should oppose censorship. Patrons should be able to check out any and all materials. One patron should not be able to have materials removed from a library or restrict the availability of those materials to other patrons because of the narrow confines of their own thoughts and sensibilities. Parents may restrict what their own minor children may read, but may not require a librarian to restrict patrons from use of materials.
• Homosexuality: Same Sex attractions are a focus in this book as parents of strict religious beliefs try to "reprogram" their child from what they feel may be his latent homosexual tendencies.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Rebecca Makkai (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3613.A36B67 2011
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

There is no observed homosexuality in this book, only comments about who may or may not be homosexual. The conflict between homosexuality and leading a Christian, God-fearing, family centered life is a problem for some of the characters.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary