recri reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
I just don't like Jeff's books.
I just don't like Jeff's books.
323 pages
English language
Published July 15, 2017 by MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Borne
In a ruined, nameless city of the future, a woman named Rachel, who makes her living as a scavenger, finds a creature she names “Borne” entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic, despotic bear. Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.
At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.
Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She …
In a ruined, nameless city of the future, a woman named Rachel, who makes her living as a scavenger, finds a creature she names “Borne” entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic, despotic bear. Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.
At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.
Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.
Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.
Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,” a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?
GG reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Post-apocalyptic novels are a dime a dozen these days, but the lyrically bizarre world created by Vandermeer makes this one worth reading. For my book club friends who liked "The Book of Strange New Things" by Michael Faber, which we read a few years ago, this is similar in tone. Vandermeer's beautifully-written prose and the focus on the relationship of the characters at the heart of the story elevates this above typical sci-fi, and the mystery of where the characters came from and what will happen to their ruined city makes it hard to put down.
Post-apocalyptic novels are a dime a dozen these days, but the lyrically bizarre world created by Vandermeer makes this one worth reading. For my book club friends who liked "The Book of Strange New Things" by Michael Faber, which we read a few years ago, this is similar in tone. Vandermeer's beautifully-written prose and the focus on the relationship of the characters at the heart of the story elevates this above typical sci-fi, and the mystery of where the characters came from and what will happen to their ruined city makes it hard to put down.
Julien Martlet reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Shawn Towner reviewed BORNE- HB by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'BORNE- HB' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
There are parts of this book that are absolutely amazing, usually the more actiony sequences. Although I admire VanderMeer's melding of character-driven literary fiction and dystopian sci-fi, I'd really love to see him write a more traditional genre novel. I think it would be fantastic.
My struggle in reading and fully enjoying this novel came from the main character, Rachel. Rachel is a scavenger, scouring a dangerous wasteland for anything that will help her and her boyfriend Wick survive a little while longer. My problem with Rachel is that she is the most boring character in the book. Wick is a brooding and secretive bio-engineer/drug dealer. Rachel has a sentient shape-shifting plant thing named Borne. A giant flying murderous bear is battling a magician for control of the wasteland. The bear has even more murderous little bears and the magician has equally murderous modified children fighting for her. There's also …
There are parts of this book that are absolutely amazing, usually the more actiony sequences. Although I admire VanderMeer's melding of character-driven literary fiction and dystopian sci-fi, I'd really love to see him write a more traditional genre novel. I think it would be fantastic.
My struggle in reading and fully enjoying this novel came from the main character, Rachel. Rachel is a scavenger, scouring a dangerous wasteland for anything that will help her and her boyfriend Wick survive a little while longer. My problem with Rachel is that she is the most boring character in the book. Wick is a brooding and secretive bio-engineer/drug dealer. Rachel has a sentient shape-shifting plant thing named Borne. A giant flying murderous bear is battling a magician for control of the wasteland. The bear has even more murderous little bears and the magician has equally murderous modified children fighting for her. There's also a mysterious Company, the presumptive source of the apocalypse that led to this post-apocalyptic wasteland. But most of the novel focuses on Rachel and her attempts to act as a sort of parent to Borne.
I hate to say it, but I think I would have enjoyed this novel more if it had featured the alternating point of view structure (the Gone Girl, if you will) that I am otherwise growing tired of because ever other book is using it. I wanted to see more of the world of the novel, more of the giant murderous bear, more of the magician. But Rachel spends a great deal of the novel hiding in her apartment. This is perfectly understandable and believable (THERE'S A GIANT BEAR FLYING AROUND!), but it left me wanting more (HOW CAN THE GIANT BEAR FLY!?!)
Zivan reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
What if The Blob had a mother
Maika reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Some books read too quickly. Or is it that some books end too soon? One hopes that an author gives us only as much story as they need to tell their tale, simply because extra might detract from the quality of the plot. But with my favorite books I wish I could pause the tale to spend more time with the characters and explore their world like the sandbox of a video game. Such was the case with Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach Trilogy. That spellbinding series was very much about an uncanny place and how the people who encountered it were affected by it. And now the same is true for me once again with VanderMeer’s latest novel, Borne, which is instead about people, animals, personhood, and how one’s identity is affected by trauma. It’s about survival in a post-apocalyptic world forever altered by advancements in biotechnology. Here all …
Some books read too quickly. Or is it that some books end too soon? One hopes that an author gives us only as much story as they need to tell their tale, simply because extra might detract from the quality of the plot. But with my favorite books I wish I could pause the tale to spend more time with the characters and explore their world like the sandbox of a video game. Such was the case with Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach Trilogy. That spellbinding series was very much about an uncanny place and how the people who encountered it were affected by it. And now the same is true for me once again with VanderMeer’s latest novel, Borne, which is instead about people, animals, personhood, and how one’s identity is affected by trauma. It’s about survival in a post-apocalyptic world forever altered by advancements in biotechnology. Here all survivors have become scavengers among the ruins of a city now ruled by a tyrant in the form of a gigantic flying bear named Mord (which sounds incredibly silly but is actually anything but). Here technology masquerades as life and the line between technology and life increasingly blurs. Borne is a post-apocalyptic, weird, science fiction fable. It’s relentlessly creative, fascinating, and poignant. I kept trying to slow down while I read it, but the end arrived all the same. And just like it did for me, Borne will break your heart, as only the best books can: beautifully.
markm reviewed Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Borne' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I am a fan of the author, this is a good story, and VanderMeer should be just the guy to handle post-apocalyptic biotech, but I didn't think the story moved well with VanderMeer-sentences hanging on it.
I am a fan of the author, this is a good story, and VanderMeer should be just the guy to handle post-apocalyptic biotech, but I didn't think the story moved well with VanderMeer-sentences hanging on it.
