Borderliners

Rating:
Summary: A haunting and beautifully-written Hoeg masterpiece
Review: Fourteen-year-old Peter Hoeg is a "misfit," a "borderliner" who doesn't fit in with what society deems his "normal" peers. Children like Peter require special "treatment" which can only be adequately rendered in special types of institutions where brutal stringencies are enforced. Thus, Peter spends much of his young life being shuffled from one orphanage to another. He ultimately winds up at the Biehl Academy, a monstrosity of an institution. There he becomes subjected to the harsh rules and regulations which outline the secret experimentations being conducted there--
all for his own good, mind you. At Biehl, Peter becomes involved with Katarina and August, two other "misfit borderliners" who are being guinea-pigged there under the guise of rehabilitation. Despite the academy's strict protocol, which forcefully discourages socialization among the three, Peter, Katarina, and August clandestinely form a tight-knit friendship which will defy the academy's administrators. Together, under the watchful, reprimanding eyes of their "captives," the three children embark on a strategic plan to escape the insufferable conditions in
which they live, only to meet up with an unexpected and
horrifying tragedy.

Hoeg's first novel, "Smilla's Sense of Snow," helped to underline my suspicions that this, too, would be a fantastic novel. And my hunch was right on target. "Borderliners" is another
beautifully-written Hoeg masterpiece!

It's only rare that a writer can so masterfully create on paper characters so believably real that it feels as if you've known them all your life. I could almost reach out and touch Hoeg's children as if they were sitting right here beside me. And never before have I been so poignantly touched by the emotional pains residing inside of a child's heart. Hoeg brilliantly illustrates the full gamut of emotions exerienced by the orphans--their pains and their struggles, their hopes and dreams. I actually cried at certain parts in the book.

It's obvious the amount of research Hoeg puts into his novels. While snow and ice set the theme for "Smilla's Sense of Snow," the subject of time prevails in "Borderliners." It mustn't be easy trying to weave such complex strands of non-fiction into the work of an "autobiographical" thriller, yet Hoeg blends the two genres quite amicably.

One complaint I have with this book, however, is Hoeg's incessant rambling in Part 3 about the concepts of time. Though his thoughtful discussions on linear and circular time is bound to titillate the interest of any fan of philosophy, I personally
think the book could have done without most of its discussion. But having said this, one must take into consideration that Hoeg's style of writing dictates overly-descriptive passages-- that's just the way he writes and you either like it or you don't.

This book is a must for anyone interested in the problems created by social reform and child abuse. "Borderliners" is an accurate depiction of what happens when meddling authorities attempt to control and manipulate human behavior. Two thumbs up for this outstanding book!

Rating:
Summary: Smilla to Smelly in one book
Review: How could Hoeg have been so good and so bad? Talk about Sophomore jinx. This book is terrible

Rating:
Summary: This book is a gift.
Review: I am a psychotherapist who has worked with abused children and Adolescents. Borderliners has given them, and myself, a voice.

I Have had this book for years, and just read it for the third time. Hoeg writes as he describes a favorite author, "You have read what they have written, and it is like a friend reaching out to you" This was my experience with "Borderliners". A true rare gift, teaching the reader ways to experience the richness of life. Thank You.

Rating:
Summary: well-intentioned rambling doesn't quite hit the mark
Review: I didn't really like Smilla either so I am not sure why I even read this book. The jacket hails it as "gripping" and "disturbing", but I found myself wondering from page to page why Hoeg was taking himself so very seriously with his hit and miss philosophical discussions of time. I went through periods of thinking that he was hitting on something very profound, but in the end felt myself wading in pretty shallow waters. Not a total waste of time, however - some interesting characters and a pretty addictive plot. I was just put off by his rambling discussions of a topic that he should have either put a LOT more thought into, or left out completely

Rating:
Summary: This analysis of time haunts you long after reading.
Review: I found this book profoundly moving. I could read it only in short spurts after which I had to digest what I had read. If you have ever thought about the objective and subjective aspects ot time, this is a must read. Arnold Langberg 156 Green Road Bolton, MA 01740-1026 508-779-6630 [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: ....
Review: I mark the passages of books that I find beautiful- most books it's about 5/6 pages total- this book, it's whole chapters- what wonderful poetry!

Rating:
Summary: a must-read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Smilla but Borderliners is even better. An incredible book.

Rating:
Summary: If you were a paranoid, obsessive teen, this is your story
Review: I'd really like to dismiss this book as being badly written, poorly plotted, and depressing, but I won't. It is dark, weird, and confusing, but that's not all it is. In "Borderliners", Peter Hoeg has absolutely captured the rush and the crush of adolescence, with its attendant aching, uncertainty, and urgency. The twist in this story, and what is likely to frustrate many readers, is Hoeg's use of time as a plot device. The characters, teenagers in a mindnumbingly banal but wickedly punitive correctional boarding school, discover an ability to manipulate the passage of time, which both benefits them, and subjugates them further to authority. Repeatedly, Hoeg deviates into long-winded passages about the philosophy of time, which do nothing to advance the story, and only served to irk me. I didn't like it, but if you were a paranoid, obsessive teenager, and enjoy revisiting your adolescent angst, "Borderliners" is your story, and you're welcome to it.

Rating:
Summary: Move Over, Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn - WAY Over!!!
Review: I'm a real lover of the beautiful, relevant, humorous, sad, life-affirming, society-condemning literary landscape that J.D. Salinger blessed all of us come-of-agers with in "The Catcher in the Rye". Thus, I felt no book could ever improve upon that classic description of how society and the adult world tries to shape, cramp, distort, and ultimately, destroy all the innocence, goodness and yearning for nobility inherent in the young. Amazingly, Peter Hoeg has done it with this heartbreaking tale of innocence and goodness trampled upon,this dead-on treatise on how children bend and manipulate their perception of time in the desperate hope of both surviving this adult-dominated world which would crush their spirit, and also to hold on high that which sustains hope and optimism, and allows some semblance of goodness to survive. As I made my way through this superb "autobiographical" narrative, I experienced a range of intense emotions that a book has not elicited in me for quite some time. Anyone who believes in the triumph of innocence and the power of the heart to heal life's wounds will love this book. The best way I can think of to sum up this review is to share with you what I've been telling friends and acquaintances to whom I've passionately recommended this novel: College literature courses of our day are built around, among other things, the study of the timeless, enduring "masters" like Conrad, Melville, Hawthorne, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if I live to see entire courses in years to come devoted to the study of Mr. Hoeg's eloquent, powerful, and universal prose. How many authors are good enough to rate that kind of treatment?? An enthusiastic 10 for a beautiful, haunting, emotionally devastating book!!

Rating:
Summary: Psycosociological approach to childhood
Review: I've been reading this book with an unusual interest cause normally books concerning sociological and psycological issues like the integration of children with problems in our "normal society" , are not easy to read . This one pushes you to the end getting into the problem , making yourself asking who is really the "normal" and what is the meaning of time and education . 8/10