- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Delta (Nov 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385315082
- ISBN-13: 978-0385315081
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,692,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Borderliners (Harvill Panther)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A disturbing, often brutal book, which stretches the limits of literary thriller as it challenges our notions of education and childhood.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although this story is more than a rebellion against the system, Peter Hoeg's tender account of life in the Danish Care system thirty years ago is a stunning and emotional journey. The three main characters are not just rebelling against the system, but are fighting everything, even time itself.
Hoeg is one of those writers who seems to capture moments that we all understand and have experienced and uses them to take us into situations that we could never understand or experience.
This is one of the few books that has actually made me cry. The three main characters (all children) are sensitvely written, and the language is so beautiful that you want to wash it around your mouth like a good wine.
Please read this book, it is wonderful, especially as an introduction to Peter Hoeg's writing. I cannot recommend this book more highly.
Format:Paperback
I read this having enjoyed Miss Smilla. This book is less accessible and, frankly, less enjoyable although it too demonstrates the author's talent for creating a lingering atmosphere of inner tension. The central theme of time, its place in the psyche and its use as a control mechanism in the children's institution described in the book is a fascinating one. The title "Borderliners" (applied to the children in the institution) might just as well be applied to the institution's staff, who also teeter at the brink of the world of the socially acceptable. It causes us to reflect upon the sometimes corrupting influence that institutional life can have on its staff, and the fact that undeniably shocking outcomes have ensued from the actions of those who have come to accept that they (or the system within which they work) must necessarily be acting in others' best interests. Most readers will have experienced some kind of institutional setting even if only as children at a regular school, and will therefore probably find that the book evokes many memories and calls into question many aspects of institutional life that are taken for granted, even in the "nice" places. For those with deeper experience, the book may well be a more disturbing read altogether. Unfortunately, what the book lacks is the "riveting read" factor. It's not bad, but the underlying plot for me was not quite strong enough to hold together the more philosophical musings of the book in a way which retained my attention throughout. Nonetheless as an "ideas" book, it is well worth a read. A word of warning: it isn't particularly cheerful reading as you will have gathered from the descriptions of the plot in other reviews - so don't save it for a day when you're looking forward to a cosy read on the sofa!
Format:Paperback
Peter Hoeg was born in Copenhagen in 1957, and - despite graduation with a MA in Literature in 1984 - tried a variety of professions before settling on writing. Borderliners is his third novel, and was first published in 1993.
The book is narrated by Peter - now grown up and looking back on his schooldays. Peter was an orphan, and had spent a significant part of his life in state institutions like Himmelbjerg House and the Royal Orphanage. His life there had been anything bit easy and an escape came with his admission to Biehl's Academy. (They occasionally gave places to orphans with "behavioural dificulties"). For his first two years there, things seem to have went well : apparently, he had no significant problems, either socially or academically. Then, in 1971, things started to change...he started to have trouble with his sleeping, which in turn led to trouble with his timekeeping. His tardiness saw him strike up a friendship with Katarina, another latecomer. Katarina was two classes ahead of him, and had previously been missing from school for six months. (It turns out both her parents had died over that period - leaving her, like Peter, an orphan, traumatised and an "outsider". Like Peter, she's developed an interest in the passing of time and how it's perceived). However, the friendship appears to be frowned upon by the powers-that-be. For some reason, they seem to discourage pupils from different year groups mixing - and it's very difficult to escape staff supervision. Things become more difficult with August's arrival - another pupil with a difficult background. Even allowing for the Academy's record of occasionally admitting pupils from a difficult background, August just doesn't appear to fit. He struggles with the work and his behaviour sometimes borders on the extreme. He has a rather suspect memory and it's not clear how much of his parent's abuse he remembers . (He certainly doesn't appear to remember killing them). However, the three soon suspect there's something suspicious going on at the school - something that has allowed for them all to be there...
Among Peter's difficulties is his obsession with time - something that's reinforced by the regimented lifestyle at school. In all honesty, however, I could have done with less of his musings about time - and a little more about the book's key people. There is something of a twist towards the book's end...something that left me with a couple of (frustratingly unanswered) questions. Meanwhile, some of the language - especially early in the book - was a little too stilted and formal. ("One had no contact with the other classes...", for example. I think I picked up on the reason for it, but I didn't find it entirely convincing). Nevertheless, it's a book that's well worth reading on the whole, and I'll certainly be trying more by Hoeg.
The book is narrated by Peter - now grown up and looking back on his schooldays. Peter was an orphan, and had spent a significant part of his life in state institutions like Himmelbjerg House and the Royal Orphanage. His life there had been anything bit easy and an escape came with his admission to Biehl's Academy. (They occasionally gave places to orphans with "behavioural dificulties"). For his first two years there, things seem to have went well : apparently, he had no significant problems, either socially or academically. Then, in 1971, things started to change...he started to have trouble with his sleeping, which in turn led to trouble with his timekeeping. His tardiness saw him strike up a friendship with Katarina, another latecomer. Katarina was two classes ahead of him, and had previously been missing from school for six months. (It turns out both her parents had died over that period - leaving her, like Peter, an orphan, traumatised and an "outsider". Like Peter, she's developed an interest in the passing of time and how it's perceived). However, the friendship appears to be frowned upon by the powers-that-be. For some reason, they seem to discourage pupils from different year groups mixing - and it's very difficult to escape staff supervision. Things become more difficult with August's arrival - another pupil with a difficult background. Even allowing for the Academy's record of occasionally admitting pupils from a difficult background, August just doesn't appear to fit. He struggles with the work and his behaviour sometimes borders on the extreme. He has a rather suspect memory and it's not clear how much of his parent's abuse he remembers . (He certainly doesn't appear to remember killing them). However, the three soon suspect there's something suspicious going on at the school - something that has allowed for them all to be there...
Among Peter's difficulties is his obsession with time - something that's reinforced by the regimented lifestyle at school. In all honesty, however, I could have done with less of his musings about time - and a little more about the book's key people. There is something of a twist towards the book's end...something that left me with a couple of (frustratingly unanswered) questions. Meanwhile, some of the language - especially early in the book - was a little too stilted and formal. ("One had no contact with the other classes...", for example. I think I picked up on the reason for it, but I didn't find it entirely convincing). Nevertheless, it's a book that's well worth reading on the whole, and I'll certainly be trying more by Hoeg.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What do you want from a book?
Good story but very emotionally difficult to read in places. If you are expecting more of Smilla you'll be disappointed but if you just want a strange story - read on.
Published on 26 Jan 2010 by Gerard Dagnall
Synopsis
Peter, Katarina, August - three emotionally damaged children in Biehl's experimental school - were all borderliners, that is, they were under assessment by the authorities to... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2007 by Mary_10
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