Borderliners by Peter Høeg follows three emotionally damaged children in an experimental boarding school in Denmark. They each have been victims of abuse or bereavement - Peter has been abused at different homes, Katarina was recently orphaned and August murdered his parents after years of abuse. They are "borderliners" at Biehl's Academy - outsiders on the edges of a system who are under assessment by the authorities. The aim is to integrate them with "normal" children (under the Darwinian test for the survival of the fittest) or they will be sent to institutions for the mentally defective.

The story is set in the 1970s written from Peter's perspective who remains almost anonymous for the first few chapters. The children are aware of their guinea-pig-like status in the experiment and are determined to defy and expose the brutal device that keeps them trapped in the school. They begin to study Time and its grip on their lives, their laboratory being moments where their sense of time is altered. It becomes a surreal and philosophical read as the history of time is discussed.

Tension grows as they rebellion takes shape and the result is a liberating and intensely sensitive novel.

Those who enjoy suspense will be satisfied with this. I could not put this down.

The characters were great. They were totally believable and complex. Everything was from the point of view of a child outsider looking in. What was really beautiful was that at the end Peter (the character) talks about how he still feels like a child even though it has been over 20 years since he was at Biehl's Academy. I think a lot of people can relate to this - time passes but you essentially are the same person and memories have a profound effect on you.

Peter, Katarina and August become like family since they have no parents or siblings and there is a moving love between them. Peter and Katarina are in love, and they care for August (who is the youngest) as if he were their child. Between them there is the familiar need to understand why bad things happen.

One of the lovely moments in the book is when Peter says you can set yourself free by helping others. As a reader I felt so much for the characters.

Not all the adults are portrayed as abusive. Peter finally is adopted by Karen and Erik Høeg . (this novel is supposed to be semi-autobiographical - the narrator is Peter and he is adopted by people who have the same names as the author's parents - however there has been no definite comment about it from the author).

I also really liked the imagery in the novel. It's quite dark and disturbing. There are these ravens which are discussed by Peter as contradictory in what they symbolise. It's reflective of a system which claims to be helping abused children, but actually brutally oppresses them and denies them the one thing they need: love.

Concerning time, the clock in Borderliners is a metaphor for the accuracy, or inaccuracy, of the universe.

Probably the best thing about the novel is the incredible way it makes points and discusses issues that people ignore. One of the major themes is our notion of time. Katarina says people remember their lives as a time line of events, except for when they are young, and then the past is just a plain of events with no chronological order. This idea is explored further during the parts where Peter is grown up and describes a child he looks after.

Borderliners is just an excellent and shrewd novel that fascinates the reader. I think I like everything about it.

I wanted to read more by Peter Høeg . I've read two other books by him and loved them too. I would read Borderliners again - it is that good.

It touched me and made me wonder if this was autobiographical, and in what way. I wanted to talk about this novel because it's tender, cruel and political.

One critic read the message in Borderliners to demonstrate that "rationalism is essentially a mortal poison". This book clearly has something for every reader.

Peter Høeg is a leading Danish author and he's talked about on the Danish Ambassy's website, although he is really public-shy and has never given any interviews. Borderliners like his other novels was translated into English by Barbara Haveland.

Recently, I found out that Høeg used all the profits of his last story, The Woman and the Ape, to establish a foundation which he called the Lolwe Foundation, a non-profit organization providing financial help and support to women and children in the Third World.

It is fascinating and I couldn't put it down.

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Created Aug 05, 2004 at 4:40pm • Submit your own review...