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A Borrowed Man A Novel Gene Wolfe Books

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A Borrowed Man A Novel Gene Wolfe Books

***Mild Spoilers***

As a reader who buys Gene Wolfe books sight unseen before publication, naturally, A Borrowed Man magically showed up on release date. As with any Wolfe novel, you have to measure it before you read it. It took me several months to measure it and then I read it.

A Borrowed Man occupies the Wolfe shelf in my mind that I call "Wolfe Mysteries," "Mysteries" being the more prosaic definition of the term as used in literature. Like Free Live Free, Castleview, There Are Doors, and The Sorcerer's House, even The Land Across, A Borrowed Man is a mystery and/or detective novel. Of course, what Wolfe detects in these novels and the detectives he employs are decidedly different than your Raymond Chandler pulps, but it does seem to be a trope Wolfe feels comfortable with.

A Borrowed Man is perhaps an even more direct reflection of this trope, as the protagonist is a revivified clone of a 21st century detective novelist and made available for "check out" at libraries in a 22nd century version of the USA. Of course, the mystery at hand involves a beautiful, enigmatic heiress who checks him out to help her solve a not so normal slice-and-dump. This is Gene Wolfe, after all.

Having said that, the arc, tone, and structure, is old-school and perhaps that's what put me off. I'd really like to rate this 3 1/2 stars, but the extra half goes to Wolfe on general principle. As with almost all Wolfe books, I'll need to re-read it to catch what I missed just following the story arc, but that may take a while, as the trope is, to me, off-putting. Additionally, he utilizes a narrative trick where the narrator's own voice and usage is at odds with the character he created for his pulp detective stories. I see what Wolfe is trying to do, but, to me, it is rarely successful.

I suppose one could characterize ALL Wolfe books as mysteries, but the approaches differ. The Book of the New Sun was so fabulous because of Severian, the unreliable narrator, and the manifold mysteries he discovers, solves (rightly or wrongly), and the implications of the denouement. I also enjoyed the Soldier series, with the incredible backdrop of ancient Greece, and felt that the third volume, A Soldier of Sidon, was one of Wolfe's very best novels ever. I also dearly love On Blue's Waters, the first book in the so-called Short Sun series, because of its elegiac and expansive voice, perhaps the most personal novel Wolfe has ever written.

For newcomers to Wolfe, particularly if they have heard of all the praise--rightly--heaped upon the writer's oeuvre, A Borrowed Man would leave them wondering what all the fuss was about. With Wolfe, one really should start at the beginning with The Fifth Head of Cerberus, then The Book of the New Sun. After avidly re-reading and soaking in those volumes, you can appreciate Wolfe's prowess much more acutely with his more intimately constructed books. Also, grab any of his short fiction collections (i.e., Endangered Species) because short forms concentrate and bring out his marvelous storytelling skills.


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A Borrowed Man A Novel Gene Wolfe Books Reviews

Gene Wolfe's stand alone novels are never as complex and compelling as his masterpiece series Book of the New Sun; Book of the Long Sun; and Book of the Short Sun. This is a nice, solid sci-fi mystery story that raises ethical questions about cloning. If you are a fan of Wolfe, you will enjoy it. If you have never read Wolfe, start with one of the aforementioned series and prepare to have your mind blown. Then you will be a life-long fan who will seek out and read everything the man has ever written.
A Borrowed Man is not the Sun Cycle Gene Wolfe or even the Soldier of Arete Gene Wolfe. I have felt he's slowly been steering his writing in a new direction, a plainer, more "mystery writer" style. Wizard/Knight felt like the beginning of a transition while An Evil Guest was the statement of the obvious. As a fan, it's a challenge to reorient and objectively answer the question "Does A Borrowed Man succeed as a novel?"

I loved it. While the plot was paced well and I found myself burning through this novel, I found myself pausing to consider the implications of the plot and the milieu in which they are occurring. There were flourishes that diehard Wolfe fans would appreciate in the background of this murder mystery is a humanity that has lost its way. It stands alone as a fun and provocative read, with an intriguing protagonist who, true to Wolfe, suffers from a flaw not of character but born of circumstance.

This may be obvious to other Gene Wolfe fans the last several Wolfe novels march toward emphasizing mystery writing as a commentary on the human condition, with the speculative nature of the work used to create more tension and highlight some of the subtleties. None of these books were unlikable; it was the evolving/changing style that I was challenged to understand. In fact, after reading A Borrowed Man and the stellar The Land Across, I can't wait to go back and re-read Home Fires and An Evil Guest. I suspect that this time I'll be less puzzled and even more intrigued. I'm grateful that Wolfe continues to write and continues to play the artist with his writing. Wikipedia says that the next Wolfe novel will be called Interlibrary Loan--could it be a sequel? I truly hope so.
Gene Wolfe is my favorite writer. This book was surprisingly mediocre. The general concept -- checking clones of famous writers out of the library -- is creative and interesting. By midway through the book, however, the fact that the protagonist was a cloned writer was mostly irrelevant. He could have been any of half a dozen of Wolfe's previous characters. The mystery's solution was kind of ho-hum as well. I enjoyed being in the midst of a Wolfe novel (even his worst is still better than many other writers' work), but I feel none the richer having read this novel.
Gene Wolfe is a genius. This is a light folly in many respects and is a quick read. As usual with Maestro Wolfe, the unusual plot line offers several surprises, some of them hilarious. I was left wondering if this was something he wrote long ago or just last year. It may be a revision of an unfinished manuscript. Regardless it is fully post-modern and the futurist technology is all very likely, despite the alternate reality segments which place us in an alien place. Despite also the human rights quandary posed by the exciting and ultimately 3-D protagonist, who escapes his serfdom, at least briefly and exhibits a morality somehow lacking in those surrounding him.
***Mild Spoilers***

As a reader who buys Gene Wolfe books sight unseen before publication, naturally, A Borrowed Man magically showed up on release date. As with any Wolfe novel, you have to measure it before you read it. It took me several months to measure it and then I read it.

A Borrowed Man occupies the Wolfe shelf in my mind that I call "Wolfe Mysteries," "Mysteries" being the more prosaic definition of the term as used in literature. Like Free Live Free, Castleview, There Are Doors, and The Sorcerer's House, even The Land Across, A Borrowed Man is a mystery and/or detective novel. Of course, what Wolfe detects in these novels and the detectives he employs are decidedly different than your Raymond Chandler pulps, but it does seem to be a trope Wolfe feels comfortable with.

A Borrowed Man is perhaps an even more direct reflection of this trope, as the protagonist is a revivified clone of a 21st century detective novelist and made available for "check out" at libraries in a 22nd century version of the USA. Of course, the mystery at hand involves a beautiful, enigmatic heiress who checks him out to help her solve a not so normal slice-and-dump. This is Gene Wolfe, after all.

Having said that, the arc, tone, and structure, is old-school and perhaps that's what put me off. I'd really like to rate this 3 1/2 stars, but the extra half goes to Wolfe on general principle. As with almost all Wolfe books, I'll need to re-read it to catch what I missed just following the story arc, but that may take a while, as the trope is, to me, off-putting. Additionally, he utilizes a narrative trick where the narrator's own voice and usage is at odds with the character he created for his pulp detective stories. I see what Wolfe is trying to do, but, to me, it is rarely successful.

I suppose one could characterize ALL Wolfe books as mysteries, but the approaches differ. The Book of the New Sun was so fabulous because of Severian, the unreliable narrator, and the manifold mysteries he discovers, solves (rightly or wrongly), and the implications of the denouement. I also enjoyed the Soldier series, with the incredible backdrop of ancient Greece, and felt that the third volume, A Soldier of Sidon, was one of Wolfe's very best novels ever. I also dearly love On Blue's Waters, the first book in the so-called Short Sun series, because of its elegiac and expansive voice, perhaps the most personal novel Wolfe has ever written.

For newcomers to Wolfe, particularly if they have heard of all the praise--rightly--heaped upon the writer's oeuvre, A Borrowed Man would leave them wondering what all the fuss was about. With Wolfe, one really should start at the beginning with The Fifth Head of Cerberus, then The Book of the New Sun. After avidly re-reading and soaking in those volumes, you can appreciate Wolfe's prowess much more acutely with his more intimately constructed books. Also, grab any of his short fiction collections (i.e., Endangered Species) because short forms concentrate and bring out his marvelous storytelling skills.