Join Books.org — it's free

Borderliners by Peter Hoeg — book cover
Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction, Thrillers, Phases of Life - Fiction, Scandinavian Fiction, European Peoples & Cultures - Fiction & Literature

Borderliners

by Peter Hoeg, Barbara Haveland
Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Log in to track your reading progress.

Overview

National Bestseller

Strange things are happening at Biehl's Academy when this elite school opens its doors to a group of orphans and reform-school rejects, kids at the end of the system's tether. But the school is run by a peculiar set of rules by which every minute is regimented and controlled. The children soon suspect that they are guinea pigs in a bizarre social experiment, and that their only hope of escape is to break through a dangerous threshold of time and space. Peter Høeg's "brilliant" and dystopian Borderliners is a "uniquely philosophical thriller" (Boston Sunday Globe) and a haunting story of childhood travail and hope.

The bestselling author of Smilla's Sense of Snow returns with a disturbing, sometimes brutal thriller. 4 cassettes.

Synopsis

National Bestseller

Strange things are happening at Biehl's Academy when this elite school opens its doors to a group of orphans and reform-school rejects, kids at the end of the system's tether. But the school is run by a peculiar set of rules by which every minute is regimented and controlled. The children soon suspect that they are guinea pigs in a bizarre social experiment, and that their only hope of escape is to break through a dangerous threshold of time and space. Peter Høeg's "brilliant" and dystopian Borderliners is a "uniquely philosophical thriller" (Boston Sunday Globe) and a haunting story of childhood travail and hope.

Michiko Kakutani

"Borderliners" is a willfully elliptical narrative that often tries the reader's patience. . . . These highly abstract soliloquies are apparently meant to add resonance to Peter's story, and to underscore one of the novel's central themes concerning the dehumanizing effects of science and the scientific method. Unfortunately they have another effect entirely: they weigh the story down, turning what might have been a deeply affecting story about a young boy's painful coming of age into a lugubrious and strangely impersonal allegory. -- New York Times

About the Author, Peter Hoeg

Peter Høeg, born in 1957 in Denmark, followed various callings—dancer, actor, sailor, fencer, and mountaineer—before turning seriously to writing. He is the bestselling author of five novels and one short story collection. His work has been published in thirty-three countries.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

From the Publisher

"Brilliant . . . [a] uniquely philosophical thriller."—The Boston Sunday Globe

"A brilliant novel of shattering force."—Entertainment Weekly

"Gripping and disturbing . . . Høeg's evocation of the way a child perceives the world is alarmingly vivid."—USA Today

"The Catcher in the Rye meets A Brief History of Time. . . . Brilliantly tormenting and philosophically haunting."—Glamour

"An honest novel that once again demonstrates Høeg's talent and integrity."—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

"A beautiful and satisfying book, reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange or Lord of the Flies."—Orlando Sentinel

"Powerful . . . well-crafted suspense . . . Just as with Smilla's Sense of Snow, one question hangs in the air when the last page is turned: When do we get his next book?"—Newsweek

Michiko Kakutani

"Borderliners" is a willfully elliptical narrative that often tries the reader's patience. . . . These highly abstract soliloquies are apparently meant to add resonance to Peter's story, and to underscore one of the novel's central themes concerning the dehumanizing effects of science and the scientific method. Unfortunately they have another effect entirely: they weigh the story down, turning what might have been a deeply affecting story about a young boy's painful coming of age into a lugubrious and strangely impersonal allegory. -- New York Times

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The second of Danish writer Heg's novels to be translated into English (following Smilla's Sense of Snow) concerns a trio of misfits at an elite boarding school who discover they are guinea pigs in a sinister experiment. (Nov.)

Library Journal

In this extraordinary novel, Hoeg portrays the closed world of Biehl's, a Danish private school where a bizarre social experiment is underway. The narrator, Peter, is now a student at Biehl's after spending all of his life in children's homes and reform schools. He is a borderline case, along with Katarina, whose parents both died in the past year, and August, severely disturbed after killing his abusive parents. Although allowed no social interaction, the children conspire to conduct their own experiment to discover what plan is being carried out at Biehl's. Hoeg touches on some of the same themes as in his acclaimed Smilla's Sense of Snow LJ 8/93-neglected children, scientific experiments, and technology-but this is not a thriller and may not appeal to the same audience. It is instead a fascinating intellectual puzzle that explores the themes of social control, child assessment, family, and the concept of time. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/94.]-Patrica Ross, Westerville, Ohio

From Barnes & Noble

Students in an elite private school in Copenhagen discover that the school is using them in an experiment to control children--an experiment that, almost inevitably, has tragic consequences. A disturbing new book from the author of Smilla's Sense of Snow.

Book Details

Published
October 1, 2007
Publisher
Picador
Pages
288
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780312427115

More by Peter Hoeg

Similar books