The Borrowman Cell
Summary:
The Borrowman Cell explores the perspective of different characters whose lives have all been linked together by the exploitation of animals. There are two sides to this story, the activist and perpetrators. On the side of activists is John Borrowman, and under him are many other like-minded individuals with a passion for animals. On the other hand This includes characters like St. Denis or Verena Vitek. On the other hand, there is a Chinese company under the guise of a mushroom farm that uses its land to harvest bile from wild bears. Caught in the middle of this conflict are characters like Marigold, who is a victim of the crossfire, or Peter, who uses this opportunity to get money to save his lab and marriage.
Characters:
Verena Vitek is a young woman who is a Serbian refugee who moved to Canada and has lost both her parents. She is a stoic, tough, intelligent woman who has some real trauma in her past which she channels by working with Borrowman’s cell to help animals whether through protests or her skills with a gun. John Borrowman is a university professor who studies zoology and is the leader of the animal activist cell. He is very passionate about saving animals yet is very against using violence to accomplish his goals. Marigold Green is a woman who just survived being shot at while canoeing with a friend. After recovering from her injuries Marigold is dealing with the trauma of the event but is also worried that the people who attempted to kill her are coming to finish the job.
Nathanyal: 8.3/10
The Borrowman Cell was a good book and has many great aspects about it. It has a wide cast of characters that all interact with each other to some level, an overarching plot that covers many perspectives, and a strong final act where all the set-up boils over and the climax breaks through the ceiling.
Overall, the story is pretty slow and takes a while to pick up. I would say 70% of the book is all just set up for the final act of the novel. Besides the slow plot, the constant jumping between many characters and the inconsistent method of flashbacks makes the story hard to follow at times. These two aspects make it really hard to keep reading and enjoying the book. However, past that point, the climax and ending does make up somewhat for the long wait. The characters, although plenty, didn’t receive as much characterization as I would’ve enjoyed. For example, Verena is a very interesting character, and I wish the author expanded more on her story.
Now, the good aspect of the novel is how everything was set up for that last act of the novel. All the characters have influenced the story in major ways, and it was satisfying to watch everything fall apart. The ending isn’t a happy one, perse, but it felt realistic and satisfying enough.
Overall, this novel was good. If you can handle the long set up, the pay off is relatively worth it.
Austin: 8.2/10
The Borrowman Cell is a really enjoyable novel, and it is well written. By far the best part of this book is the characters and their development. We have such a large cast of characters and some very different personalities and walks of life. It makes for a very interesting read as their lives connect in various different ways. While this is the strongest point of the novel, it is also its weakest. The large cast of characters makes for a stronger, deeper plot and it makes the book more interesting, but it also makes it confusing. The first 50-75 pages are riddled with introductions and changing points of view, to the point where it becomes difficult to track the story or even how characters are connected. That is really the only downside with The Borrowman Cell, but it could make more than a few people put it down before they get into the good part of the book.
The details that went into this novel are great, and it makes the plot easier to digest after that sloppy start. It almost feels like this story could be one read from a journal or a newspaper as opposed to a novel. Call it bias, but I enjoyed reading a novel situated in Canada. I can’t say I’ve read very many, but this one was good.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most character-heavy/confusing (due to just too much going on) books I have ever read through 60 pages, but if you can get past that point, the characters are all really well written, the plot is solid, and that confusing beginning works itself into a good novel. It sits at just under 300 pages, and is a solid novel for anyone looking for a one-off book to read!
Sebastian: 7.2/10
This book is a real slow burn. For anyone who likes a book with lots of reveals, intrigue or action this book does deliver on those at least in the first 160 pages. To start with the good, I thought the characters were all decently written with interesting histories and personalities that made it easy to follow them. From the stoic sharpshooter Verena to the pacifist activist Borrowman there was something inherently intriguing about these characters. While the story itself may not be one I would seek out the idea of following an animal protection activist group and as someone who does like animals, I did root for the characters to foil the evil company’s plot. It was also nice to read a book that took place in Canada because as a Canadian I can honestly say I have only read a handful of books that actually took place in my country and had references to things I know. The last third of the novel has a lot of story threads that are resolved with each having an entertaining ending that made me feel more positive about the book as a whole.
Now on the negative side of things, this book’s first problem is that I was bored while reading it for the first two thirds. For one the book spends a majority of its time detailing sections of our characters day to day lives which is fine when you have maybe two protagonists but not when you have four perspective characters as well as three more secondary characters who we also follow for some time. If we had actually got to read about some of the cell’s previous missions or had more time explaining why they each felt the obligation to save animals I feel it would have developed the characters more and maybe give context to the characters’ experience. That is the other biggest problem with this novel is that it has too many characters that take away from each character individually as they are developed less and it also makes the book harder to follow and comprehend. If the author had chosen to take out maybe two characters it would have made a much more cohesive story that would have probably flowed better to. The characters themselves are interesting and are not easily distinguishable on the page as each character is written the same way that many times while reading, I had to backtrack and figure out which character I was following. I also mentioned that I thought the last third concluded things nicely and while I still think that is the case I feel that the novel’s ending was kind of depressing in a novel that already wasn’t that cheerful and it definitely did not make me feel very hopeful that animal activists have a chance of changing things. Also, in my opinion, while I loved the Canadian references since Canada is not the most well-known country by the rest of the world I would say that this book is not necessarily accessible for non-Canadians.
All in all, this is a novel that I feel could’ve been really good if it hadn’t been bogged down by some writing choices but if you are into activism and or want to read a book about Canada I would say check it out, however, if that doesn’t apply to you this may not be your cup of tea.
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