Week Four - Borne

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Borne was really something else to experience. I think it really fits the concept of “The New Weird” because everything within the world that Rachel lives in felt so unusual and surreal. Of course it typically would be that way for a post-apocalyptic setting, but Borne dives into interesting detail about this mysterious organization referred as the Company that conducted bio-engineering and releasing creatures into the world. This single concept actually spiced up a setting used in a lot of fiction. The weird aspects of Borne, Wick, and Rachel’s relationship kept me interested, especially of the seemingly infinite forms Borne could take.

Something that stood out to me was how sweet and adorable Rachel makes Borne out to be. At first he appears as this gross, multicolored tentacle monster that happens to talk and just exist. He kind of gives off this feeling of creepy-cute, much like No Face from the film Spirited Away. The fact that Rachel ends up taking Borne in and treating him like a son was the most wholesome thing to experience, which I found to be a really cool scenario to insert within such a bleak, devastating, and deadly world setting. Borne almost feels like a shiny beacon that lights up Rachel’s depressing life. Sad news for her boyfriend Wick, I guess.

The beautiful thing I found about this novel is the amount of wonder and terror I felt thinking about this world. Whenever the bug-child hybrid people appear, I felt grossed out and sort of uncomfortable. I do have a sort of phobia over parasites though, so these characters that Rachel face really made me fear for her. Ironically enough though, Borne, the one that probably appears more terrifying than the weird bug children, assured me that Rachel would be safe during the time they were attacked on the roof. Despite all that though, one would have to marvel at a world monitored by a giant, flying bear. The thought of witnessing such a colossal, majestic creature certainly makes me feel emotional.

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