Derek Owusu's latest novel, Borderline Fiction, delves into the complexities of living with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The story follows Marcus, a 25-year-old English literature student of Ghanaian heritage, as he navigates troubled relationships and his own mental health struggles. The narrative alternates between Marcus at age 19 and 25, exploring his fraught connections with women, his parents, and himself.
At 19, Marcus works as a personal trainer, uses cocaine, and engages in casual hookups, his voice rendered in Multicultural London English with a raw, youthful swagger. By 25, he is more self-aware and guarded, avoiding home for fear it might diminish his drive to become a writer. He is no longer using drugs and is on medication, but remains locked in loops of overthinking and self-chastisement.
Owusu, who was diagnosed with BPD in 2018, uses the novel to examine the condition's impact on identity and relationships. Marcus lacks the self-knowledge that a diagnosis provides, frequently experiencing anxiety, impulsivity, and emotional volatility, particularly with his girlfriend Adwoa. When Adwoa suggests therapy, Marcus dismisses it, insisting he is not ill. However, her pregnancy forces him to confront his fear of becoming a father like his own, leading to a breakdown.
The novel offers no easy explanations for Marcus's behaviour, presenting fragments of his past: a drug-induced hospitalisation in his mid-teens, a heavy-drinking father, and a mother who comes and goes. While Marcus is rendered with sophisticated interiority, he can at times feel more like a case study than a fully realised individual. Owusu's semi-autobiographical debut, That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2020 and established him as an idiosyncratic talent.
