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Lowboy
By turns suspenseful and comic, devastating and hopeful, Lowboy is a fearless exploration of youth, sex, and violence in contemporary America, seen through one boy's haunting and extraordinary vision.
Early one morning in New York City, Will Heller, a sixteen-yearold paranoid schizophrenic, gets on an uptown B train alone. Like most people he knows, Will believes the world is being destroyed by climate change; unlike most people, he’s convinced he can do something about it. Unknown to his doctors, unknown to the police - unknown even to Violet Heller, his devoted mother - Will alone holds the key to the planet’s salvation. To cool down the world, he has to cool down his own overheating body: to cool down his body, he has to find one willing girl. And he already has someone in mind.
Lowboy, John Wray’s third novel, tells the story of Will’s fantastic and terrifying odyssey through the city’s tunnels, back alleys, and streets in search of Emily Wallace, his one great hope, and of Violet Heller’s desperate attempts to locate her son before psychosis claims him completely. She is joined by Ali Lateef, a missing-persons specialist, who gradually comes to discover that more is at stake than the recovery of a runaway teen: Violet- beautiful, enigmatic, and as profoundly at odds with the world as her son - harbors a secret that Lateef will discover at his own peril.
Suspenseful and comic, devastating and hopeful by turns, Lowboy is a fearless exploration of youth, sex, and violence in contemporary America, seen through one boy’s haunting and extraordinary vision.
Early one morning in New York City, Will Heller, a sixteen-yearold paranoid schizophrenic, gets on an uptown B train alone. Like most people he knows, Will believes the world is being destroyed by climate change; unlike most people, he’s convinced he can do something about it. Unknown to his doctors, unknown to the police - unknown even to Violet Heller, his devoted mother - Will alone holds the key to the planet’s salvation. To cool down the world, he has to cool down his own overheating body: to cool down his body, he has to find one willing girl. And he already has someone in mind.
Lowboy, John Wray’s third novel, tells the story of Will’s fantastic and terrifying odyssey through the city’s tunnels, back alleys, and streets in search of Emily Wallace, his one great hope, and of Violet Heller’s desperate attempts to locate her son before psychosis claims him completely. She is joined by Ali Lateef, a missing-persons specialist, who gradually comes to discover that more is at stake than the recovery of a runaway teen: Violet- beautiful, enigmatic, and as profoundly at odds with the world as her son - harbors a secret that Lateef will discover at his own peril.
Suspenseful and comic, devastating and hopeful by turns, Lowboy is a fearless exploration of youth, sex, and violence in contemporary America, seen through one boy’s haunting and extraordinary vision.
258 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
78 people are currently reading
3409 people want to read
About the author
John Wray
34 books180 followersJohn Wray is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, Godsend, The Lost Time Accidents, Lowboy, The Right Hand of Sleep and Canaan's Tongue. He was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. The recipient of a Whiting Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives in Brooklyn and Mexico City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 533 reviews
November 17, 2009
Let me preface this review with this; I am in a rut. A literary rut, a professional rut, a metaphysical rut, a rut rut. Damn, I love the onomatopoeia that goes with that word… try it: grind your teeth together and spit the word out, let your tongue hit the back of your teeth with a little *pfft*. Yeah, you got it.
So, it was with a heavy sigh that I picked up this book. I can’t fully blame the book for this ‘meh’ of a rating. Not really. I wish I had something to blame.
Wray’s writing has been described by other Goodreaders as ‘lyrical’, ‘compassionate’, ‘poetic’, ‘chaotic’… Okay, no argument here. There are some scenes inside of Lowboy’s schizophrenic world that take my breath away (mostly from lack of punctuation, but not always)
"After that the school spread out flatter and wider it was probably the widest thing on earth. The ceiling came and brushed against my face it wasn’t painful but it was difficult to watch. Things kept on moving. The nurses for example. But how did they keep from sliding into each other Emily how did they keep from tearing themselves up. I had creases in my body I was afraid to touch water my stomach was full of confetti. People TVs gurney sliding around like microbes in a dish. The big white microscope with the big blue eye behind it. Are you still listening Emily I saw one doctor Dr. Dickworth they called him or was that a joke he was ripped across the middle like a postcard. Dr. Cocksnot I said to him if you’re looking for your bottom half it went under the bed. No I prefer not to accept my meds at this time there’s not room in my neck and my stomach is full of confetti. I mean to say Yes thank you very much for these delicious caplets."
See? That’s awesome! But, it wasn’t enough.
Another digression if you will: I sometimes ‘sit’ with patients who are deemed ‘unsafe’. This could be for a number of reasons; dementia, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury..the list goes on. It’s a hodgepodge of fun. These patients inhabit a world that is totally of their own creation, you’re just along for the ride. I’ve been ‘The Dragon Lady’ captaining my own pontoon boat, I’ve spent the wee hours of the morning learning French from an 87 yr old insomniac who felt it was her obligation to teach me her language. I’ve been daughters, mothers, cousins, long lost lovers.
People ask me why I do this---I have a full time job already, why spend my weekend nights babysitting patients? I won’t lie, the money is good, but where else am I going to be a soldier in WWII? Where else can I hold someone’s hand while they confess why they made the choices that they did?
When I’m there, I’m part of the story. When I read, I want to give myself wholly to the story. It’s a thing, an escapism. This book… well, ‘detached’ works best for me. I could go through the motions with Lowboy and Violet and Ali and Emily but I wasn’t involved.
And, this is all about me, right?
More ‘meh’ moments:
* I guessed the ending within the first 20 pages.
* The ‘big bad’ didn’t seem so bad, maybe I’ve read or lived more abominable events than this. Wow, that’s really a sad realization.
* What 16 yr old boy doesn’t believe that losing his virginity would save the world?
So. Rut. Yeah, Maybe I’m whacked. Maybe this book was in the wrong pile at the wrong time. Maybe I’ve had enough dealings with mental illness that it just was too much.
Maybe.
So, it was with a heavy sigh that I picked up this book. I can’t fully blame the book for this ‘meh’ of a rating. Not really. I wish I had something to blame.
Wray’s writing has been described by other Goodreaders as ‘lyrical’, ‘compassionate’, ‘poetic’, ‘chaotic’… Okay, no argument here. There are some scenes inside of Lowboy’s schizophrenic world that take my breath away (mostly from lack of punctuation, but not always)
"After that the school spread out flatter and wider it was probably the widest thing on earth. The ceiling came and brushed against my face it wasn’t painful but it was difficult to watch. Things kept on moving. The nurses for example. But how did they keep from sliding into each other Emily how did they keep from tearing themselves up. I had creases in my body I was afraid to touch water my stomach was full of confetti. People TVs gurney sliding around like microbes in a dish. The big white microscope with the big blue eye behind it. Are you still listening Emily I saw one doctor Dr. Dickworth they called him or was that a joke he was ripped across the middle like a postcard. Dr. Cocksnot I said to him if you’re looking for your bottom half it went under the bed. No I prefer not to accept my meds at this time there’s not room in my neck and my stomach is full of confetti. I mean to say Yes thank you very much for these delicious caplets."
See? That’s awesome! But, it wasn’t enough.
Another digression if you will: I sometimes ‘sit’ with patients who are deemed ‘unsafe’. This could be for a number of reasons; dementia, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury..the list goes on. It’s a hodgepodge of fun. These patients inhabit a world that is totally of their own creation, you’re just along for the ride. I’ve been ‘The Dragon Lady’ captaining my own pontoon boat, I’ve spent the wee hours of the morning learning French from an 87 yr old insomniac who felt it was her obligation to teach me her language. I’ve been daughters, mothers, cousins, long lost lovers.
People ask me why I do this---I have a full time job already, why spend my weekend nights babysitting patients? I won’t lie, the money is good, but where else am I going to be a soldier in WWII? Where else can I hold someone’s hand while they confess why they made the choices that they did?
When I’m there, I’m part of the story. When I read, I want to give myself wholly to the story. It’s a thing, an escapism. This book… well, ‘detached’ works best for me. I could go through the motions with Lowboy and Violet and Ali and Emily but I wasn’t involved.
And, this is all about me, right?
More ‘meh’ moments:
* I guessed the ending within the first 20 pages.
* The ‘big bad’ didn’t seem so bad, maybe I’ve read or lived more abominable events than this. Wow, that’s really a sad realization.
* What 16 yr old boy doesn’t believe that losing his virginity would save the world?
So. Rut. Yeah, Maybe I’m whacked. Maybe this book was in the wrong pile at the wrong time. Maybe I’ve had enough dealings with mental illness that it just was too much.
Maybe.
April 27, 2009
Did you know "lowboy" was the original name for "oboe?"
I learned so much from this book.
I learned so much from this book.
March 7, 2009
(FROM MY BLOG): Walk along a street in downtown Seattle. You see them everywhere. Wild-eyed men and women. Dirty, dishevelled, mumbling to themselves or yelling at the universe. Crazy people, more like scary forces of nature than human beings. Beings we nervously evade as we see them approach.
Except, of course, they aren't non-human. John Wray's novel Lowboy shows us how much humanity schizophrenics do share with the rest of us --a story being perhaps the only way we are ever apt to experience that commonality, unless we actually have the nerve to sit down and talk to one.
Will Heller, who calls himself "Lowboy," is a highly intelligent, unusually attractive 16-year-old who possesses a detailed knowledge of the New York subway system. He's a man on a mission, a mission to save the planet from global warming, and he has less than 24 hours to do it. To accomplish his mission, it is essential -- for reasons that make a vague sort of sense, given his assumptions -- that he lose his virginity. He is a paranoid schizophrenic, and he is on the loose from his psychiatric facility. He has stopped taking his medications.
It takes us some time to understand even this much about Lowboy, because the story is told primarily from Lowboy's own, confused point of view. Later chapters offer us other aspects of the story from the points of view of his immigrant mother "Violet," who has her own problems, and of police detective Ali Lateef who is working with her to locate the boy.
Lowboy is acutely observant of everything about him. (After finishing the book, I'll never forget that the dual-tone chime you hear on the subway, warning that the doors are about to close, is C-sharp to A.) His illness causes him to find significance in insignificant occurrences, much as Greeks and Romans did in the flights of birds or the appearance of animal entrails. He knows that he is ill. He understands that the voices he hears -- sometimes loud, sometimes as a murmur, sometimes sensed only as the indistinct roaring of a dynamo -- are part of his illness. He realizes that his symptoms increase and decrease over time. In fact, at the age of 12, when his symptoms first began but were still controllable, he read everything he could find in the library on the subject of schizophrenia. But he doesn't -- he can't -- understand enough.
The story reads partly as an adventure. We don't quite understand Lowboy's quest, but we want him to succeed. His quest takes place largely within the dark, subterranean realm of the subway system, itself a metaphor for a certain twisted, noisy, and confusing set of limitations on reality. The book also reads as a detective novel, as Lateef attempts to untangle confusing clues he obtains from Lowboy's mother, psychiatrist, and one-time girlfriend, and to locate and apprehend the boy before he injures either himself or another person. Again the story reads at times as a peculiar story of romance, the same detective finding himself falling in love with the boy's mother, for reasons he doesn't understand.
But mostly, the novel is an immersion in the mind of a young man who is precociously bright and likeable and in a sense idealistic, but whose perspective on the world is far different from our own -- a kid who thinks deeply and observes much that we would miss, but who overlooks simple meanings and conclusions that we would find obvious.
The ending is exciting and unexpected. This book is unquestionably one where you want to learn how it ends yourself -- not hear it from a friend or read it in a review.
Schizophrenia, some say, should be considered not a disease but simply an alternative way of viewing reality. After reading Lowboy, none of us would voluntarily subject ourselves to that experience. But we understand better the peculiar logic -- and even, possibly, strange beauty -- of the thoughts circling within the confused minds of those crazy guys we see on the street.
Except, of course, they aren't non-human. John Wray's novel Lowboy shows us how much humanity schizophrenics do share with the rest of us --a story being perhaps the only way we are ever apt to experience that commonality, unless we actually have the nerve to sit down and talk to one.
Will Heller, who calls himself "Lowboy," is a highly intelligent, unusually attractive 16-year-old who possesses a detailed knowledge of the New York subway system. He's a man on a mission, a mission to save the planet from global warming, and he has less than 24 hours to do it. To accomplish his mission, it is essential -- for reasons that make a vague sort of sense, given his assumptions -- that he lose his virginity. He is a paranoid schizophrenic, and he is on the loose from his psychiatric facility. He has stopped taking his medications.
It takes us some time to understand even this much about Lowboy, because the story is told primarily from Lowboy's own, confused point of view. Later chapters offer us other aspects of the story from the points of view of his immigrant mother "Violet," who has her own problems, and of police detective Ali Lateef who is working with her to locate the boy.
Lowboy is acutely observant of everything about him. (After finishing the book, I'll never forget that the dual-tone chime you hear on the subway, warning that the doors are about to close, is C-sharp to A.) His illness causes him to find significance in insignificant occurrences, much as Greeks and Romans did in the flights of birds or the appearance of animal entrails. He knows that he is ill. He understands that the voices he hears -- sometimes loud, sometimes as a murmur, sometimes sensed only as the indistinct roaring of a dynamo -- are part of his illness. He realizes that his symptoms increase and decrease over time. In fact, at the age of 12, when his symptoms first began but were still controllable, he read everything he could find in the library on the subject of schizophrenia. But he doesn't -- he can't -- understand enough.
The story reads partly as an adventure. We don't quite understand Lowboy's quest, but we want him to succeed. His quest takes place largely within the dark, subterranean realm of the subway system, itself a metaphor for a certain twisted, noisy, and confusing set of limitations on reality. The book also reads as a detective novel, as Lateef attempts to untangle confusing clues he obtains from Lowboy's mother, psychiatrist, and one-time girlfriend, and to locate and apprehend the boy before he injures either himself or another person. Again the story reads at times as a peculiar story of romance, the same detective finding himself falling in love with the boy's mother, for reasons he doesn't understand.
But mostly, the novel is an immersion in the mind of a young man who is precociously bright and likeable and in a sense idealistic, but whose perspective on the world is far different from our own -- a kid who thinks deeply and observes much that we would miss, but who overlooks simple meanings and conclusions that we would find obvious.
The ending is exciting and unexpected. This book is unquestionably one where you want to learn how it ends yourself -- not hear it from a friend or read it in a review.
Schizophrenia, some say, should be considered not a disease but simply an alternative way of viewing reality. After reading Lowboy, none of us would voluntarily subject ourselves to that experience. But we understand better the peculiar logic -- and even, possibly, strange beauty -- of the thoughts circling within the confused minds of those crazy guys we see on the street.
March 30, 2009
I don't know what to say! This novel is truly a tour de force, a tense and suspenseful day in the life of a beautifully blonde, sixteen-year-old boy who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. I know the comparison is cliche, but imagine a Holden Caulfield-like figure off his meds having escaped the mental institution in which he's been placed while searching the streets of New York City to lose his virginity in order to save the world from global warming. John Wray burrows deep into the manically irrational yet poetically heartbreaking world of his central character. Wray's use of language is masterful. There is no logic to Lowboy's mental instability nor are we able to solve the mysteries of identity that lead him on this personal odyssey into the darkest corners of his psyche, but the novel burns brightly with compassion and intelligence. What raises this novel above others is the way Wray juxtaposes Lowboy's journey with the African-American missing persons detective (Ali Lateef) who works with the boy's mother to find her son before he damages himself or others. Crosscutting between Lowboy's descent into the urban underworld and the growing, complicated relationship between Ali and Violet (the boy's mother) lends the novel a highly suspenseful narrative trajectory. And, of course, there are major surprises and discoveries. This is a very, very good novel and worth the read.
May 11, 2012
The immortal poet Chastity (in 10 Things I Hate about You) once said, "I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?" I did not think so, until now.
Lowboy is a short, meandering book about Will Heller, a paranoid schizophrenic wandering around New York City, and also--in alternating chapters--about his mother and the police detective who have teamed up to search for him. Will is on a strange, vague mission to cool down the earth before global warming destroys it (losing his virginity is a key component of the plan), and Violet (Will's mother) and Ali (the detective) are trying to locate him before he injures either himself or Emily, Will's former girlfriend whom he pushed onto a set of subway tracks as a train approached the station (which is also the reason why Will ended up in the mental hospital from which he's just been released).
Above, you'll note, I described Lowboy as "meandering," which would probably take most of the book's fans by surprise, as they all seem to consider it to be fast-paced and thrilling and compelling and page-turning, etc. I don't agree. I struggled for nearly six weeks to finish this 250-page book, but other things kept pulling my attention away from it--quite easily, in fact. It just occurred to me, with a shock, that I read Moby-Dick in less time.
I hate to dump on contemporary novels, especially when the author's intention was good and noble (after all, I couldn't write one--despite trying on numerous occasions), but this is a case where the book just didn't speak to me. I'd been quite eager to read this one; its subject matter is right up my alley (mental illness, New York City's underbelly, and young, confused love)--but for some reason it just didn't click. John Wray's prose is serviceable but not as rich as I'd hoped, and toward the end I was reading it not to find out what happened but merely so I could be done with it. At no point did the (ultimately shoulder-shrugging) mysteries draw me in, nor did I care much about the fates of the three main characters. I didn't hate the book by any means, but I didn't particularly like it, either. The whole thing was simply . . . whelming.
Lowboy is a short, meandering book about Will Heller, a paranoid schizophrenic wandering around New York City, and also--in alternating chapters--about his mother and the police detective who have teamed up to search for him. Will is on a strange, vague mission to cool down the earth before global warming destroys it (losing his virginity is a key component of the plan), and Violet (Will's mother) and Ali (the detective) are trying to locate him before he injures either himself or Emily, Will's former girlfriend whom he pushed onto a set of subway tracks as a train approached the station (which is also the reason why Will ended up in the mental hospital from which he's just been released).
Above, you'll note, I described Lowboy as "meandering," which would probably take most of the book's fans by surprise, as they all seem to consider it to be fast-paced and thrilling and compelling and page-turning, etc. I don't agree. I struggled for nearly six weeks to finish this 250-page book, but other things kept pulling my attention away from it--quite easily, in fact. It just occurred to me, with a shock, that I read Moby-Dick in less time.
I hate to dump on contemporary novels, especially when the author's intention was good and noble (after all, I couldn't write one--despite trying on numerous occasions), but this is a case where the book just didn't speak to me. I'd been quite eager to read this one; its subject matter is right up my alley (mental illness, New York City's underbelly, and young, confused love)--but for some reason it just didn't click. John Wray's prose is serviceable but not as rich as I'd hoped, and toward the end I was reading it not to find out what happened but merely so I could be done with it. At no point did the (ultimately shoulder-shrugging) mysteries draw me in, nor did I care much about the fates of the three main characters. I didn't hate the book by any means, but I didn't particularly like it, either. The whole thing was simply . . . whelming.
March 27, 2009
There is this moment in John Wray's "Lowboy" where a character says to the schizophrenic hero: "Listen to me, Heller. You're beautiful and you make me laugh and I want you to take me to that place that we just saw, but you need to stop saying things like that. They creep me out, okay? And you're not creepy."
And that completely sums up the experience of reading this novel, which spans roughly a day in the life of young teenager Will "Lowboy" Heller.
The story opens with him on the lam in the New York subway system after spending a year and a half institutionalized. He is hell-bent on saving the world from global warming, and believes he can do this by losing his virginity.
In alternating bite-sized chapters his mysterious mother, a beautiful, hard-to-read immigrant with an indiscernible accent, is paired with detective Ali Lateef and is searching for Lowboy, hoping to find him before he hurts someone or himself.
Lowboy's chapters are a collection of dizzy sentences, more paintings than linear thought. One minute he is deciding to buy cupcakes, but then the simple acts of ordering what he wants and exchanging money become too complicated. It's like the wheel in his brain gets caught up on a cog and suddenly everything becomes distorted and chaotic until he can slow down and start again.
His mother, whom he calls Violet, provides Lowboy's backstory via Lateef's interrogation. Most chapters include some new piece of information that explains who Lowboy is, how he got there, and what he wants. But also leaves questions and a growing suspicion that there is more to the story.
This book is technically sound: Lowboy is likable and unpredictable and interesting. And like that character, I did want to beg him to stop talking like that. Meanwhile, Violet's day-long relationship with Lateef is tricky to define: antagonistic? flirtatious? I'm not sure how Wray invented this or juggled it, but there are no seams showing.
My only complaint is that my own lack of familiarity with the subway system made it hard to envision exactly where the characters were, or where they were headed. Especially when the descriptions are coming from Lowboy. So I got a little confused.
Also, I have a question about the ending, so someone needs to read this ASAP so we can talk about it.
And that completely sums up the experience of reading this novel, which spans roughly a day in the life of young teenager Will "Lowboy" Heller.
The story opens with him on the lam in the New York subway system after spending a year and a half institutionalized. He is hell-bent on saving the world from global warming, and believes he can do this by losing his virginity.
In alternating bite-sized chapters his mysterious mother, a beautiful, hard-to-read immigrant with an indiscernible accent, is paired with detective Ali Lateef and is searching for Lowboy, hoping to find him before he hurts someone or himself.
Lowboy's chapters are a collection of dizzy sentences, more paintings than linear thought. One minute he is deciding to buy cupcakes, but then the simple acts of ordering what he wants and exchanging money become too complicated. It's like the wheel in his brain gets caught up on a cog and suddenly everything becomes distorted and chaotic until he can slow down and start again.
His mother, whom he calls Violet, provides Lowboy's backstory via Lateef's interrogation. Most chapters include some new piece of information that explains who Lowboy is, how he got there, and what he wants. But also leaves questions and a growing suspicion that there is more to the story.
This book is technically sound: Lowboy is likable and unpredictable and interesting. And like that character, I did want to beg him to stop talking like that. Meanwhile, Violet's day-long relationship with Lateef is tricky to define: antagonistic? flirtatious? I'm not sure how Wray invented this or juggled it, but there are no seams showing.
My only complaint is that my own lack of familiarity with the subway system made it hard to envision exactly where the characters were, or where they were headed. Especially when the descriptions are coming from Lowboy. So I got a little confused.
Also, I have a question about the ending, so someone needs to read this ASAP so we can talk about it.
aborted-efforts
May 21, 2009It's always hard for me to read fiction about topics I know too much about, though I'm not so sure why. Is it because I'm irrationally, childishly possessive of my knowledge, or is it more respectable, like the research and inaccuracies are more obvious then? I don't know. Everyone else loves this book, though, so I have to think my familiarity with schizophrenia was a distraction that kept me emotionally distant from what was probably a very well-written book. Similarly, being familiar with the setting didn't make this fun, just more irritating; for example the Dr. Zizmor subway ad references struck me as inside-jokey and inorganic, instead of part of the story for real, though again, in this case, I don't know quite why. For whatever reason I couldn't get into this book at all; the characters never seemed real to me, even for a minute, and I couldn't get away from my image of John Wray researching second-generation antipsychotics and mood stabilizers, riding the subways all around, taking copious notes. It all felt very researched and self-conscious to me, though I'm the first to admit that could just be because I'm too close to the material. If you are not a New York City social worker who works with severely mentally-ill populations, you'll probably love this book -- everyone else does! If you are, though, there's a chance that it might just annoy you, even if you bought it really hoping that you'd like it a lot.
I really wanna read some cool contemporary fiction! Am I too cranky and curmudgeonly to realize this dream???
I really wanna read some cool contemporary fiction! Am I too cranky and curmudgeonly to realize this dream???
June 14, 2009
Well. I had hoped this book would be better. It's about a paranoid schizophrenic boy who is no longer taking his meds. There has been an "incident" with a girl before he was "sent away", and now he is back out on the streets of New York. Lots of time spent riding the subway , interspersed with some odd scenes of his mother and a cop looking for him. (I say "scenes" because it did feel like I was watching some sort of screenplay here). There is a supposedly shocking part where it is revealed that the mom also is schizophrenic, although it didn't seem shocking or interesting. Of course Lowboy ends up finding the girl, who agrees to run off with him. And then there's the ending,which I won't spoil here, but... yeah. I think I groaned out loud.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2013
Lowboy è un libro sulla malattia mentale e sulla solitudine dell'uomo metropolitano. Dall'inizio alla fine si evince come ciascuno viva in un suo mondo, in una propria realtà intrisa di percezioni e presupposti svincolati da una realtà condivisa.
In pratica, l'assunto è che ciascuno a modo suo, sia uno schizofrenico con una propria realtà e che quindi sia questa la ragione della solitudine dell'uomo contemporaneo.
L'idea poteva essere interessante, ma sinceramente la traduzione è piena di errori e la storia in sè è noiosa. Non si comprende dove l'autore voglia portare il lettore, la prosa è approssimativa e la trama poco coerente.
La copertina, almeno quella, merita e porta la firma di Adrian Tomine noto per le copertine del New Yorker.
In pratica, l'assunto è che ciascuno a modo suo, sia uno schizofrenico con una propria realtà e che quindi sia questa la ragione della solitudine dell'uomo contemporaneo.
L'idea poteva essere interessante, ma sinceramente la traduzione è piena di errori e la storia in sè è noiosa. Non si comprende dove l'autore voglia portare il lettore, la prosa è approssimativa e la trama poco coerente.
La copertina, almeno quella, merita e porta la firma di Adrian Tomine noto per le copertine del New Yorker.
August 11, 2015
DNF. Pretentious and annoying. Disjointed and does not add a thing to the understanding of mental illness in teens. Couldn't care less about the characters.
March 7, 2012
This is a brilliant book, a masterpiece. Because it has the ability to bring about such intense emotional reactions and is so riveting, writing an adequate review of it is very difficult. It is like trying to describe why I get goosebumps when I listen to my favorite symphony played by the greatest orchestra or trying to describe why I felt the way I did when I first saw Botticelli's paintings at the Uffizi Museum in Florence.
This book is about a schizophrenic adolescent named Lowboy. Lowboy likes to ride the subways of New York. He has recently run away from the psychiatric facility where he was detained for over a year after pushing his girlfriend onto the subway tracks. His mother and the police are searching for him. The chapters alternate between ones that are in Lowboy's voice and others that are from the vantage point of the detective, Ali Lateef, and Lowboy's mother, Yda,who are searching for Lowboy.
In the chapters that are in Lowboy's voice we are taken into the world of a schizophrenic. As a clinical social worker who has worked extensively with the seriously and chronically mentally ill, I have never read a book that catches so lyrically, poetically, and tragically the true sense of what it is to be a paranoid schizophrenic. John Wray gets it. He paints a picture with his words, creating a sensibility and truth about this disease.
As Lowboy says on page 133, "The order of the world is not my order". He has been trying to buy some cupcakes and does not know how to convey the number of cupcakes he wants, what kind he wants or how to navigate the issue of cost. The situation ends up with Lowboy being asked to leave the store.
I found the following passage the most moving description of Lowboy's illness from his own perceptions. It is a passage from a letter to his mother.
"I was sitting in the Smoking Room reading the Wall Street
Journal when I saw the Schoolmaster aka Dr. Fleisig slid-
ing sideways down the hall. Fleisig is a friendly Medi-
terranean man he looks a little bit like Jacques Cousteau.
But this time I jumped up & dropped my cigarette and ran
to the door. Because I knew by then it wasn't really
Fleisig. He was changing his haircut every 6 or 7 steps
& playing temperature games inside his body. & at night
he used my hands and mouth to eat with." p. 144
The chapters from the detective and Lowboy's mother's perspective help give the reader additional information about Lowboy's childhood, his first psychotic break and the nature of his symptoms. His mother's grief and fear for his well-being are palpable. The detective is kindly and over time appears to be smitten with Lowboy's mother.
The story line is riveting. Lowboy is seeking his girlfriend who he is not supposed to see. He is also very worried about global warming. As he rides the subway lines we are privy to his inner thoughts, hallucinations and delusions. Mr. Wray has done his research about schizophrenia very thoroughly. Nothing seems artificial or postured.
This is a remarkable book, one that I believe has staying power over time and will be read for decades to come. It is rare that I read a book that thrills me. This one has. I applaud Mr. Wray and am grateful I had the opportunity to read this book.
This book is about a schizophrenic adolescent named Lowboy. Lowboy likes to ride the subways of New York. He has recently run away from the psychiatric facility where he was detained for over a year after pushing his girlfriend onto the subway tracks. His mother and the police are searching for him. The chapters alternate between ones that are in Lowboy's voice and others that are from the vantage point of the detective, Ali Lateef, and Lowboy's mother, Yda,who are searching for Lowboy.
In the chapters that are in Lowboy's voice we are taken into the world of a schizophrenic. As a clinical social worker who has worked extensively with the seriously and chronically mentally ill, I have never read a book that catches so lyrically, poetically, and tragically the true sense of what it is to be a paranoid schizophrenic. John Wray gets it. He paints a picture with his words, creating a sensibility and truth about this disease.
As Lowboy says on page 133, "The order of the world is not my order". He has been trying to buy some cupcakes and does not know how to convey the number of cupcakes he wants, what kind he wants or how to navigate the issue of cost. The situation ends up with Lowboy being asked to leave the store.
I found the following passage the most moving description of Lowboy's illness from his own perceptions. It is a passage from a letter to his mother.
"I was sitting in the Smoking Room reading the Wall Street
Journal when I saw the Schoolmaster aka Dr. Fleisig slid-
ing sideways down the hall. Fleisig is a friendly Medi-
terranean man he looks a little bit like Jacques Cousteau.
But this time I jumped up & dropped my cigarette and ran
to the door. Because I knew by then it wasn't really
Fleisig. He was changing his haircut every 6 or 7 steps
& playing temperature games inside his body. & at night
he used my hands and mouth to eat with." p. 144
The chapters from the detective and Lowboy's mother's perspective help give the reader additional information about Lowboy's childhood, his first psychotic break and the nature of his symptoms. His mother's grief and fear for his well-being are palpable. The detective is kindly and over time appears to be smitten with Lowboy's mother.
The story line is riveting. Lowboy is seeking his girlfriend who he is not supposed to see. He is also very worried about global warming. As he rides the subway lines we are privy to his inner thoughts, hallucinations and delusions. Mr. Wray has done his research about schizophrenia very thoroughly. Nothing seems artificial or postured.
This is a remarkable book, one that I believe has staying power over time and will be read for decades to come. It is rare that I read a book that thrills me. This one has. I applaud Mr. Wray and am grateful I had the opportunity to read this book.
April 22, 2012
Huh, so I went back and looked at Lowboy again, and I still think it's quite good, but this time around it feels a great deal thinner of character and has a number of unexplored / unearned conveniences, especially concerning the treatment the mother's illness. Still, it knocked me back hard and brought tears to my eyes.
Emotionally devastating, structurally perfect, and full of amazing sentences. Wray creates a consistent internal logic to Lowboy's schizophrenia -- which, considering the inherent contradiction, is quite a feat -- while also painting a kaleidoscopic, warped point of view that is as mad as it is memorable. Lowboy reads like a thriller; it's a great example of how plot needn't be complex to be riveting, as the finely drawn characters drive the story completely. Will need to read again in a year to say for sure, but Lowboy feels like a classic, and highly recommended for other writers. Nice to know that novels that aren't sugar-coated and feel-good can still get published by major presses. They just have to be utterly flawless. Now get to work.
Emotionally devastating, structurally perfect, and full of amazing sentences. Wray creates a consistent internal logic to Lowboy's schizophrenia -- which, considering the inherent contradiction, is quite a feat -- while also painting a kaleidoscopic, warped point of view that is as mad as it is memorable. Lowboy reads like a thriller; it's a great example of how plot needn't be complex to be riveting, as the finely drawn characters drive the story completely. Will need to read again in a year to say for sure, but Lowboy feels like a classic, and highly recommended for other writers. Nice to know that novels that aren't sugar-coated and feel-good can still get published by major presses. They just have to be utterly flawless. Now get to work.
May 6, 2009
I not sure what I think of this book. I finished it, which is why it gets at least three stars. The writing was pretty amazing - good enough to get four stars. The characters were well developed literary characters, the allegories were there. This book had everything necessary to make it a "great book." Maybe that was the problem - it was technically almost perfect but had little beyond that - there wasn't a lot of heart or emotional vulnerability. I spent half the time reading it imaging Wray writing it on the subways - drafting an outline for each chapter ("Lowbow explains his school to Emily - write as stream of conscience"), planning the plot disruptions ("reveal insight on Violet, end chapter, switch back to Lowboy's story").
June 5, 2009
I really don't understand what the hype is over this book. That's all I can say. I read it, didn't love it or hate it...it was just sort of there. The story wasn't overly interesting, the characters weren't overly interesting, I never felt invested in them, and the writing was fine but not mind-blowing. So again, what exactly are people going crazy over with this book? Either I'm missing something or people are just getting caught up in the hype of well-mangaged publicity. Sorry, I wanted to love it, just as I want to love every book I read. I even read some of it on the NYC subway (since that's where most of the book is set) but it never captured me.
March 16, 2009
Check out my review of Lowboy for the folks over at The Rumpus.
http://therumpus.net/2009/03/notes-fr...
http://therumpus.net/2009/03/notes-fr...
December 19, 2011
Underwhelming.
I expected more from this novel, though it is hard to say precisely what I had hoped for. Early reviews were near raves, and I can objectively see why: There is much to admire in the prose. It is controlled and appropriately claustrophobic and smart. Wray is intent on getting us inside the head of a paranoid schizophrenic, and I suppose he succeeds, as far as that goes.
But I found myself thinking "So what?" throughout much of this. I suppose I wanted some grander context-setting, something that places this story (affecting at times, sure) into relation with my life and world. Instead, the story works small: very focused, very close, very much concerned with the ins and outs of a schizophrenic's experiences after he goes off his meds and disappears into the NYC subways. (As well, there are clunky intercut chapters with two characters who are hunting the boy as he rides the trains; these chapters are deeply unconvincing for some reason. Without the excuse-for-interest of schizophrenia, these character portraits come off as artificially thin and reveal the style for the cramped and cramping thing it is.)
Some reviewers praise the "suspense novel-like pacing," but I think they're stretching. Yes, there is a little bit of suspense, but it is not of a page-turning variety. More it is the paltry art of withholding information. Two final bits—a "revelation" that most readers will have figured out by page fifty, and a last paragraph reversal—feel expected, and because of that, aren't terribly moving. More you read these bits and think, Ah, so that's the way the story goes; thought it would.
All of that aside, may read more of Wray's fiction. He's clearly good; this novel just struck me as a bit cramped.
I expected more from this novel, though it is hard to say precisely what I had hoped for. Early reviews were near raves, and I can objectively see why: There is much to admire in the prose. It is controlled and appropriately claustrophobic and smart. Wray is intent on getting us inside the head of a paranoid schizophrenic, and I suppose he succeeds, as far as that goes.
But I found myself thinking "So what?" throughout much of this. I suppose I wanted some grander context-setting, something that places this story (affecting at times, sure) into relation with my life and world. Instead, the story works small: very focused, very close, very much concerned with the ins and outs of a schizophrenic's experiences after he goes off his meds and disappears into the NYC subways. (As well, there are clunky intercut chapters with two characters who are hunting the boy as he rides the trains; these chapters are deeply unconvincing for some reason. Without the excuse-for-interest of schizophrenia, these character portraits come off as artificially thin and reveal the style for the cramped and cramping thing it is.)
Some reviewers praise the "suspense novel-like pacing," but I think they're stretching. Yes, there is a little bit of suspense, but it is not of a page-turning variety. More it is the paltry art of withholding information. Two final bits—a "revelation" that most readers will have figured out by page fifty, and a last paragraph reversal—feel expected, and because of that, aren't terribly moving. More you read these bits and think, Ah, so that's the way the story goes; thought it would.
All of that aside, may read more of Wray's fiction. He's clearly good; this novel just struck me as a bit cramped.
May 2, 2009
Heavily influenced by The Mysterious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time (down to the unexpected diagram) except Lowboy is not exactly sweet and innocent the way the boy in Haddon's book was. Also,the author does not catch the paranoid-schizophrenic mindset as well as Haddon captured the autistic. I should know--I deal with schizphrenics a lot in my job. While the portentous tone of impending doom is not irritating as in The Book Thief but certainly isn't as thrilling as Donnie Darko either.
Highly readable altho' the character of the mother did not hang together for me.
The most disturbing and thought-provoking aspect of the novel, in my opinion, was Emily's character. She has been assaulted by Lowboy before, easily forgives him, estranges herself from her father because of this, and then quickly welcomes him back into her life when he reappears. Does she think she is invincible? Is she masochistic? Do Lowboy's Brad Pitt looks get him this far? Why do girls risk so much for so little?
Highly readable altho' the character of the mother did not hang together for me.
The most disturbing and thought-provoking aspect of the novel, in my opinion, was Emily's character. She has been assaulted by Lowboy before, easily forgives him, estranges herself from her father because of this, and then quickly welcomes him back into her life when he reappears. Does she think she is invincible? Is she masochistic? Do Lowboy's Brad Pitt looks get him this far? Why do girls risk so much for so little?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2010
post: Holy shit this was incredible. Disassociating, frustrating, unbelievably intense. Plus it's extremely New York–centric, which I always adore; it just never gets old for me when the characters are standing on a corner I've stood on, I know it's insular and probably obnoxious to non-NY-ers, but I don't care, I love it I love it.
I've got a lot more to say about this book – including lines I want to quote and plot points I'd like to analyze – but I loved it so much that I loaned it out immediately upon finishing, so a review with a close read will have to wait. Luckily the boy who's borrowing it is one who I know will return it...eventually.
pre: Oooh boy. I went to a very cool panel discussion this eve, "Publishing in the Age of Blah Blah Blah," and John Wray was the star of the show (along with the ever-awesome Joe Meno and the relentlessly adorable Myla Goldberg). I've been meaning to read this for awhile anyway, and now it's in my hot little hand!
I've got a lot more to say about this book – including lines I want to quote and plot points I'd like to analyze – but I loved it so much that I loaned it out immediately upon finishing, so a review with a close read will have to wait. Luckily the boy who's borrowing it is one who I know will return it...eventually.
pre: Oooh boy. I went to a very cool panel discussion this eve, "Publishing in the Age of Blah Blah Blah," and John Wray was the star of the show (along with the ever-awesome Joe Meno and the relentlessly adorable Myla Goldberg). I've been meaning to read this for awhile anyway, and now it's in my hot little hand!
March 19, 2013
Stunning. Haunting. Brutal. Just a few of the adjectives I'd use to describe this tour de force from John Wray. A portrayal of schizophrenia that is compelling without being diagnostic, forced, condescending, or trapped in any of the other pitfalls that often nullify novels about mental illness. It is at once a story of a coming-of-age, of young love, of parenthood, and of loss, not to mention a near-perfect portrait of New York City. The pacing is immaculate. The writing is at times blindingly chaotic and deeply grounded, sometimes even all at once. You will not put it down. Five stars.
June 13, 2014
A couple of people whose opinions I really respect recommended Lowboy to me, saying it was in a similar vein to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I think that one really has to be a fan of the recent trend to write in a flat, unemotional, almost neurasthenic manner in order to like this book. I am not a fan of it. This book's tone reminded me a lot of Steve Rasnic Tem's Deadfall Hotel. Both books deal with extraordinary situations involving deep emotion yet felt very similar to reading the back of a cereal box. By the time I was 2/3 finished, I was near desperate with frustration for the book to end already.
Will Heller is a schizophrenic who escaped from psych lockdown in order to complete a mission to save the world. His mission is never made clear in any manner and it's not because of the frenetic, changeable manner of some forms of schizophrenia. It's because Will is an unclear cypher. His interactions with others ring false, especially his interaction with another mentally ill person who lives in the subway system. His mother, Violet, is trying to find him before the worst happens and she is helped by Ali Lateef, who is a "missing persons specialist." Neither character has any meat to them. Violet has a DUN DUN DUN big secret that spurs her on to help find her son and you will know what that secret is very quickly.
The whole book hinges on people doing inexplicable, stupid things. You expect it from Will/Lowboy. He's mentally ill and unmedicated. But Violet behaves inexplicably and in a manner that does not make even the most basic level of sense. For example, she sees two kids walking along the sidewalk and more or less tackles them before she realizes the kids are not her missing son and his ex-girlfriend. The characterization is so shaky and the writing so predictable that it's not even a spoiler to reveal that the two kids are not who Violet thinks they are.
In the most inexplicable part of this book, Ali falls for Violet and I have no idea why. No clue as to what any man could find attractive about Violet. No idea what was going on with that. None.
Interestingly, Emily, Lowboy's ex-girlfriend, was the character who got the fewest lines but was the most realized character in the book. She's a clever teenager, full of bravada, who follows the ill but attractive Will into danger. But when danger comes, she recognizes it. Wray should write a book about Emily. She was awesome.
He may have, in fact, written a book about Emily. I don't know. He has other books out but I don't think I will be reading them any time soon. I just don't like this manner of story-telling. I need more oomph. I need emotions that play out in a tangible manner. I need to understand the decisions of the sane characters. I need more catharsis than this book could offer.
Two stars because I felt a glimmer of excellent story-telling when Emily was on the page.
Will Heller is a schizophrenic who escaped from psych lockdown in order to complete a mission to save the world. His mission is never made clear in any manner and it's not because of the frenetic, changeable manner of some forms of schizophrenia. It's because Will is an unclear cypher. His interactions with others ring false, especially his interaction with another mentally ill person who lives in the subway system. His mother, Violet, is trying to find him before the worst happens and she is helped by Ali Lateef, who is a "missing persons specialist." Neither character has any meat to them. Violet has a DUN DUN DUN big secret that spurs her on to help find her son and you will know what that secret is very quickly.
The whole book hinges on people doing inexplicable, stupid things. You expect it from Will/Lowboy. He's mentally ill and unmedicated. But Violet behaves inexplicably and in a manner that does not make even the most basic level of sense. For example, she sees two kids walking along the sidewalk and more or less tackles them before she realizes the kids are not her missing son and his ex-girlfriend. The characterization is so shaky and the writing so predictable that it's not even a spoiler to reveal that the two kids are not who Violet thinks they are.
In the most inexplicable part of this book, Ali falls for Violet and I have no idea why. No clue as to what any man could find attractive about Violet. No idea what was going on with that. None.
Interestingly, Emily, Lowboy's ex-girlfriend, was the character who got the fewest lines but was the most realized character in the book. She's a clever teenager, full of bravada, who follows the ill but attractive Will into danger. But when danger comes, she recognizes it. Wray should write a book about Emily. She was awesome.
He may have, in fact, written a book about Emily. I don't know. He has other books out but I don't think I will be reading them any time soon. I just don't like this manner of story-telling. I need more oomph. I need emotions that play out in a tangible manner. I need to understand the decisions of the sane characters. I need more catharsis than this book could offer.
Two stars because I felt a glimmer of excellent story-telling when Emily was on the page.
April 26, 2009
I read a review of this book in The New Yorker and was intrigued by a story told through the eyes of a paranoid schizophrenic teenage boy. The review had a few good things to say about the book, and I’m generally very fascinated by schizophrenia. But if you want to get a feeling for what goes on in the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic, I’m not sure this book does it – maybe because schizophrenia is such a complicated “disease.” (I remember reading an article by some fringe psychoanalyst who was saying that schizophrenia is not a disease, but a form of poetry!) Some parts of the book could possibly be similar to the mad thoughts of a paranoid schizophrenic – but then, who knows? The story was a drag, and the “shocking revelation” at the end wasn’t very well developed. The writing zigzagged a lot between good and tedious. You can find sentences like this that make you wonder what the author was thinking: The words left an odd taste behind, like aspirin mixed with tap water. John Wray seems to have a knack for writing sentences that could be submitted to some Worst Analogy contest.
October 3, 2015
Despite its high minded and incredibly (and genuinely) interesting premise, this novel unfortunately falls fairly flat on its face. John Wray can spin a sentence and his metaphors and imagery is skilled...but unfortunately misplaced here. This book's main problem (and failing) is an odd combination of sparsity and pretension; Wray seems to just assume his characters are inherently compelling and, mistaking a lack of grounding and development for a minimalist turn, gives us instead a very bare, very cool and, in the end, very apathetic portrayal of one of the most 'alive' cities on the planet (New York, of course).
There is some to respect from this novel but again, as stated, Wray un-spools many threads of beautiful description....but then opts to leave most, close to all, of those threads at the reader's feet...leaving it to us, I guess, to glean something from all of it?
So, I can recommend this novel but only with many caveats the first and most prescient being don't expect too much and maybe, maybe, you'll take an admirable piece away from this overall lacking whole.
There is some to respect from this novel but again, as stated, Wray un-spools many threads of beautiful description....but then opts to leave most, close to all, of those threads at the reader's feet...leaving it to us, I guess, to glean something from all of it?
So, I can recommend this novel but only with many caveats the first and most prescient being don't expect too much and maybe, maybe, you'll take an admirable piece away from this overall lacking whole.
June 5, 2009
Oh, Will. You will stay with me for a long time.
Our eponymous protagonist, William Heller, steps onto an uptown B train one November 11 morning to begin a quest his paranoid schizophrenic brain has convinced him he must complete, or the world will end. The world is too hot, and he's too hot, and he has to find someone to help him cool down. His mother, Violet, and a detective, Lateef, try to catch up with him before he is lost to his own misfiring brain. As Will's journey advances and he moves under and within New York City, his psychosis claims more and more of his mind and everyone involved -- including the reader -- begins to understand where he's headed.
Breathtakingly crafted, Wray shows you the world that Will sees, but then takes you out long enough to look around and catch a breath. Very readable, and highly recommended; especially if you can read most of it while actually on the subway.
Our eponymous protagonist, William Heller, steps onto an uptown B train one November 11 morning to begin a quest his paranoid schizophrenic brain has convinced him he must complete, or the world will end. The world is too hot, and he's too hot, and he has to find someone to help him cool down. His mother, Violet, and a detective, Lateef, try to catch up with him before he is lost to his own misfiring brain. As Will's journey advances and he moves under and within New York City, his psychosis claims more and more of his mind and everyone involved -- including the reader -- begins to understand where he's headed.
Breathtakingly crafted, Wray shows you the world that Will sees, but then takes you out long enough to look around and catch a breath. Very readable, and highly recommended; especially if you can read most of it while actually on the subway.
December 13, 2011
ordered this from the library, when I got there it was a large print edition. Are they trying to tell me something? Mind you it is so easy to read..
..review will follow. Trying to catch up, been busy...
just a few notes I made at the time: I was sucked up into the boy’s ‘crazy’ but ‘logical’ schizophrenic world (eg. a TV is a microscope with a big blue eye behind it) where buying a cupcake is a tantamount to destroying the world, and where his old girlfriend has to guide him and be careful for her own safety.
Some marvellous teetering description of how he sees the world.
Initially disappointed with Lateef the detective assigned to find ‘Lowboy’ because it seemed to be ticking all the 'quirky detective' boxes – but this aspect became more readable when he is joined by lowboy’s immigrant mother in the chase for him. She has her own fascination and effect on the detective...
..review will follow. Trying to catch up, been busy...
just a few notes I made at the time: I was sucked up into the boy’s ‘crazy’ but ‘logical’ schizophrenic world (eg. a TV is a microscope with a big blue eye behind it) where buying a cupcake is a tantamount to destroying the world, and where his old girlfriend has to guide him and be careful for her own safety.
Some marvellous teetering description of how he sees the world.
Initially disappointed with Lateef the detective assigned to find ‘Lowboy’ because it seemed to be ticking all the 'quirky detective' boxes – but this aspect became more readable when he is joined by lowboy’s immigrant mother in the chase for him. She has her own fascination and effect on the detective...
May 7, 2009
Astonishingly good; the best novel of the year so far for me. William ("Lowboy"), a teen schizophrenic is on the loose in the NYC subway system pursued by his mom and a cop, who are fearful he might do something violent. William's interior voices (or voices) seem completely believable to me (although what do I know about schizophrenia really). The threat of sudden violence (how? to whom?) keeps the story tense as a electrified wire. The other characters - Violet (his mom), Lateef (the cop), and Emily (the girlfriend) are intriguing and precisely drawn. The author has some tricks up his sleeve for the very end, although I haven't made up my mind about these yet.
If you get a chance to LISTEN to the audio version (narrated by P. M. Garcia), it's outstanding.
If you get a chance to LISTEN to the audio version (narrated by P. M. Garcia), it's outstanding.
April 27, 2009
This is a good look into paranoid schizophrenia, without being too much of a lesson on the illness (comparable, in a way, to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time). The city of New York was one of the main characters, especially the subway lines, which was done well without being over-the-top in detail.
Lowboy/Will's characterization pulled me in from the beginning. I don't think that the author was quite as successful with Violet's character, as I found myself skimming her sections to get back to Lowboy.
I really liked Wray's writing style, and I look forward to reading another novel from him in the future.
Lowboy/Will's characterization pulled me in from the beginning. I don't think that the author was quite as successful with Violet's character, as I found myself skimming her sections to get back to Lowboy.
I really liked Wray's writing style, and I look forward to reading another novel from him in the future.
May 25, 2009
John Wray's dizzyingly seductive "Lowboy" is a tale told by a schizophrenic teenager. (Farrar Straus Giroux, $25). Wray's protagonist is on the lam from a mental institution, loose among the commuters and winos and rolling thunder of the Manhattan subway. Making your central character deeply insane is, of course, a risky and ambitious trick, but Wray carries it off with a fluid, inventive style that rises at times to a frightening pitch. Lowboy is an amplified hero for our times; despite his violence and craziness and incoherence, he is fundamentally sweet and in search of love.
April 27, 2020
Interesting premise - a psychotic teenager, Will, AKA 'Lowboy' escapes from an institution, with the intention to undertake a mission centred around the New York underground, a world that he is familiar with, and has spent a lot of time in. His mother and an NYPD's Ali Lateef are tasked with finding him before he does himself or anyone any harm. An interesting read, trying to truly get inside the non-linear head of not only a teenager but a teenager with a psychosis. 5 out of 12
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May 27, 2009A fine and troubling work. Takes place over the course of one day in NYC. Narrator is schizophrenic on the lam in the subway system trying to save the world from global warming by losing his virginity. Wray is the king of the simile, unusual and poetic comparisons abound. Touching and disturbing! Highly recommended.
April 14, 2009
LOWBOY is a brilliant novel, nearly impossible to put down. Wray takes you inside the head of a young paranoid schizophrenic, who's stopped taking his meds. An amazing job of capturing that delusional perspective.
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