- MP3 CD: 1 pages
- Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; MP3 Una edition (April 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1433288028
- ISBN-13: 978-1433288029
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,443,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Amazon Best of the Month, March 2009: I'm not the first and certainly won't be the last reader to herald Lowboy for the subtle homage it pays to one of the best-known heroes in 20th-century fiction, or to envy and delight in its masterful vision of New York City as seen from its darkest, most primal places. What's most seductive for me about John Wray's third novel--and arguably the one that puts him squarely on the map alongside contemporary luminaries like Joseph O'Neill, Jonathan Lethem, and Junot Diaz--is how skillfully it maps the mind's mysterious terrain. This isn't exactly uncharted land: John Wray's Will Heller--a.k.a. Lowboy--is a paranoid schizophrenic who, certain of both his own dysfunction and of the world's imminent collapse by way of global warming, could easily remind you of Ken Kesey, but Wray handles that subtext delicately and is careful to make Will's mission to "cool down" and save the world feel single-minded without being moralistic. Wray invokes all the classic elements of a mystery in the telling, and that's what makes this novel such a searing read. As Will rides the subway in pursuit of a final solution to the crisis at hand, we meet (among others) Will's mother Violet, an Austrian by birth with an inscrutable intensity that gives the story a decidedly noir feel; Ali Lateef, the unflappable detective investigating Will's disappearance whose touch of brilliance always seems in danger of being snuffed out; and Emily Wallace, the young woman at the heart of Will's tragic odyssey. The novel moves seamlessly between Will's fits and starts below ground and Violet and Ali's equally staccato investigation of each other above. This kind of pacing is the stuff we crave (and we think you will, too)--the kind that draws you in so unawares that before you know it, it's past midnight and you're down to the last page. --Anne Bartholomew
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
'America's most original young writer has given us a book for the ages. Compelling, compassionate, and deeply unsettling, Lowboy introduces us to the brilliant sixteen-year-old Will Heller, a Holden Caulfield for our troubled times.' Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Characters I didn't care for,
By
This review is from: Lowboy (Hardcover)
The misadventures of a 16 year old schizophrenic boy in the subways of New York City. Sounds good, doesn't it? It did and that's why I picked up this book but it was ultimately a very big disappointment. There were promises of the character being similar to Holden Caulfield, he wasn't, he was simply a yammering mental patient.There was also the subplot with Lowboy's mother and the detective who is helping her to find him. It was completely unnecessary and a bore. Perhaps the book was well-researched and realistic, at least on the side of a teenage schizophrenic. I don't understand why a detective would be so preoccupied with finding him and spending days upon days with his mother. As far as the teenage schizophrenic goes. I think Lowboy could have been more provocative. I never felt any sympathy for him. I thought he was just a yammering idiot who spoke a lot of nonsense and had deranegd theories about global warming. Perhaps that's what schizophrenics are like but I think there should have been more to the character than a textbook version of a teenage schizophrenic.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inside the Mind of a Teenage Schizophrenic,
By
This review is from: Lowboy (Hardcover)
"Lowboy" has all the ingredients for an outstanding book, a great setting, interesting complex characters, and intense suspense. However, I believe that this will make a much better movie than it does a novel which is why I haven't rated it higher.Having said that, one has to give John Wray a ton of credit for tackling such a complicated project as a novel. And certainly there are some great parts of the book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters which include a teenage schizophrenic are probably too complex to be accurately portrayed through the written word. But, Wray makes up for it through his intricate details of the New York Subway system in which most of the book takes place. Overall, I felt that John Wray did as much as he could given the complexity of the characters and story. I definitely look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (57 customer reviews) 54 of 63 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
sad but true,
By Jacob Shade "avid reader and bibliophile" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lowboy (Hardcover)
After reading the Sunday Times I was eager to get my hands on this book. The notion of detailing the psychology of a teenage schitzophrenic appealed to me because of the sheer challenge such a project would entail - an attempt to express the ineffable, if you will. It is difficult to argue that Wrey succeeds in his effort, since I have no personal experiance with schitzophrenia, but the psychology that he does map out in this underground world (so to speak) is nothing short of impressive.One has to applaud Wrey not only for the control of his prose and the range of his strokes, but also for all the subtleties that bring out the character of the protagonist and of the city he exists in. For instance, the setting is the New York City subway, which, like public transportation systems in most major cities, is filled with that strange sense of "otherness." The subway itself has that schitzophrenic, "wasteland" (in the TS Eliot sense of the word) surreality. It's like looking well under the cracks of society, and, in effect, finding the unstable essence underneath. There are other subtle aspects of the narrative that work to same effect (like ciphers embedded in the text, or the ebb and flow of the structure), but I probably shouldn't spoil these things for others. There were a couple of instances where I felt a little enclosed in the simple, declarative style of minimalism that Wrey wrote in. On the other hand, the decision to do seems fitting and appropriate; that is, symptomatic of the protagonist's incapacitating schitzophrenia. Other times the way that Wrey describes the surreality of this almost hallucinogenic world has a poetic edge that is on point. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite novel, or the best written novel, and certainly not a novel for everyone, but it is a fantastic display of literary sense. I called this review "sad but true" because this novel, in its entirety, really is sad when you conisder it, but it's also true, especially given the social stigma that sorrounds mental illness. To try and write a novel that handles such subject matter fairly is a kind and sympathetic gesture. 48 of 58 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suspense!,
By Amber Pierce "APierce" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lowboy (Hardcover)
This is just by far the novel of the year for me--profound and beautiful and edge-of-your-seat thrilling at the same time. Where did this John Wray come from? I hadn't heard about either of his other two novels, although the critics seem to have gone ga-ga over them, too. I can't gush over this book enough. I was so entertained and entranced reading it that at one point I didn't even realize I was crying. I just flipped over this thing. Did I mention that it's also really funny?
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
John Wray's masterpiece,
By Ronald Stainbrook "Ron Stainbrook" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lowboy (Hardcover)
Having stumbled upon this novel quite by accident, I was mesmerized by the story of a psychotic adolescent who has escaped from a mental institution and his mother's frantic efforts to save him or to save anyone whom he might harm in a story that covers just a little over 24 hours.Many parts of the book are told through the paranoid schizophrenic eyes of the beautiful 16-year old boy, adding a great deal of realism to the tragic yet hopeful story. Wray has apparently accomplished a great deal of insight into the mind of paranoid schizophrenia as well as the mind of innocent youth throughout the world. Woven into this thrilling story is the beautiful and enigmatic mother and the thoughtful and provocative detective she hires to catch the boy before he harms himself or someone in his way to accomplish what he must accomplish to save the world. Reserve some time for this novel because once you start reading it, you won't be able to put it down. |
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