Newtonville Books Community Blog

John Wray’s Lowboy is a delightfully strange read that I just couldn’t put down. Although the novel’s premise — sixteen-year old Will “Lowboy” Heller is a paranoid schizophrenic who’s escaped from a mental hospital and is on a quest to lose his virginity, but not for the reason most sixteen-year old boys try to lose their virginity; he’s convinced that it’s the only way to save the planet from global warming — is fairly absurd, Wray’s ability to evoke the sights and sounds of the New York underground as well as the fractured reality which Will inhabits is electric. While Will and his friend, Emily Wallace, navigate the subway system, Will’s mother and an NYPD detective frantically search Manhattan for the two. Lowboy is compelling start to finish, utterly unique, and immensely tender, and Wray’s characters stick with you long after the novel’s end.