Lowboy

Reviews / Votes

A twenty-first century Holden Caulfield. * * Observer * * Lowboy is exceptionally tender and acute . . . John Wray is a daring young writer. -- James Wood * * The New Yorker * * A smart, moving thriller, and a deeply imaginative one, too. * * Time Out * * Uncompromising, gripping and generally excellent . . . Immensely satisfying. -- Charles Bock * * The New York Times Book Review * * One of our most astonishing and relevant young writers. * * Esquire * * 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 The novel has a thriller-like pace, and Wray keeps us riveted and guessing . . . The opening pages recall Salinger's Holden Caulfield, but the denouement and haunting aftertaste may make the stunned reader whisper "Dostoevsky." Yes, it really is that good. * * Kirkus * * Sucks you into the tunnels under New York and doesn't let you go until its perfect ending. Wray effortlessly portrays the cracked and distorted mind of his teenage hero. What a beguiling novel. -- TIM PEARS, author of In the Place of Fallen Leaves A psychotic, subterranean, environmentally conscious coming-of-age novel. It is also an affecting and affectionate love letter to New York. -- NATHAN ENGLANDER, author of The Ministry of Special Cases John Wray is the Next Wave of American fiction, and Lowboy, his crazy excavation of New York's underground, is brilliant. -- Jonathan Letham