Did that just happen?!?!I found myself shifting loyalties throughout the book - especially toward the author. Did I like how he was portraying Lowboy, which was the reason I was drawn to this novel in the first place - there was definitely a personal stakes for me here....At times, I thought the descriptions of a person experiencing schizophrenia was very realistic, and then other times, the prose flagged or discombobulated me (particularly the descriptions of sexual desire, or lust, or whatever it really was....not sexy, at all, and also not really tender, just super hard to read, sometimes) - and then towards the end, I started realizing that probably much of it was intentional. There are some big reveals toward the end.All in all, a pretty suspenseful, taut, well-paced detective story - at times, quite dark and disturbing (hence the black title, I suppose), so not exactly my cup of tea. I wouldn't exactly say it is a fun read, but it fits nicely into a morning/afternoon commute, while waiting for various public transportation....in a major metropolis. And, speaking of that, the setting of New York City can't be beat. The story really does transport you back to those environs, and I was definitely in need of my New York fix.I'm not sure I'm as motivated to keep reading more of the author's works - even though, he's one of those "it' authors, up and coming and all that. Though because of the fact that he's already written this story, I don't feel like I can do the genre (of a disturbed mental patient on the run) any more justice. Maybe I could be wrong, but he traversed some good territory here. I tried to make comparisons to Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which is probably the seminal piece of this genre - set predominately in a mental institution, with an interlude on a sailing trip - and I don't find the characters here living up to the charisma of the anti-hero, Randle McMurphy, and patients in Cuckoo. The darkness and the fear are there though - so, now that I think of it more, I'm actually sort of angry at the book for the way it may reenforce negative stereotypes of the danger posed by mentally ill people. Actually, on even more thought, I don't think John Wray is that blunt or neat about it. For a cursory reader, perhaps one may be tempted to reduce them that way, but he's actually a lot more nuanced in his depiction - there is a slight amount of sympathy, unfortunately buried in a lot of disgust. There's no single message here - it's a pretty complex picture, and because of that, might not be as easy to digest. Not for everyone; it may grow on you. Lowboy is Will Heller, a young schizophrenic, who has been released from his hospital/school and is now on the run through New York City's subway system. As he encounters others with their own mental illnesses and tries to save the world by having sex, his mother Violet works with a detective to try to track him down.This was an interesting look at the thought processes of someone with schizophrenia. While I didn't quite get what was wrong with Violet and that whole storyline, I was intrigued by Will's relationship with Emily as well as his interactions with the people who seemed to live in the subway. Given that a high percentage of the homeless are mentally ill, it made sense that almost everyone he met was a little (or a lot) off, and the author did a great job making these conversations sound very much like something you would hear on the subway - which to a "normal" person would sound insane, but once you got into Will's head and understood his thought process, it made sense (for the most part). The book as a whole was a bit slow and I would really only recommend it for readers interested in psychology.
What do You think about Retter Der Welt (2009)?
really interesting, story wise and technically. A must for New Yorkers.
—lilmissswaggaaj
