Lowboy is one of the most original novels I have read in some time. The story is riveting and the treatment of the characters compassionate.

In some athletic competitions, judges give higher scores for moves with a higher degree of difficulty; Wray has definitely earned his high score here for his portrayal of a boy tormented by mental illness. ( )

It feels like a student novel. Everything takes a little too long: too much exposition, too much back story, too much posturing, too much cuteness. It reminded me a little bit of Donnie Darko, not in a bad way necessarily. ( )

Weird book. I've been reading a lot of bleh books lately... I'm desperately in need of recommendations (hint hint). ( )

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. ( )

A schizophrenic teenage boy escapes the hospital and heads for the NY subway. His mother and a detective are in pursuit. This author is a brilliant writer! His descriptive powers are insane. You see, feel, smell and hear things as Will does and it is incredible and disturbing. The book takes of like the express train and never relents. You ride with him, and hold your breath the entire time. Good thing this is a fast read! A new Carcher in the Rye! ( )