The Roxy Letters

February 3, 2020
In Lowry’s fizzy epistolary novel (after Wildfire), an aspiring artist tries to thwart gentrification in her Austin, Tex., neighborhood, with madcap results. Roxy, a 28-year-old vegan, never thought she’d be working at a Whole Foods deli counter. Her housemate and ex-boyfriend, Everett, rarely pays rent on time; her dog’s vet bills are through the roof; and the tweakers next door seem bent on making her life miserable. When she notices that a shiny athleisure shop has replaced her favorite video store, she vows to “tackle” the place “to the motherfucking ground.” Lowry’s choice to write the novel as letters to Everett has the destabilizing effect of making Roxy’s new friends seem imaginary, like the fabulously quirky Artemis Starla, who seems to Roxy to have been reading her mail after they trade barbs against consumerism. In the letters, Roxy documents her crusade (a hand-painted protest sign reads “NO $100 TIGHTS, WE WANT OUR RIGHTS”) and its frequent side trips, divulging accounts of shockingly bad sex (no matter how many offerings she makes to the goddess Venus) and a hilariously humiliating experience at an orgasm convention. While bighearted Roxy manages to land on her feet, her misadventures are often so absurdly cartoonish that the few sobering moments have less impact. Fans of screwball comedies that don’t delve too deep should be pleased.

Jayme Mattler's throaty, laid-back presentation is the perfect foil for this quirky audiobook. It's a smart glimpse of a millennial's take on the changing city of Austin, Texas, and her examination of her underachieving life. It's all triggered by a Lululemon store opening up near the Whole Foods where she works. Through a series of letters to her former boyfriend/roommate that she writes but doesn't deliver, Roxy explores life, love, activism, feminism, and the "joys" of having meth heads living next door. Veering from the absurd to the sublime, from the hilarious to the poignant, this audiobook is a pleasure to hear. Mattler keeps to a steady cadence that makes the listener experience the story in a personal way. A.C.P. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine