Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Apr.)
Kirkus Review
A series of mostly undelivered letters from a vegan Whole Foods deli maid and Goddess worshiper to her slacker ex-boyfriend."Dear Everett, Perhaps I've invited you to move into my spare bedroom against my better judgment." Judgment is not the long suit of Poxy Roxyso dubbed by her evil supervisor, Dirty Steve, during a bout with chickenpox. Feeling adrift, she turns to columnist Dear Sugar for advice. "The best thing you can possibly do with your life is tackle the motherfucking shit out of it," says Sugar, and to Roxy, this means organizing a campaign to take down the Lululemon store that is moving into the space once occupied by her beloved Waterloo Videobecause Lululemon is not a funky local business. Meanwhile, she's right across the street at the behemoth Whole Foods flagship store, which erased the character of this supposedly historic intersection when it opened in 1980. Well, it used to be a funky local business, before Roxy was born. Only animal rights is a stronger motivator for Roxy than confused anti-corporate nostalgia. "Thank Goddess that Spider House is still going strong, despite the fact that Starbucks stores have spread through the city faster than an STD in a retirement home." A clitoral masturbation cult, romantic liaisons with a skateboarder and a drummer, a feud with her meth-head neighbors, the near death of her weiner dog due to choking on the crotch of her pleather underpantsthe predicaments never stop for our millennial heroine. Lowry is the heir apparent to Sarah Bird, whose comic novels Alamo House and The Boyfriend School perfectly captured the Austin of the 1980s. Roxy would love them. We will always remember this as the book that taught us the word "kyriarchy." Look it up.Bursts with quirky spirit and gleeful comic energy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Twentysomething Roxy dabbles with veganism, falls for the wrong guys, hangs out in dive bars, and wages war on her meth-addled next door neighbors. But maintaining her lifestyle costs money, and her part-time job at the deli of the original Whole Foods store in Austin doesn't pay enough to cover the bills, especially since her cringeworthy slacker boss, Dirty Steve, routinely threatens to fire her. When Roxy discovers that the former site of her favorite video store has become a Lululemon, she's motivated to do something to protect the character of her city. Egged on by her new friend Artemis, Roxy plans a protest of the store and everything it represents: pseudofeminism, body shaming, and the changing landscape of her beloved hometown. The Roxy Letters reimagines the tropes of chick lit for a new generation, complete with absurdly funny situations, ambivalence about adulthood, and the desire for connection and fulfilling relationships. But Roxy is far more than a cooler Bridget Jones--she's a big-hearted, awkward, uproariously funny woman whose endearing antics and odd-yet-relatable struggles will resonate with millennial and Gen X readers.