The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry (Review by Karina Kaushal)

Rating: 4 stars

This review was difficult for me to write, because even though the story is so relatable and I enjoyed it, it’s hard to explain the inner workings of a woman that is trying to find her footing in the world both personally and professionally. Sometimes the decisions we make during this self-discovery make little sense to anyone else. That’s why it makes perfect sense that Mary Pauline Lowry illustrates is complicated journey through her main character, Roxy. Roxy narrates the story in the form of letters to her ex-boyfriend. It starts out as a couple of notes for him to read and transforms into a daily journal of her reflections under the guise of letters that are never actually read.

Roxy is living her life in utter disarray, with a low-wage job, a passion for art that is so overwhelming she’s paralyzed by it, being taken advantage of by undeserving men, waiting for the dust to settle, and for everything to fall into place. We’ve all been there. Where we want to be self-sufficient, responsible adults, making a positive difference in the world, but are struggling to find a clear means to the end.

It was funny that Roxy was in a way, trying to force her ex-boyfriend to be there for her as a friend, while also being clear about her disinterest in him. At first, it seemed like she may be in denial about her feelings toward him, but I quickly realized that it’s easy to lean on people that are familiar and understand the way you function. Those people can really support you. Whether they want to or not!

While reading a collection of letters was a very different way of following a story, I thought it was a cute, light-hearted read. Roxy is an honest, well-intentioned woman, which makes it easy to empathize with her. She’s also quite witty. She keeps using the expression, “Oh my goddess!” and I was sure the editors missed a major typo in the ARC. Perhaps it was meant to say, “Oh my goodness”? When I realized it was a feminist play on, “Oh my God”, I couldn’t help laughing every time I saw it.

Two thumbs up for this read!