Roxy by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Brother and sister, Isaac and Ivy Ramey take drugs for different reasons. The novel begins with the overdose of one, made ambiguous by their similar names. The teenagers’ respective backstories flesh out the plot throughout the rest of the book but the reader’s apprehension is palpable knowing one will not make it.
The other two main characters are the actual drugs they take, who are personified as Gods inhabiting a whole endless nightclub party/underworld where opioids are embodied youthful gods marking potential addicts for their sport and scoring higher as they groom victims. Roxy is Oxycodone (Isaac’s pain relief) and Addison is really Adderall (Ivy’s meth-based medication to treat her ADHD).
When not at school, training or hanging out, the human siblings find themselves in need of the medications more and more and eventually progress to the VIP room where the ‘Gods’ introduce them to harder drugs. Other drugs make their presence felt. e.g. Naloxone cares for users who overdose. Alongside the main plot are interludes from other drug addicts as the natural conversational tone of the drug (gods) demonstrate what they do and how they make their humans feel. Thus this novel potentially emphasizes the opioid crisis without glamourising it. Roxy lures Isaac away from his old life but we also see her salve his grandmother’s pain after an injury. These passages show the benefits of these medicines for palliative and mental health.
The authors sustain the illusion of chemical compounds as Gods operating in a different plane as does British author Neil Gaiman in his fantasy novel, American Gods (2001). Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series was also transferred to screen using this same device.
Should this powerful yet confronting novel find a home in a secondary school library? Given the authors warn that some readers may find it cathartic and intense, it could still be criticized as gratuitous even in the appropriate seniors M15+ shelves.
Themes: YA, Realistic Fantasy, Mythology, Drug Abuse, Addiction, Brothers and Sisters, High School, Misfits and Underdogs.
Deborah Robins
