The Trouble with Lexie: A Novel

by Jessica Anya Blau

Overview

“There isn’t a human alive who can resist the charm of Jessica Anya Blau’s novels! A coming-of-age tale for the new millennium, The Trouble with Lexie is one of the most deeply enjoyable—and deeply satisfying—novels I’ve read in ages.” —Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year

From the beloved author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Wonder Bread Summer comes the jaw-dropping story of Lexie James, a counselor at an exclusive New England prep school, whose search for happiness lands her in unexpectedly wild trouble.

Lexie James escaped: after being abandoned by her alcoholic father, and kicked out of the apartment to make room for her mother’s boyfriend, Lexie made it on her own. She earned a Masters degree, conquered terrifying panic attacks, got engaged to the nicest guy she’d ever met, and landed a counseling job at the prestigious Ruxton Academy, a prep school for the moneyed children of the elite.

But as her wedding date nears, Lexie has doubts. Yes, she’s created the stable life she craved as a child, but is stability really what she wants? In her moment of indecision, Lexie strikes up a friendship with a Ruxton alumnus, the father of her favorite student. It’s a relationship that blows open Lexie’s carefully constructed life, and then dunks her into shocking situations with headline-worthy trouble.

The perfect cocktail of naughtiness, heart, adventure and humor, The Trouble with Lexie is a wild and poignant story of the choices we make to outrun our childhoods—and the choices we have to make to outrun our entangled adult lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062416452
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/28/2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jessica Anya Blau’s novels have been featured on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and NPR, and in Cosmo, Vanity Fair, Bust, Time Out, Oprah Summer Reads, Oprah Daily, and other national publications. Jessica’s books have been translated into many languages and have been optioned for film and television. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. Jessica sometimes works as a screenwriter, a ghost writer, and has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Jessica grew up in Southern California and now lives in New York City. 

Editorial Reviews

The Trouble With Lexie is the book you will want to read this summer! Lexie will make you laugh, make you scream, make you grimace—but mostly she will make you fall in love with her.” — Ann Hood

“Jessica Anya Blau is one of the funniest writers—EVER. No one captures the oddities, joys—and yes—the pain of modern life with such frankness, humor and sly-witted style.” — ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

“Jessica Anya Blau’s Lexie gets into some serious trouble and you’ll laugh and cringe as you turn page after page to find out what she’ll do next. Wicked, sexy, and sly, this is a wildly entertaining novel.” — Robert Lopez, author of Good People

“Only Jessica Anya Blau could make such an exasperating woman so funny. And only Blau could combine such guilty pleasures with real world pain.” — Helen Simonson, author of The Summer Before the War

“There isn’t a human alive who can resist the charm of Jessica Anya Blau’s novels! A coming-of-age tale for the new millennium, THE TROUBLE WITH LEXIE is one of the most deeply enjoyable—and deeply satisfying—novels I’ve read in ages.” — Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year

“Jessica Anya Blau writes with all-in velocity, vim and vigor, a ripping high-performance performance. She runs rings around the boarding school coming-of-age novel, making her separate peaces in spades.” — Michael Martone, author of Michael Martone and Winesburg, Indiana

“When reading THE TROUBLE WITH LEXIE, everything else seems less important. Sleep? Nourishment? Caring about the escaped convict who’s loose in your neighborhood? Meh. Far better to soak in Jessica Anya Blau’s hilarious and fascinating tale of illicit sex, ill-advised break-ins and stolen vibrators.” — Greg Bardsley, author of The Bob Watson and Cash Out

“A crazy and twisted ending. . . readers will be gasping by the last page.” — Library Journal

From the Publisher

Jessica Anya Blau writes with all-in velocity, vim and vigor, a ripping high-performance performance. She runs rings around the boarding school coming-of-age novel, making her separate peaces in spades.

Michael Martone

There isn’t a human alive who can resist the charm of Jessica Anya Blau’s novels! A coming-of-age tale for the new millennium, THE TROUBLE WITH LEXIE is one of the most deeply enjoyable—and deeply satisfying—novels I’ve read in ages.

Joanna Rakoff

Jessica Anya Blau is one of the funniest writers—EVER. No one captures the oddities, joys—and yes—the pain of modern life with such frankness, humor and sly-witted style.

ZZ Packer

Jessica Anya Blau’s Lexie gets into some serious trouble and you’ll laugh and cringe as you turn page after page to find out what she’ll do next. Wicked, sexy, and sly, this is a wildly entertaining novel.

Robert Lopez

Only Jessica Anya Blau could make such an exasperating woman so funny. And only Blau could combine such guilty pleasures with real world pain.

Helen Simonson

When reading THE TROUBLE WITH LEXIE, everything else seems less important. Sleep? Nourishment? Caring about the escaped convict who’s loose in your neighborhood? Meh. Far better to soak in Jessica Anya Blau’s hilarious and fascinating tale of illicit sex, ill-advised break-ins and stolen vibrators.

Greg Bardsley

The Trouble With Lexie is the book you will want to read this summer! Lexie will make you laugh, make you scream, make you grimace—but mostly she will make you fall in love with her.

Ann Hood

2016-03-30
If the protagonist of Blau's previous novel (The Wonder Bread Summer, 2013, etc.) saved all her bad decision-making for adulthood, she might look like the titular Lexie. The prologue shows readers exactly where they're headed: Lexie James, on a booze-and-Klonopin bender, is discovered sleeping in her lover's marital bed. While this opening drama will rope audiences in quickly, Blau's hand-tipping ruins a lot of chances for potential suspense. Or possibly not, since the cheating relationship at the heart of the novel is so textbook ill-fated that it would be hard to sympathize with Lexie's runaway passion in either case. Lexie is, ironically (though the irony is lost on her), a counselor for privileged high schoolers at a ritzy boarding school in Massachusetts, and her lover is one of the lead benefactors of the school, Daniel Waite. Besides being a skilled adulterer, Daniel is also the father of Lexie's favorite student, making for a very tangled web. Before she meets him, it seems that Lexie finally has it made with her sweet job, sweet fiance (who handcrafts guitars for a living), and physical distance from her disastrous childhood in California. Frequent dips into Lexie's past reveal an uninvolved-then-gone father and a self-involved career waitress mother who mocks Lexie for any achievement and kicks her out of the house when she's 15 to make room for a new boyfriend. But the real trouble with Lexie is that she doesn't quite add up. Too much time is spent on the past with not enough bearing on the present. Tidbits are always being thrown out about her—her childhood sucked, she's vain, she lets her phone's Yahtzee app make decisions for her—without ever harmonizing into a realized character. Pushed to a bigger extreme, the novel might have hit a more humorous note. It's a book balanced on thin devices, but Blau is almost as unsparing about Lexie as she is with the other characters, and her pacing is good. Anyone in the market for discount thrills will find them here.

Kirkus Reviews