Agatha of Little Neon

Agatha of Little Neon is a 2021 literary fiction novel by American author Claire Luchette. Agatha of Little Neon was praised upon its debut and was included in several best of 2021 lists.

Plot summary

Agatha of Little Neon features Agatha, a

At the beginning of the novel, Agatha and her three sisters are all 29 years old. They have spent much of their 20s working at their church in Lackawanna, New York, and running a daycare center. When the parish goes broke, the four sisters are transferred to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where they are in charge of a halfway house. The house is "the color of Mountain Dew" which prompts the nickname "Little Neon".^[2]

At the halfway house, they care for a small group of broken, lost, and healing adults, including Tim Gary and Lawnmower Jill. During the day, Agatha is sent to teach geometry at a local Catholic girls' high school.

For her entire adult life, her three sisters have been her family, and the church her home. But as Agatha forges new relationships in the halfway house and at the school, and as the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal grows, she begins to question her religion and her identity. By the end of Agatha of Little Neon, Agatha comes of age and forges a new path for herself.

Reception

Agatha of Little Neon has received favorable reviews. It garnered a "positive" rating at the review aggregator website

In individual reviews, Kirkus Reviews called Agatha of Little Neon "a charming and incisive debut" from Luchette.^[8] While the Chicago Review of Books lightly chastised the novel for being "too spartan and easily accessible a novel" for some individuals, they praised it for reaching "that goal which all novels fundamentally pursue—saying something authentic and essential about the human experience—and [doing] so with verisimilitude and the grace that comes with living simply."^[9] The Star Tribune lauded Luchette's work, writing that she "develops every person so fully, so effectively, that even those who briefly cross the page are memorable."^[10] Indeed, NPR praised Agatha of Little Neon's adherence to the show, don't tell writing principle.^[2]

Additional positive reviews were published by Publishers Weekly, The New York Times Book Review, Booklist, America, and Refinery29.^{[1][11][12][13][14]}

See also

• Matrix (Groff novel), a nun-focused novel published around the same time as Agatha of Little Neon^[15]

References

External links

• Luchette, Claire (September 12, 2021). "The Nuns of Fiction: Experts in Affliction and Awe". The New York Times.
• Carl, Katy (July 5, 2022). "Book Review: Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette". Psaltery & Lyre.
• McDonald, David (June 28, 2022). "Review: Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette". The Mistress of the House of Books.