Claire Luchette

I'd never thought I'd be interested in, Agatha of Little Neon, a book about a small group of religious women who are transferred out of their usual home because of budget constraints and into a half-way home in Rhode Island. Agatha learns to teach geometry. Can you imagine doing such a thing? The sisters have a can-do attitude about all their challenges and I started out thinking this was going to be a nice feel good book. They're all, or almost all of them, very nice and friendly, social, competent, and willing to sacrifice. The reason for the Catholic church's need for budget constraints is just kind of casually slipped in. The way the sisters interact with the community and with each other is paramount, and those interactions are very realistic. I never would have thought I'd like a book about religious women so much.… (mehr)

This is an odd sort of coming of age book. Agatha and the three sisters of her convent are uprooted from their home in Buffalo, NY when the diocese runs out of funds because of the abuse lawsuits against priests. They are sent to run a home for recovering addicts in Woonsocket, RI, a job that none of the sisters has any experience or training for.

The four sisters act in unison most of the time with Agatha reflecting that they are like different parts of the same body: Frances is the mouth, Lucille is the heart, Theresa the legs, and Agatha the eyes. When the parish school needs a geometry teacher and Agatha is recruited for the position, again with no training. This job separates her from the other sisters during the day and her experiences at the school open her eyes to new ways of seeing the world.

Meanwhile, of the several residents in the halfway house, Agatha is most sympathetic toward Tim Gary, who has a severe facial deformity as a result of cancer treatment and feels very isolated from the rest of the world.

The story is told mostly from Agatha's point of view and through vignettes of interaction between the sisters and the outside world. We see Agatha's perspective broaden and she gains a deeper understanding of life and the world outside of the narrow one that she is currently living.
The writing is refreshing, sometimes humorous, and deeply empathetic. A great debut novel.… (mehr)