Review: Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette
Agatha of Little Neon is an unusual debut. The author, Claire Luchette, has described her book as a story about falling out of love, but not with a person, with a vocation.
Set in Buffalo, NY sometime during the last decade or so, the story starts with four young nuns living and working in a Catholic daycare centre. But the number of babies dwindles to zero and the four are relocated to a halfway house where they are appointed to look after a small group of addicts in recovery.
As the story proceeds, Agatha, one of the four, gradually begins to question the value of her work and friendships, the morality of the Catholic church in the face of a growing paedophilia scandal, and the suppression of old dreams and desires. As one event leads to another, her questions lead to a growing sense of injustice at the hypocrisy of an institution that venerates female purity but subsists off the unpaid work of a subservient female workforce.
The word misogyny is nowhere in the text but lies at the core of the book’s concerns — specifically, how patriarchal structures exploit and denigrate women through psychological and physical oppression. The system finds its purest form here in the Catholic church — and focus which has led to the book being attacked from these quarters while simultaneously being lauded by more progressive parts of Catholicism.
But Agatha of Little Neon is more than this; it’s also an exploration of female friendships. The relationships between the four nuns as well as with their mentor, Sister Roberta, are beautifully drawn, with small details slowly accumulating into a clear picture of their different characters, as well as those of the addicts in their care. These include a woman who travels everywhere by lawnmower and a gentle cancer survivor missing half his jaw.
In many ways, Agatha of Little Neon is a quiet book — a dynamic dictated by the learned subservience of its central character. But as events unspool, Agatha’s acquisitiveness and ceaseless questioning lead her to break rules and gradually carve out a private space in which she can grow and think — and that quietness becomes rage.
The best books, however perfectly they finish, lead you wanting more, and Agatha of Little Neon is one of those. While a complete story in and of itself, it also feels like the beginning of a new life. Claire Luchette has created a character that steps beyond the pages of her own story. I’d love to see what she does next.
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