Summary:
Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life.
But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They head up a halfway house, where they live alongside castoffs like the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone, to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she will have to reckon with what she sees and feels all on her own. Who will she be if she isn’t with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home–or has she just been hiding?
My take: 4 looks
I chose this book for my sorority book club because of the … well … the pink and green cover. And it’s about sisters. I know, not the sorority kind of sister, but sisters nonetheless.
I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful writing. As an avid reader, I can usually spot a debut novel. Not this time. Luchette has a way with words. She is the storyteller, but also gives the reader a treat by arranging a sprinkling of her sentences like poetry, and some of them really spoke to me. Here are a few:
** “How horrible, how merciful, the ways we are, each of us, oblivious to so much of the hurt in the world.”
** “It is my belief that many men sleep too soundly at night.”
** “It’s easy to be fooled by joy, to think it will never abandon you.”
** “It was so easy to keep turning down the wrong streets.”
Such gems, hidden within a paragraph, giving a glimpse into the soul of the speaker. There was another time when the protagonist, Agatha, spoke of “straight” being a myth. The idea was that nothing is really straight, whether it is a line, a road, a life, or a direction. Everything is always a little off of being truly “straight”. There was a definite surface meaning, but I also appreciated the underlying intimation, and the thoughtful pondering that it encouraged.
Another aspect of this novel that I loved was the use of individual scenes, or vignettes, in the story. Just as in real life, the whole is made of individual experiences. These seemingly do not have a huge impact on the narrative, but they do serve to add depth, personality, and quality to the characters themselves. Like Agatha learning how to roller skate, Lawnmower Jill with the feathers in church, Agatha sharing donuts with Nadia, and a water tank evening with Tim Gary. All of these scenes add to the richness and layers of the characters, thereby supporting the story in way seldom seen in first novels.
I also have questions for the author. I tried and tried to find a way to include her on my group’s Zoom meeting, but ran out of time to track down a contact. I would ask these questions:
1. What is the importance of the repeated use of threes?
2. Why was the corduroy couch a pivotal piece?
3. Why did Agatha continually go back to “you are on a plane”?
4. Why did you choose a juicer for Ms. Scrimshaw?
Just little things that I wondered throughout my reading.
And I will read this one again. I bought a signed copy, and plan to get a paperback when it’s released so I can make notes, highlight, and fully engage with the story. And you should do the same.
Highly recommended.
