What do You think about Saving Agnes (2001)?
Some consider "Saving Agnes" depressing - I think it's deep, although it is true that the protagonist, Agnes, IS comfortabely depressed. She is actually so depressed and self-absorbed that she doesn't notice that she is dating a junkie. And she is such a greenhorn, that she believes that every junkie shoots, there is more of Agnes' naivety displayed throughout the story, which is not much of a story, more a wordy spiral into the abyss, somewhere dark and lonely, a place where even the most caring parents cannot give you shelter. Some moments in this novel haunted me afterwards. Like the scene in the tube station, which brutally shows how fast you can drop in someone else's esteem and how cold people are. I also very much enjoyed the chapter where Agnes has her date at the Hampton Court. It's bitter sweet and very painful like every heart-break.Very interesting is the setting - three friends living together in a place that falls apart which I picutered like something in Orson Welles' "The Process".Since English is not my mother-tongue, I am used to look up words, but in Cusak's case you should always have a dictionary at hand. I can understand that some people may find her writing contrived, but I am very grateful for this book.
—Jane Juliette Sue
Amazing. Also very relevant to this period in my life. I had to force myself to read it slower, because I found I was missing a lot. Nothing really happens - it's similar to "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler in that way - but that's the point. But if you easily become bored by books where nothing happens, I'd say don't read it. (I don't think my mom, for example, would like it). Recommended by Curtis Sittenfeld, who is my favorite author, and though I still prefer her, this had an element of mysticism to it that I loved.
—Olivia
