Agnes Lives! 🤍
By Hallie Elizabeth Newton.
Agnes Lives! is a bold and unsettling book that leans heavily into voice, delivering a chaotic and immersive reading experience that feels both intense and strangely compelling.
Set over the course of just twenty four hours in New York City, the story follows Agnes, a fading socialite who begins her day with a singular, disturbing goal. To find someone willing to kill her before her next SoulCycle class. What unfolds is less about plot and more about perspective, as the reader is pulled directly into Agnes’s mind.
And what a place that is.
This is very much a book driven by its writing style. We stay entirely within Agnes’s thoughts, which are fast, fragmented, obsessive, and often uncomfortable. It feels manic and unfiltered, capturing the relentless pace of her thinking and the instability beneath her polished exterior.
The structure works really well. The time stamps throughout the book guide the reader through the day, creating a sense of urgency while also reinforcing how quickly everything spirals. It adds to that feeling of being caught inside her head as her thoughts loop and unravel.
What stood out most for me is how effectively the book captures a very specific culture. The obsession with image, status, beauty, and social media is constant, and it creates a sharp contrast between the outward appearance of Agnes’s life and what is actually happening beneath the surface.
Her relationships, whether romantic or social, feel fractured and dysfunctional, and we only come to understand them through her own perspective, which makes everything feel even more distorted.
This is not always an easy read. The intensity of the narrative and the lack of distance from Agnes’s thoughts can feel overwhelming at times. But that is also what makes it so effective. It is meant to feel relentless, mirroring the pace at which her life is unfolding.
It is an impressive piece of writing and one that benefits from being read quickly, almost at the same speed as Agnes’s thoughts.
A striking and distinctive debut that captures chaos, obsession, and identity in a way that feels both unsettling and memorable!
Thank you to Kayla at Viking Books for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of the book! The book is out now and available to purchase!
Support a local and independent bookshop and buy the book here.
