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The Agonies
In the tradition of Albert Camus, J. D. Salinger, and Osamu Dazai, the archetype of the savage young man at the precipice returns in Ben Faulkner's hypnotic debut, The Agonies.
Armand Bernal is breaking apart. The trials of youth become a torrential odyssey of dislocation and disorientation. In this bildungsroman for our modern age—an age of collapse—Ben Faulkner has created an unforgettable character wary of work, college, relationships, and the world at large, becoming an unstable young man moving toward an act of terrifying violence. Will he survive the gothic America of The Agonies?
Armand Bernal is breaking apart. The trials of youth become a torrential odyssey of dislocation and disorientation. In this bildungsroman for our modern age—an age of collapse—Ben Faulkner has created an unforgettable character wary of work, college, relationships, and the world at large, becoming an unstable young man moving toward an act of terrifying violence. Will he survive the gothic America of The Agonies?
- GenresFiction
132 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2025
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145 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 25, 2025
✰ 2 stars ✰
I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt and simply state that this was the nonlinear narrative of a troubled nineteen-year-old, who even after suffering a psychotic break at sixteen, he never truly got over the lingering notion of the debilitating state of his parents' marriage, one where an open marriage term - broke the rules of love, that loosened these binds that were supposed to keep us together, sweetly was so very destructive to his subconscious. 😞
“It’s more dangerous to fall in love with a drug that lies to you than it is even to die.”
Coupled with the present-day affairs of the world and his morbid and disturbing fascination of questionable content such as home invasions along with his cynical view of certain political factors had him express his views in a rather unflattering light that ultimately served as an explanation or a shield to the ramifications of the final decision in which he may have 'unwittingly taken another wrong turn'. 😟 One which the author deliberately shifted the tone of the narrative in the final hour to perhaps relay the events from those unsuspecting of what really goes on in the mind, a path of destruction.
At times my heart did kinda go out to Armand. I mean, he had something to say and for the short time it took me to read this quasi-essay of his inner rambles, I gave him a chance, but still stayed rather indifferent to his plight and woes. 🥺 Even if his YouTube content, seen as howling missives from the heart of alienation was problematic and I wasn't all that impressed or swayed by his views on certain facets of society's expectations and the way we view and judge media. He was a bit pretentious, which is enough for one not to wholly sympathize with.
“Life is so sad it should make us all insane.”
I paused a quarter of the way in to weigh in my stance on how I was feeling about it; the subtle doubts revealed in tidbits about his breaking point that had me ultimately curious to see which direction Armand was leading me towards. I felt he was someone who was carrying a lot of unsettled anger and sadness, even inundated with suicidal thoughts that was perhaps his true curse. 😥 The sudden death of his mother was a breaking point for him that led him to behave in a way he thought he could have escaped, but somehow had him relay the past in order to confess to his future by giving up the present.
It's disconcerting and disarming and I don't know how I quite feel about the unsettling and open ending, but it leaves room for discussion. It makes me think about The Agonies he endured and the weight of so much is burdening his mind that is perhaps always thinking that the world is his enemy and taking it as ammunition to behave the way he does. 🤔 'In retrospect, I realize I was becoming literally psychotic.' Much like how in real life certain books get the bad wrap for how people tend to be led by their content to behave wrongfully.
“The only world I will ever know is inside me, and I am called to become the master of the entire world.”
I wasn't all too a fan of the many popular literary media he cited to compare himself with, but it gave us a glimpse of his knowledge and how he used it for his own personal means. Armie seems like someone who was easily influenced, but was very noncommittal and very cynical to the point that he thought himself superior above everyone. 🤨 He was psychotic in a way - unapologetically so, enough to rub me the wrong way in how he derived pleasure in hurting his mother.
Yet the overwhelming guilt of having things left unresolved and unfinished between them is enough of a catalyst. The background into his mother's past and his parents' troubled marriage amidst their successful writing careers is enough fodder to reason why he was a by-product of avoidance, affect, and errors. Why Armand is deliberately and deceptively self-destructive in a way that he is unfeeling and uncaring of finding meaning to his pitiful existence that eventually propels him to commit a terrifying act, as a proof, if it made sense, if I could get away with it, if the person had earned it . . . 😔
“I unironically would like to see the end of the world,” I said.”
I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt and simply state that this was the nonlinear narrative of a troubled nineteen-year-old, who even after suffering a psychotic break at sixteen, he never truly got over the lingering notion of the debilitating state of his parents' marriage, one where an open marriage term - broke the rules of love, that loosened these binds that were supposed to keep us together, sweetly was so very destructive to his subconscious. 😞
“It’s more dangerous to fall in love with a drug that lies to you than it is even to die.”
Coupled with the present-day affairs of the world and his morbid and disturbing fascination of questionable content such as home invasions along with his cynical view of certain political factors had him express his views in a rather unflattering light that ultimately served as an explanation or a shield to the ramifications of the final decision in which he may have 'unwittingly taken another wrong turn'. 😟 One which the author deliberately shifted the tone of the narrative in the final hour to perhaps relay the events from those unsuspecting of what really goes on in the mind, a path of destruction.
At times my heart did kinda go out to Armand. I mean, he had something to say and for the short time it took me to read this quasi-essay of his inner rambles, I gave him a chance, but still stayed rather indifferent to his plight and woes. 🥺 Even if his YouTube content, seen as howling missives from the heart of alienation was problematic and I wasn't all that impressed or swayed by his views on certain facets of society's expectations and the way we view and judge media. He was a bit pretentious, which is enough for one not to wholly sympathize with.
“Life is so sad it should make us all insane.”
I paused a quarter of the way in to weigh in my stance on how I was feeling about it; the subtle doubts revealed in tidbits about his breaking point that had me ultimately curious to see which direction Armand was leading me towards. I felt he was someone who was carrying a lot of unsettled anger and sadness, even inundated with suicidal thoughts that was perhaps his true curse. 😥 The sudden death of his mother was a breaking point for him that led him to behave in a way he thought he could have escaped, but somehow had him relay the past in order to confess to his future by giving up the present.
It's disconcerting and disarming and I don't know how I quite feel about the unsettling and open ending, but it leaves room for discussion. It makes me think about The Agonies he endured and the weight of so much is burdening his mind that is perhaps always thinking that the world is his enemy and taking it as ammunition to behave the way he does. 🤔 'In retrospect, I realize I was becoming literally psychotic.' Much like how in real life certain books get the bad wrap for how people tend to be led by their content to behave wrongfully.
“The only world I will ever know is inside me, and I am called to become the master of the entire world.”
I wasn't all too a fan of the many popular literary media he cited to compare himself with, but it gave us a glimpse of his knowledge and how he used it for his own personal means. Armie seems like someone who was easily influenced, but was very noncommittal and very cynical to the point that he thought himself superior above everyone. 🤨 He was psychotic in a way - unapologetically so, enough to rub me the wrong way in how he derived pleasure in hurting his mother.
Yet the overwhelming guilt of having things left unresolved and unfinished between them is enough of a catalyst. The background into his mother's past and his parents' troubled marriage amidst their successful writing careers is enough fodder to reason why he was a by-product of avoidance, affect, and errors. Why Armand is deliberately and deceptively self-destructive in a way that he is unfeeling and uncaring of finding meaning to his pitiful existence that eventually propels him to commit a terrifying act, as a proof, if it made sense, if I could get away with it, if the person had earned it . . . 😔
July 6, 2025
Devastatingly bad. I'm literally gutted, I wanted to love this so much.
July 17, 2025
Very inconsequential, especially as it commits the cardinal sin of referencing similar, better works—works that were obvious even before they were named. (For example: Oh, so Faulkner's doing NO LONGER HUMAN... opens with a Dazai epigraph... then continues to reference it a few more times throughout the novel.)
The READY PLAYER ONE of misanthropic literature: pastiche + referentialism with little to no intelligence or perspective, lined through a non-linear, absurdist eruption of psychosis and cynicism.
I actually quite like Kargl's ANGST too, narrator, but then you like to make short Wikipedia entries about it—and a dozen other novels, films, and video games.
Didn't hate this, as the score may suggest, but it was simply frivolous and barren, despite all the edge and the undernourished allusions to our present sociopolitical climate.
The READY PLAYER ONE of misanthropic literature: pastiche + referentialism with little to no intelligence or perspective, lined through a non-linear, absurdist eruption of psychosis and cynicism.
I actually quite like Kargl's ANGST too, narrator, but then you like to make short Wikipedia entries about it—and a dozen other novels, films, and video games.
Didn't hate this, as the score may suggest, but it was simply frivolous and barren, despite all the edge and the undernourished allusions to our present sociopolitical climate.
October 4, 2025
What the heck?
Some people complaint about the story’s order, but I don’t actually have a problem with that. What bothers me is that the story feels fleeting, with multiple attempts to force depth by creating a protagonist with mental illness, family issues, and skeptical worldview.
The only thing that keeps me entertained and interested throughout is the sarcasm and the pessimism.
But what disappointed me the most is the ending. This is not “open to interpretation”; this left readers clueless and completely lost.
But very good attempt for the first publication. He has so much potential to write a decent literary fiction.
Some people complaint about the story’s order, but I don’t actually have a problem with that. What bothers me is that the story feels fleeting, with multiple attempts to force depth by creating a protagonist with mental illness, family issues, and skeptical worldview.
The only thing that keeps me entertained and interested throughout is the sarcasm and the pessimism.
But what disappointed me the most is the ending. This is not “open to interpretation”; this left readers clueless and completely lost.
But very good attempt for the first publication. He has so much potential to write a decent literary fiction.
June 6, 2025
This is a very impressive debut. If my kids ask me what it was like in the 2020’s I will give them this book to read. It is an encapsulation of the alienation and schizo culture we, young people especially, are enmeshed within at this point in history. I related to Armand more than I would care to admit. I also appreciate the rare ideological balance of this piece within the context of the greater Dimes Square NY provacateur milieu; a scene that, in my opinion, has otherwise jumped the shark. I’m not sure if Faulkner is from/resides in NY but this work is definitely Dimes Square cannon. I look forward to the work to come.
July 20, 2025
I enjoyed this and now I need someone else to read it so we can talk about it
So many good quotes I wish I could have marked up my library copy
So many good quotes I wish I could have marked up my library copy
May 13, 2025
Girl where was the, “act of terrifying violence” built up in the blurb? A semen demon? I’m confused 2.5 rounded up cause I don’t want to be the first 2 star review
July 10, 2025
7/2/2025 3.5 stars. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
7/10/2025 In all earnestness, the teenaged narrator of this affecting novel desperately needs sports. A sport, any sport: even a sedentary bookworm like myself can recognize that the kid has too much energy and too few healthy outlets.
The kid in question is Armie Bernal, the son of two semi-famous writers who divorced when he was in the single digits. Mom stayed in New York City while he followed his dad to Baltimore. Dad is, frankly, too self-absorbed to be a good parent. Armie decides that he doesn't want to talk to his mom any more and sinks into a cesspool of online reactionaries and contrarians. At some point, he uses his dad's credit card to source a whole bunch of different drugs from shady sources on the Internet (see, again: bad parenting.) Unsurprisingly, a psychotic break ensues. In the aftermath, Armie tries to make sense of his life by writing this book.
There is, oddly, "an act of terrifying violence" promised as the climax of this story. It never manifests, unless the last page is meant to be a veiled metaphor told from Dill's point of view. If so, it's so vague as to lack any impact. I actually hope it isn't, as the novel functions quite well without it.
And what is that function? To showcase the rambling, often incoherent but deeply believed thought processes of a disaffected young man in the 2010-20s. The Agonies well deserves its comparisons to Camus' The Stranger (which I loved) and Salinger's Catcher In The Rye (which I despised,) updating the disconnect felt by the protagonists of those classics to better gel with the challenges kids face today. And there are so many challenges facing our kids right now. From gun violence to online radicalization to the excesses of late-stage capitalism, our current era is a hard time for smart, sensitive kids to make sense of. I felt tremendous sympathy for Armie, even as I was appalled at the utter lack of guidance he was given.
And, going back to my opening salvo, I really felt that pre-breakdown Armie needed regular physical activity to help siphon off his excess energy. A team sport would have helped inculcate a bunch of positive values to a kid clearly in need of community, but even an individual sport would have helped him set goals and stave off his feelings of both aimlessness and helplessness.
I'm digressing hard, but that's how convinced I was of Armie's depiction as a representative of a far too large subset of our society. As the mom of three boys just coming into and leaving middle school, I'm hyper-vigilant of their habits and consumption. All our computers are in the same room so that my co-parent and I can monitor their behaviors, in just one example of how we try to stay involved in their interests. It helps that we live in a public school district that emphasizes media savviness as well as kind and courteous behavior, so they're getting positive encouragement from all sides. Just last night, I was complimenting my eldest kid on the way he firmly enforced his boundaries with an online friend without bringing negative emotions into the conflict. Honestly, I could learn a thing or two from him.
But going back to this book, you can't help but feel sorry for Armie, even as you're repulsed by his casual racism, sexism and other strains of awfulness. Ben Faulkner has done a terrific job of bringing this poor, messed up kid to life. A pity that boys like these aren't constrained to the page, and that parents don't try harder to make it so.
The Agonies by Ben Faulkner was published March 25 2025 by Arcade and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
7/10/2025 In all earnestness, the teenaged narrator of this affecting novel desperately needs sports. A sport, any sport: even a sedentary bookworm like myself can recognize that the kid has too much energy and too few healthy outlets.
The kid in question is Armie Bernal, the son of two semi-famous writers who divorced when he was in the single digits. Mom stayed in New York City while he followed his dad to Baltimore. Dad is, frankly, too self-absorbed to be a good parent. Armie decides that he doesn't want to talk to his mom any more and sinks into a cesspool of online reactionaries and contrarians. At some point, he uses his dad's credit card to source a whole bunch of different drugs from shady sources on the Internet (see, again: bad parenting.) Unsurprisingly, a psychotic break ensues. In the aftermath, Armie tries to make sense of his life by writing this book.
There is, oddly, "an act of terrifying violence" promised as the climax of this story. It never manifests, unless the last page is meant to be a veiled metaphor told from Dill's point of view. If so, it's so vague as to lack any impact. I actually hope it isn't, as the novel functions quite well without it.
And what is that function? To showcase the rambling, often incoherent but deeply believed thought processes of a disaffected young man in the 2010-20s. The Agonies well deserves its comparisons to Camus' The Stranger (which I loved) and Salinger's Catcher In The Rye (which I despised,) updating the disconnect felt by the protagonists of those classics to better gel with the challenges kids face today. And there are so many challenges facing our kids right now. From gun violence to online radicalization to the excesses of late-stage capitalism, our current era is a hard time for smart, sensitive kids to make sense of. I felt tremendous sympathy for Armie, even as I was appalled at the utter lack of guidance he was given.
And, going back to my opening salvo, I really felt that pre-breakdown Armie needed regular physical activity to help siphon off his excess energy. A team sport would have helped inculcate a bunch of positive values to a kid clearly in need of community, but even an individual sport would have helped him set goals and stave off his feelings of both aimlessness and helplessness.
I'm digressing hard, but that's how convinced I was of Armie's depiction as a representative of a far too large subset of our society. As the mom of three boys just coming into and leaving middle school, I'm hyper-vigilant of their habits and consumption. All our computers are in the same room so that my co-parent and I can monitor their behaviors, in just one example of how we try to stay involved in their interests. It helps that we live in a public school district that emphasizes media savviness as well as kind and courteous behavior, so they're getting positive encouragement from all sides. Just last night, I was complimenting my eldest kid on the way he firmly enforced his boundaries with an online friend without bringing negative emotions into the conflict. Honestly, I could learn a thing or two from him.
But going back to this book, you can't help but feel sorry for Armie, even as you're repulsed by his casual racism, sexism and other strains of awfulness. Ben Faulkner has done a terrific job of bringing this poor, messed up kid to life. A pity that boys like these aren't constrained to the page, and that parents don't try harder to make it so.
The Agonies by Ben Faulkner was published March 25 2025 by Arcade and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
March 30, 2025
An eloquent transcription of damage — I want to say “brain damage,” but that’s not entirely accurate. I think if it were brain damage it wouldn’t be as readable as it is. It took me two sittings to finish it. It’s a dark imagination at work. There are many reasons to worry about young men in America, their states of mind, their spiritual life, and here’s another exemplary manifestation of that, the narrator Armand, who meditates on his family, his girlfriend, his low-effort job, political eddies as they swirl around 21st century America. It was not a five-star book for me. Maybe one star withheld because it seemed a little loose and rough drafty to me. But maybe that was just supposed to be the vacancy of the character coming through. It is a good book though. The best qualities for me, the aspects of the writing that had me stuck like glue to the pages, were the daring network of associations, the mental leaps and tumbles, like a preternaturally sprightly video game character in a multilevel dungeon transcending normal gravity, physics, reality. This kid Armand thinks and writes poetically. The problem is that he’s just so unhappy and afraid. He’s carrying around a highly deadly weapon: his mind. The dreamscapes alone in this book (and other Ben Faulkner writings I’ve had the pleasure to read) are terrifying, vivid affairs. The homunculus story is wild and unsettling. The internet is, as we all can see now but nobody expected when it was invented (or did they?), a source of cosmic illness and psychic plague, and it’s a somewhat major player in The Agonies. Anyway, it was an exciting book to read.
August 9, 2025
Picked it up because it was one the “blind date with a book” at a local bookstore.
Not bad, but also not really sure what was the overall “point”. I think if I spent some more time reflecting on it and/or reread it, I might get some interesting insights out of it, but I’m not sure I care to do that.
Not bad, but also not really sure what was the overall “point”. I think if I spent some more time reflecting on it and/or reread it, I might get some interesting insights out of it, but I’m not sure I care to do that.
June 20, 2025
Told in episodic chapters folding together like origami, The Agonies reads from a 1st-person perspective with an acuity that makes most other offerings in this space seem clouded with cataracts. The subject is a precocious failson streamer navigating family life, work, and dating in a lower-middle-class America that is charmingly trashy but not cardboard cutout, mentally anguished but nostalgic, post-industrial but lush if you know where to look. Embedded in its tragedy is a one-of-one philosophy that resists paeans of healing and wholeness but also resists nihilism. It’s not about “you need to clean your room” but also not about “you will be okay” but also not about “you need to be okay” but also not about you or an everyman. Instead it’s about a solitary x-ray-visioned seer ideologically processing and finding their hieroglyphical footing in the cracks of decay and nostalgia.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews