Vacuum in the Dark: FROM THE AUTHOR OF BIG SWISS

By Jen Beagin

FROM THE AUTHOR OF BIG SWISS

From the Whiting Award-winning author of Pretend I’m Dead comes a new hilarious, edgy, and brilliant one-of-a kind novel, for fans of Sally Rooney and Joshua Ferris

Twenty-six-year-old cleaner Mona has just had a bad break up with a boyfriend named Mr Disgusting (don't ask...) But her plans for a fresh start go awry when she meets a new man, this one called Dark. He's probably not ideal boyfriend material: a little bit arrogant and a little bit conceited. Oh, and a little bit married.

Wacky, outspoken and one-of-a-kind, Mona is on a mission to escape her past. But she's about to discover that it's easier said than done... Hilarious and shocking, exuberant and compassionate, Vacuum in the Dark is the perfect antidote to the times we live in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781786075314

Jen Beagin

Jen Beagin holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine, and is a recipient of a Whiting Award in fiction. Her first novel Pretend I’m Dead was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and Vacuum in the Dark was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. She is also the author of Big Swiss. She lives in Hudson, New York.

Reviews for Vacuum in the Dark

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very strange beginning but then it drew me in. Still don’t know if i actually liked it.

[lisapeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting kind of push-me-pull-you thing going on with this book, and I imagine Beagin was aiming for a love/hate experience for her readers. The main character is equal parts alienating and relatable, as was the storyline(s) themselves. But I enjoyed it overall. I particularly like the two books' subtext of the ways we (especially women, I think, though it probably crosses gender lines) are defined by our relationship to cleaning. I spend... my god, a HUGE amount of my very limited free time just keeping my house from looking like shit, and I think about the whole time I'm vacuuming/mopping/dusting/putting crap where it goes—the unpaid labor aspect, the class aspect (because if I were more successful I'd have someone "come in" once a month), the woman's work aspect... so I particularly liked the books for their musings on that. Plus the cleaning tips, which were kind of awesome. Caveat: Lots of raunchiness and bodily functions, so stay away if that bothers you. I liked it.