A review by literarycrushes
Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin

4.0

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin will make you and laugh, often within the same sentence. The story focuses on Mona, a 26-year-old feeling adrift in life (this is basically its own literally genre by now), working as a cleaning woman in Taos, New Mexico. Jen Beagin reads to me as a sort of edgier (if not edgier, definitely darker) Sally Rooney or even a less isolated Ottessa Moshfegh character. Like Moshfegh’s work, this book fell somewhere between literally fiction and something more poppy you might read about in People Magazine (this is a good thing). The book really gets what it’s like to feel kind of lost at that in-between age where you’re not a child anymore, but still don’t feel like a *real* adult yet.

Plus, Mona’s imaginary friend is Terry Gross, which is honestly reason enough to read this book.
**after reading some reviews of this book I guess it’s actually a sequel to one called ‘Pretend I’m Dead.’ I never felt lost or left out but if that’s something that’s important to you, you can read the other one first!