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Scribner Book Company

Vacuum in the Dark: A Novel

    • Based on 258 reviews
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Description

From the Whiting Award–winning author of Pretend I’m Dead and one of the most exhilarating new voices in fiction, a “thoroughly delightfully, surprisingly profound” (Entertainment Weekly) one-of-a-kind novel about a cleaning lady named Mona and her struggles to move forward in life. Soon to be an FX television show starring Lola Kirke. Mona is twenty-six and cleans houses for a living in Taos, New Mexico. She moved there mostly because of a bad boyfriend—a junkie named Mr. Disgusting, long story—and her efforts to restart her life since haven’t exactly gone as planned. For one thing, she’s got another bad boyfriend. This one she calls Dark, and he happens to be married to one of Mona’s clients. He also might be a little unstable. Dark and his wife aren’t the only complicated clients on Mona’s roster, either. There’s also the Hungarian artist couple who—with her addiction to painkillers and his lingering stares—reminds Mona of troubling aspects of her childhood, and some of the underlying reasons her life had to be restarted in the first place. As she tries to get over the heartache of her affair and the older pains of her youth, Mona winds up on an eccentric, moving journey of self-discovery that takes her back to her beginnings where she attempts to unlock the key to having a sense of home in the future. The only problems are Dark and her past. Neither is so easy to get rid of. Jen Beagin’s Vacuum in the Dark is an unforgettable, astonishing read, “by turns nutty and forlorn…Brash, deadpan, and achingly troubled” (O, The Oprah Magazine). Beagin is “a wonderfully funny writer who also happens to tackle serious subjects” (NPR). Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Reprint edition (January 28, 2020)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501182153


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 50


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.5 x 8 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #210,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2,128 in Humorous Fiction #5,463 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction #13,853 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#2,128 in Humorous Fiction:


#5,463 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • LOVED IT!
“Vacuum in the Dark” is fresh, strange, hilarious and very moving. It’s not for everyone; she’s not Anne Tyler or the least bit housewife-y. She’s one of those people documenting “out there” existences and the aftershocks of life in the America wasteland where people are trying to get through the great pains of modern life—abuse, addiction, violence—and have bruised, numbed hearts. But I am so taken with this book. I loved it, though some may find it not their thing. (If this is you, don’t sit by me.) It reminded me a bit of Dennis Johnson’s “Jesus’s Son” or a more hardcore, ravaged Lorrie Moore. It also made me remember the movie “The Secretary” with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Other writers work this road but few so affectingly. The main character is a cleaning woman whose scars from childhood neglect and abuse are deeper and more complicated than we first realize or she understands. She is just doing her best to keep going in this world and the odd, strange, lonely way of living she has designed around her limitations is sad but also creative. She’s found her own sometimes bizarre rituals of survival. Her preoccupations are fascinating. The only intimacy she can tolerate, beyond sexual encounters that reconnect her to her dark past, is connecting with people through rummaging through their houses and private things. If she is going to find salvation and work out her pain and what she can’t clean away it will be through art. Gradually she bewitches and in her way inspires the reader. She has a real heroism as she tries to reclaim her life and, like her creator, has an absolutely piercing eye. I totally capitulated to her when she compared one of her clients lizard-killing cats to the Manson family and my affection for her grew from there with leaps and bounds. She is an unintentional artist and her lack of ambition about it and her drive to do it because it is necessary is one of the many, many interesting things about this novel. I love the motion of outlaw artists working outside the commercial space and world of noise and hype. The writing is spare and feels effortless. Like the heroine it doesn’t call undue attention to itself but hovers on the brink of danger. There are some great characters—a mad, hurt guy called Dark who loves her; a woman named Lena who I wanted more of—and the portraits of the “heroine’s” mother and stepfather are amazing. I am kind of in awe of Jen Beagin. I am so glad she’s out there and am running backwards at a rapid speed to find her first book. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2019 by ghodge
    • Worthy sequel
Beagin’s debut which I read back when it appeared on Netgalley was quite something. Her darkly humorous take on the life of a genuinely singular cleaning lady was a strangely pleasurable read. And one I’d never imagine getting a sequel. And yet…here we are. And the cleaning lady is still at it, vacuuming in the dark, which is not only an occasionally apt job description, but a nice metaphor for her life, no less messed up, confusing or confused since the last time, despite tucking a few more years under the apron’s belt. More places to clean, still no personal boundaries, resolving in bizarre relationships and attachments. This novel is structured as a quartet of sequential and almost self contained stories (which also do a nice job of refreshing the first book for the reader), each one a different situation, a different environment, a different love story in a way, from romantic to parental. Essentially what it does is peel off the layers and Beagin’s protagonist is one odd onion. Or maybe it’s more like the nesting dolls, each one stranger than the last. Either way, the author dips far enough into the past to explain certain present behaviors and tendencies, but after a while it does get slightly frustrating…and while explanations might be provided, there doesn’t seem to be any closure or changes or maturity. The cleaning lady stays consistently quirky and odd and, while I appreciate consistency in real life, fictional ones are usually improved by transformations. Mind you, Beagin’s created a genuinely terrific original character, but how long can you hit that piñata and appreciate all the weirdness that emerges? That sort of thing tends to get old. But yet the book is such an entertaining and funny read. There’s no reason for it to exist really, but for the author’s reluctance to leave the character behind or possibly due to the fact that both books are quite short and should have been one long one to begin with, but it’s fun while it lasts and I’d probably even check out the further adventures of the cleaning lady if the author comes up with any. The book’s ending certainly makes you think she might. Much like a thing cleaned over and over again no matter how well it doesn’t quite have the luster and freshness of the original. Fun read though, for cleaning tips, for weird love stories and clever badinage with imaginary friends and all that. Easily done in one sitting too. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019 by Mia

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