David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "sexual-content"
Vacuum in the Dark
Jen Beagin has all the potential in the world as a humorist, just a hair beneath the stellar career of Dorothy Parker.
Who else would feature a cleaning lady as her protagonist, give her a biting wit, and include an invisible friend named Terry who also functions as a therapist of sorts? Mona also likes to rename people, including her mother, whom she calls Clare. Clare isn't even her real first name. She also acquires a Ford Fairlane, which she calls Maxine.
Mona has a problem with men. For instance, she goes to work for a blind woman who's married to a jerk who insists Rose, the blind woman, and he have an open relationship, which makes it okay for him to hustle Mona. Mona calls this guy, Dark; she has an attractive for bad boys. Eventually she escapes this relationship and begins another with Kurt who inherits a hotel. It doesn't take long before Mona is cleaning all the rooms. But Kurt is by far the best man she's been involved with. She's willing to put out on their first date, but he wants to get to know her first. She thinks he must have a small penis.
That's the problem I had with the book. It reminded me of FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY; there's enough material and oddities involved in being a cleaning lady to fill a very funny book without the obsession with sex. She even has unhealthy thoughts about her mother.
Then there's the lack of enough backstory. We know Mona had a terrible childhood and young adulthood. She spent eight years in an institution. We get a hint that was about cutting herself. She still has moments when she wants to cut herself. She was also given up for adoption, but even that's not really formal. We know Clare liked to drink and her grandfather was a perv, so that might have had something to do with it.
The ending is also confusing. We know the Kurt relationship is too good to be true due to her penchant for the bad boys, but we're not sure if she suddenly and miraculously sees the error of her ways.
Who else would feature a cleaning lady as her protagonist, give her a biting wit, and include an invisible friend named Terry who also functions as a therapist of sorts? Mona also likes to rename people, including her mother, whom she calls Clare. Clare isn't even her real first name. She also acquires a Ford Fairlane, which she calls Maxine.
Mona has a problem with men. For instance, she goes to work for a blind woman who's married to a jerk who insists Rose, the blind woman, and he have an open relationship, which makes it okay for him to hustle Mona. Mona calls this guy, Dark; she has an attractive for bad boys. Eventually she escapes this relationship and begins another with Kurt who inherits a hotel. It doesn't take long before Mona is cleaning all the rooms. But Kurt is by far the best man she's been involved with. She's willing to put out on their first date, but he wants to get to know her first. She thinks he must have a small penis.
That's the problem I had with the book. It reminded me of FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY; there's enough material and oddities involved in being a cleaning lady to fill a very funny book without the obsession with sex. She even has unhealthy thoughts about her mother.
Then there's the lack of enough backstory. We know Mona had a terrible childhood and young adulthood. She spent eight years in an institution. We get a hint that was about cutting herself. She still has moments when she wants to cut herself. She was also given up for adoption, but even that's not really formal. We know Clare liked to drink and her grandfather was a perv, so that might have had something to do with it.
The ending is also confusing. We know the Kurt relationship is too good to be true due to her penchant for the bad boys, but we're not sure if she suddenly and miraculously sees the error of her ways.
