ONEWORLD READERS’ GUIDE · Vacuum in the Dark tells the story of Mona, aged twenty-six, ... This...
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VACUUM IN THE DARK Jen Beagin Vacuum in the Dark tells the story of Mona, aged twenty-six, working as a cleaner and looking for a fresh start in Taos, New Mexico. She moved there mostly to escape from a bad break-up with a junkie named Mr. Disgusting (don’t ask). But her fresh start hasn’t gone as smoothly as she expected, not least because she’s found herself another bad boyfriend. This one she calls Dark, and it’s complicated: he happens to be married to one of Mona’s clients. But Mona soon realises that neither her relationships nor her past traumas can be easily left behind. This reading guide is intended to help further your discussion of this hilarious, quirky and original novel. Questions for Discussion 1. What role do you think Mona’s imaginary friendship with NPR host Terry Gross serves in the novel? And what do you think leads Mona to turn to this imagined friendship? 2. Dark has tattoos across his knuckles that read ‘MORE LOVE’. Mona repeatedly thinks back to this phrase throughout the novel as she pursues her own search for love. Discuss how this search for love underpins the novel. 3. Many of Mona’s relationships with her clients become unusually close. How do you think Jen Beagin communicates the intimacy involved in cleaning a house? Did the book make you feel differently about what our home might say about us? 4. On page 70, Paul says that he wants to show Mona something, and Mona thinks: “Please don’t let it be your penis.” The threat of male violence and harassment hangs over much of the plot of Vacuum in the Dark. Discuss the ways in which this threat defines Mona’s relationships with men and women, and how it drives the plot. 5. For those who have read Pretend I’m Dead, what parallels do you notice between Mona’s relationship with Dark and her earlier relationship with Mr. Disgusting? 6. The novel’s title comes from a passage on page 195: “Mona loved to vacuum in the dark, with only the warm, golden beam of the Eureka’s headlight to guide her.” What do you think is the significance of this line? How can it help us to understand the novel? www.oneworld-publications.com ONEWORLD READERS’ GUIDE
Transcript of ONEWORLD READERS’ GUIDE · Vacuum in the Dark tells the story of Mona, aged twenty-six, ... This...
VACUUM IN THE DARKJen Beagin
Vacuum in the Dark tells the story of Mona, aged twenty-six, working as a cleaner and looking for a fresh start in Taos, New Mexico. She moved there mostly to escape from a bad break-up with a junkie named Mr. Disgusting (don’t ask). But her fresh start hasn’t gone as smoothly as she expected, not least because she’s found herself another bad boyfriend. This one she calls Dark, and it’s complicated: he happens to be married to one of Mona’s clients.
But Mona soon realises that neither her relationships nor her past traumas can be easily left behind. This reading guide is intended to help further your discussion of this hilarious, quirky and original novel.
Questions for Discussion1. What role do you think Mona’s imaginary friendship with NPR host Terry Gross serves in the
novel? And what do you think leads Mona to turn to this imagined friendship?
2. Dark has tattoos across his knuckles that read ‘MORE LOVE’. Mona repeatedly thinks back to this phrase throughout the novel as she pursues her own search for love. Discuss how this search for love underpins the novel.
3. Many of Mona’s relationships with her clients become unusually close. How do you think Jen Beagin communicates the intimacy involved in cleaning a house? Did the book make you feel differently about what our home might say about us?
4. On page 70, Paul says that he wants to show Mona something, and Mona thinks: “Please don’t let it be your penis.” The threat of male violence and harassment hangs over much of the plot of Vacuum in the Dark. Discuss the ways in which this threat defines Mona’s relationships with men and women, and how it drives the plot.
5. For those who have read Pretend I’m Dead, what parallels do you notice between Mona’s relationship with Dark and her earlier relationship with Mr. Disgusting?
6. The novel’s title comes from a passage on page 195: “Mona loved to vacuum in the dark, with only the warm, golden beam of the Eureka’s headlight to guide her.” What do you think is the significance of this line? How can it help us to understand the novel?
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7. Jen Beagin breaks the novel into chapters entitled Poop, Barbarians, Mommy, and Little Sweden. Consider the significance of these chapter headings. Did any of them strike you as especially apt, humorous or poignant?
8. The book’s blurb describes Mona’s realisation that ‘neither her relationships nor her past traumas can be easily left behind.’ To what extent do you think this novel shows Mona as managing to move forward from the trauma that has defined her past?
9. Discuss the theme of families, real, surrogate, functional and dysfunctional, in Vacuum in the Dark.
10. Comment on the theme of exposure and, in contrast, privacy, in the novel.
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