“I spent a lot of time alone, but I was rarely lonely because I like my own brain.”
If you’ve recently discovered Jen Beagin and aren’t sure where to start, you’re not alone. With her sharp wit, dark humour, and deeply human characters, Beagin has quickly become a must-read voice in contemporary literary fiction. Whether you’re drawn to her quirky, offbeat leads or her unflinching takes on loneliness, class, and ambition, reading Jen Beagin’s books in order can help you fully appreciate how her style and themes evolve over time. Today at What We Reading, we’re presenting a complete Jen Beagin book list, including her novels in publication order. So, if you’re wondering which Jen Beagin book to read first, or simply looking for a clear Jen Beagin reading order, we’re here to break it all down in a simple, spoiler-free way.
Pretend I’m Dead (Pretend I’m Dead #1) (2015)
Kicking off our list of the best Jen Beagin books is 2015’s Pretend I’m Dead. In Jen Beagin’s debut novel, we’re introduced to an unforgettable protagonist, Mona – almost twenty-four, emotionally adrift, and cleaning houses to get by. Handing out clean needles to drug addicts, she falls for a recipient she calls Mr Disgusting, who proceeds to break her heart in unimaginable ways.
In search of healing, Mona decamps to Taos, New Mexico, for a fresh start, where she finds a community of seekers and cast-offs, all of whom have one or two things to teach her. But always lurking just beneath the surface are her memories of growing up in a chaotic, destructive family from which she’s trying to disentangle herself, and the larger legacy of the past she left behind. The story of Mona’s journey to find her place in this working-class American world is at once hilarious and wonderfully strange, true to life and boldly human, and introduces Beagin’s one-of-a-kind voice.
Vacuum In The Dark (Pretend I’m Dead #2) (2019)
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 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. 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 it so easy to get rid of.
Pretend I’m Dead Book Series in Order
- Pretend I’m Dead (2015) – Pretend I’m Dead #1
- Vacuum in the Dark (2019) – Pretend I’m Dead #2
Big Swiss (2023)
Perhaps Jen Beagin’s most acclaimed book to date, Big Swiss, follows the story of Greta, who lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately calls Big Swiss.
One day, Greta recognises Big Swiss’s voice in town, and they soon become enmeshed. Whilst Big Swiss is unaware that Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…
Check Out The Best Books Like Big Swiss
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
