This deliciously vicious novel, Beth Morgan's debut, is probably best described as what might happen if Ingrid Goes West took place atop the Hellmouth of Sunnydale. The one bright spot in Remy and Alicia's faded relationship is their mutual obsession with Jen, a beautiful former coworker-turned-influencer. When they encounter Jen in real life and get whisked into her orbit, what seems like a dream come true gradually turns into a psychedelic nightmare."-- HARPER'S BAZAAR, Best Books of Summer

An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored. Beth Morgan has a dark and gritty sense of humor and a warped imagination, both of which I fully enjoyed in this impossible-to-explain book. If you like surrealist, dark, weird, humorous stuff, this is the book for you. Just hang on and enjoy the ride. With an imagination like this, Beth Morgan has quite a future in fiction and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. One thing is for sure - it will surprise me. Fun though the end was, the more I think about this book, the more I think that the movie “Save Yourselves!” did everything this book is doing but better, funnier, with less gore and believable characters. Apophenia Plot: After Alicia's death, Remy becomes convinced that everything that happens to him is a result of the universe sending signs to his destiny. This ultimately culminates in him going to Jen's apartment to kill Horus. Sounds like me. If it's longer than one and a half minutes, I can't watch. What the hell is it with some people, taking a full two point five minutes to instruct me on how to build a pyramid? It can't be that difficult.At this point I’m thinking it’s going to be about mental illness or devolve into something like You. BM: I just finished Ted Chiang’s short-story collection Exhalation. In my favorite of the stories, “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” Chiang imagines the development of these AI pets called digients and the kind of care and nurturing they require to develop their humanlike qualities. The speculative aspects of the story felt very realistic, but I think what really impressed me was that way it gave me a glimpse into what’s so absorbing about parenthood — the wonder of watching a personality come into being. While this makes sense, as we’re looking at a flawed main character, I would argue that it doesn’t make sense for Elizabeth’s character that she would remain with the Frankensteins. As soon as she had a chance to get in good with Henry, why didn’t she take it? I read breathlessly. The journey thrilled me. The bravery of Beth Morgan, to take this story to the places she did, reminds me of where Flannery O'Connor took Wise Blood or more recently, where Hari Kunzru took White Tears. I'm also reminded of the films of Yorgos Lanthimos, in particular The Killing of the Sacred Deer, for the way this story has an internal logic that works perfectly as art, but that falls apart if taken out of the peculiar reality in which it exists, or if forced to bend to the rules of realism, or even to the rules that most fiction is written by. I've no doubt the characters in A Touch of Jen would see it as a sign, as they saw everything as a sign, "Signifiiers of the universal flow of energy".

This destructive allure of self-improvement is at the core of A Touch of Jen, the first novel by American writer Beth Morgan. Published mid-July by Little Brown, A Touch of Jen is Morgan’s first novel. Billed as “Ottessa Moshfegh meets David Cronenberg,” it more than lives up to that description一to get specific, it’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets The Fly. While many contemporary novels written by millennial women get marketed as Moshfegh-esque, A Touch of Jen shares more than one passing similarity with My Year of Rest and Relaxation: the New York City setting, the unlikeability of the uncanny and bizarre protagonists, a character recovering from bulimia, and a delusional quest towards “wellness” motivated by deep trauma and grief. KATIE TAMOLA: Can you talk to me about how you landed on the vision for this novel? Were you inspired by certain trends/realities? KT: Would you say A Touch of Jen is a commentary on young people’s obsession with the curated lives of others (and maybe themselves) on social media? Morgan’s skewering of the fallacy of self-improvement was one of the strongest themes in the novel. In an interview with The Rumpus, she stated that this came from her desire to “portray the absurdity and self-absorption of the personal journey or the hero’s journey.” Hearing the advice from The Apple Bush felt eerily familiar: all of the language used around self-help is now mainstream and no longer derided as hippie “woo-woo,” rebranded instead in masculinist and capitalist terms as efficiency, productivity, and personal success. This was clear when several characters told Remy to “reject the tyranny of money over [his] life,” a line that was painfully real to how many perceive manifestation and “energy” work.

Beth Morgan

Part millennial social comedy, part psychedelic horror and all wildly entertaining, A TOUCH OF JEN is a sly, unflinching examination of the hidden drives that lurk just outside the frame of our carefully curated selves. Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try (a little too hard) to fit into Jen’s exalted social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beachside paradise, threatening to erupt. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, we find ourselves tumbling with Remy and Alicia into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant and intoxicating fantasies. Is this what “self-actualization” looks like? Um, holy shit...This novel will be the most fun you'll have this summer." -Emily Temple, Literary Hub A Touch of Jen was well written. I read every word up to 50% of the book. I just couldn’t push further. I loved the cover and the idea of following someone on social media and imitating them but Alicia’s imitation was short to just Jen’s mean personality towards Remy. I will donate this book to the Little Free Library next month and hopefully someone will love reading it. Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not particularly happy together—but they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former co-worker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, and Alicia’s entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen. When they run into Jen, in the flesh, she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hampton’s with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try to fit into Jen’s social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface, threatening to erupt. As disturbances escalate into horror, Remy and Alicia tumble into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their deviant, intoxicating fantasies.

Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try (a little too hard) to fit into Jen's exalted social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beachside paradise, threatening to erupt. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, we find ourselves tumbling with Remy and Alicia into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant, and intoxicating fantasies. Is this what "self-actualization" looks like? Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try (a little too hard) to fit into Jen’s exalted social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beach-side paradise, threatening to erupt. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, Remy and Alicia tumble into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant, and intoxicating fantasies. Is this what “self-actualization” looks like? We have Alicia and Remy who are obsessed with Jen, an old co-worker of Remy's. They follow stalk her on social media, and Alicia often pretends to be her, including when they're having sex. This novel captures so much of our internet thoughts in a readable and electric frazzle... Like Buñuel, Beth Morgan recognizes that erotic desire is funny in the way it degrades subject and object...A satire on the terrible neo-liberal morass we co-occupy, unable to touch intimacy. The laughs come fast, and the message is low-key freaky and haunting. This one is for the kids."-- ENTROPY MAGAZINE Shondaland caught up with Morgan to discuss the inspirations for her new novel, loneliness in romantic relationships, and the idea of disparate personal journeys.