What do you think?
Rate this book
Beta Vulgaris
A young woman’s seasonal job takes a dark, surreal turn in this vivid and surprising debut.
When Elise and her boyfriend, Tom, set off for Minnesota, all she knows about harvesting sugar beets (Beta vulgaris) is that her paycheck will cover a few months’ rent on their Brooklyn apartment. She’ll try anything to escape the incessant debt collection calls—and chronic anxieties about her body and her relationship. But as the grueling graveyard shifts set in, Elise notices strange threatening texts, a mysterious rash, a string of disappearances from the workers’ campsite, and snatches of a hypnotic voice coming from the beet pile itself.
As crewmembers vanish, Elise obsesses over Tom’s closeness with their charismatic coworker Cee and falls back on self-destructive patterns of disordered eating and dissociation. Against the horrors of her uncertain future, is the siren song of the beet pile almost . . . appealing? Biting and eerie, Beta Vulgaris harnesses an audacious premise to undermine straightforward narratives of class, trauma, consumption, and redemption.
When Elise and her boyfriend, Tom, set off for Minnesota, all she knows about harvesting sugar beets (Beta vulgaris) is that her paycheck will cover a few months’ rent on their Brooklyn apartment. She’ll try anything to escape the incessant debt collection calls—and chronic anxieties about her body and her relationship. But as the grueling graveyard shifts set in, Elise notices strange threatening texts, a mysterious rash, a string of disappearances from the workers’ campsite, and snatches of a hypnotic voice coming from the beet pile itself.
As crewmembers vanish, Elise obsesses over Tom’s closeness with their charismatic coworker Cee and falls back on self-destructive patterns of disordered eating and dissociation. Against the horrors of her uncertain future, is the siren song of the beet pile almost . . . appealing? Biting and eerie, Beta Vulgaris harnesses an audacious premise to undermine straightforward narratives of class, trauma, consumption, and redemption.
296 pages, Paperback
First published February 11, 2025
164 people are currently reading
16963 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 594 reviews
December 4, 2024
This was wild. One of the most blatant and raw books I've ever read about spiraling into an unhinged and deep Depression. But also, beets?
I have never in my life seen or read a book about people harvesting beets before. But the actual beet stuff, while educational, was not that interesting. The magic of this book was in the story and the complexity of the main character, Elise. She absolutely despises herself and is convinced that everyone around her also can't stand her. This can get exhausting, but the author infuses a caustic and mean spirited humor into the tone that makes it work. (At least, for me it did.) Elise is incredibly self-aware but she can't help herself. She is a human car crash.
Margie Sarsfield nails what it’s like to have zero confidence in yourself or how other people feel about you, and she portrays it in poetic ways. Elise isn’t even sure if her own boyfriend likes her. I don’t relate to ALL of Elise’s struggles, but the way that Sarsfield portrays a specific brand of mid-life Depression and Anxiety is frighteningly spot on. I can easily picture numerous reviewers saying things like, “I couldn’t stand this narrator! Had to DNF!” Being inside her head is NOT a picnic because of the brutal honesty, racing thoughts and relentless self hatred. And it only gets worse as bad things continue to happen on this miserable seasonal beet farm job.
Shortly after arriving at the site in their camper, settling in and meeting everyone, Elise immediately begins to come apart mentally. (Wasn’t there a weird sign on the wall earlier? Where did it go? Etc. It's little details that don't REALLY matter.) Elise has a gross rash on her neck that she can’t identify and it only gets more worrisome. (Is it beet related?) She even feels a connection to the beets themselves, imagining she can hear them speak to her. There's a surreal quality to things that mirror her deteriorating mental state, and it's done with incredible skill.
I was confused at first why numbers would occasionally pop up here and there in parentheses, and then I realized that Elise was a very strict counter of calories. This plays a large role in who she is and how she treats herself, and I caution anyone who struggles with this that the story deals with both starvation and binge eating in visceral detail. There were lots of what I would call micro-triggers in this book, meaning Elise’s internal monologue was so honest and casually dark that she would constantly drop little nuggets of confession over and over that would practically make me suck air through my teeth. She was often a bit TOO real.
And still, the weird humor throughout kept it grounded. (Example: Elise and her coworkers would go to a restaurant called “Spaghett About It,” where Elise essentially has a mental breakdown at one point that was difficult to read.) Sarsfield crafted a miserable experience with this novel that I couldn't get enough of. At the end of the book, I was questioning things. I felt like even I had misread some of Elise’s experiences, and the realizations that I reached were not fun. This author is so talented.
This is absolutely one of my best reads of the year, but I do caution that I tend to enjoy the bleak stuff. It will NOT be for everyone! And mind the triggers, of which there are many. I predict that some reviewers will state that this is not actually Horror, but if you've ever suffered from Depression this severe, I beg to differ.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sick animals (dogs), **Disordered eating, Body shaming, Substance abuse, Anxiety, Self-harm, References to Sexual Harassment of a Minor, Allusions to SA, Severe Depression/Suicidal ideation
I have never in my life seen or read a book about people harvesting beets before. But the actual beet stuff, while educational, was not that interesting. The magic of this book was in the story and the complexity of the main character, Elise. She absolutely despises herself and is convinced that everyone around her also can't stand her. This can get exhausting, but the author infuses a caustic and mean spirited humor into the tone that makes it work. (At least, for me it did.) Elise is incredibly self-aware but she can't help herself. She is a human car crash.
Margie Sarsfield nails what it’s like to have zero confidence in yourself or how other people feel about you, and she portrays it in poetic ways. Elise isn’t even sure if her own boyfriend likes her. I don’t relate to ALL of Elise’s struggles, but the way that Sarsfield portrays a specific brand of mid-life Depression and Anxiety is frighteningly spot on. I can easily picture numerous reviewers saying things like, “I couldn’t stand this narrator! Had to DNF!” Being inside her head is NOT a picnic because of the brutal honesty, racing thoughts and relentless self hatred. And it only gets worse as bad things continue to happen on this miserable seasonal beet farm job.
Shortly after arriving at the site in their camper, settling in and meeting everyone, Elise immediately begins to come apart mentally. (Wasn’t there a weird sign on the wall earlier? Where did it go? Etc. It's little details that don't REALLY matter.) Elise has a gross rash on her neck that she can’t identify and it only gets more worrisome. (Is it beet related?) She even feels a connection to the beets themselves, imagining she can hear them speak to her. There's a surreal quality to things that mirror her deteriorating mental state, and it's done with incredible skill.
I was confused at first why numbers would occasionally pop up here and there in parentheses, and then I realized that Elise was a very strict counter of calories. This plays a large role in who she is and how she treats herself, and I caution anyone who struggles with this that the story deals with both starvation and binge eating in visceral detail. There were lots of what I would call micro-triggers in this book, meaning Elise’s internal monologue was so honest and casually dark that she would constantly drop little nuggets of confession over and over that would practically make me suck air through my teeth. She was often a bit TOO real.
And still, the weird humor throughout kept it grounded. (Example: Elise and her coworkers would go to a restaurant called “Spaghett About It,” where Elise essentially has a mental breakdown at one point that was difficult to read.) Sarsfield crafted a miserable experience with this novel that I couldn't get enough of. At the end of the book, I was questioning things. I felt like even I had misread some of Elise’s experiences, and the realizations that I reached were not fun. This author is so talented.
This is absolutely one of my best reads of the year, but I do caution that I tend to enjoy the bleak stuff. It will NOT be for everyone! And mind the triggers, of which there are many. I predict that some reviewers will state that this is not actually Horror, but if you've ever suffered from Depression this severe, I beg to differ.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sick animals (dogs), **Disordered eating, Body shaming, Substance abuse, Anxiety, Self-harm, References to Sexual Harassment of a Minor, Allusions to SA, Severe Depression/Suicidal ideation
January 14, 2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror
When I came across the cover of this book on NetGalley, I was immediately intrigued. After reading the synopsis, my interest grew even more, prompting me to request an ARC, which I was pleased to be approved for. The story follows a young woman in her 20s named Elise, who is from Brooklyn. She travels with her boyfriend, Tom, to Minnesota to participate in the sugar beet harvest.
They're just looking to make some quick cash and snag some free meals before heading back to Brooklyn. Elise is really tight on money, but Tom, who's from a rich family, won’t even think about asking for help. At least that's what he wants Elise to think.
At the beet farm, the couple meets a friendly group of seasonal workers, including Sam and his girlfriend, Cee, whom Elise totally admires. But things get tough when Elise has to deal with the rough weather and her supplies running low. It gets even more stressful when she notices a weird charge on her credit card, which just adds to the friction between her and Tom.
When Elise's eating disorder kicks in, she starts seeing things and hearing weird stuff, like the beets talking to her. As everything spirals out of control, Tom and Cee disappear, making Elise confront how wobbly her grip on reality really is.
This is a slow-moving, character-driven story. The pace is a bit slow, so it might not be your cup of tea. I wouldn’t categorize it as a traditional horror story because all the horror occurs within the main character’s mind. The book features an atmospheric setting, and while the plot is quite bizarre, it is intriguing in a good way.
Since the narration is presented in the first-person perspective, readers experience everything through the main character's point of view, causing a blurring between reality and imagination. The author effectively captures the main character's vivid hallucinations and vulnerabilities. I believe this author has created a solid debut novel. This is one of those books that you need to explore on your own to truly appreciate it and discover how much you enjoy it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.
Genre: Horror
When I came across the cover of this book on NetGalley, I was immediately intrigued. After reading the synopsis, my interest grew even more, prompting me to request an ARC, which I was pleased to be approved for. The story follows a young woman in her 20s named Elise, who is from Brooklyn. She travels with her boyfriend, Tom, to Minnesota to participate in the sugar beet harvest.
They're just looking to make some quick cash and snag some free meals before heading back to Brooklyn. Elise is really tight on money, but Tom, who's from a rich family, won’t even think about asking for help. At least that's what he wants Elise to think.
At the beet farm, the couple meets a friendly group of seasonal workers, including Sam and his girlfriend, Cee, whom Elise totally admires. But things get tough when Elise has to deal with the rough weather and her supplies running low. It gets even more stressful when she notices a weird charge on her credit card, which just adds to the friction between her and Tom.
When Elise's eating disorder kicks in, she starts seeing things and hearing weird stuff, like the beets talking to her. As everything spirals out of control, Tom and Cee disappear, making Elise confront how wobbly her grip on reality really is.
This is a slow-moving, character-driven story. The pace is a bit slow, so it might not be your cup of tea. I wouldn’t categorize it as a traditional horror story because all the horror occurs within the main character’s mind. The book features an atmospheric setting, and while the plot is quite bizarre, it is intriguing in a good way.
Since the narration is presented in the first-person perspective, readers experience everything through the main character's point of view, causing a blurring between reality and imagination. The author effectively captures the main character's vivid hallucinations and vulnerabilities. I believe this author has created a solid debut novel. This is one of those books that you need to explore on your own to truly appreciate it and discover how much you enjoy it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.
April 2, 2025
hi i’m here to tell you there is a TON of ED triggers in this book it’s kind of the whole book lowkey so like, if you’re a recovering ED babe … maybe do not. xo
May 28, 2025
Elise and her boyfriend Tom, spend their summer vacation in Minnesota to help harvesting sugar beets and boost her miserable finances. Tom's parents are loaded, but she's pretty broke. She also has an eating disorder, chronic anxieties, is a master pessimist, her confidence is on the floor, and she generally just thinks too much. And ever since she works the fields, she has an ugly rash on her neck.
Fellow workers of her start vanishing, including her boyfriend and the charismatic Cee, which Elise has something like a crush on. But is it better to follow the siren song of the beet or to live in the hell that is Elise's head?
As exaggerated and satirical Elise's psyche may be, sadly I recognized so much of her in how I used to be some twenty years ago: the confidence thing, the messed up-ness, the constant monkey-brain, assuming everyone hates me... so I really felt for her, because it is hell being in those shoes (or, in this case, in those pink, boy-friend bought doc martens boots). I did like this book a lot and may even re-read some time.
Fellow workers of her start vanishing, including her boyfriend and the charismatic Cee, which Elise has something like a crush on. But is it better to follow the siren song of the beet or to live in the hell that is Elise's head?
As exaggerated and satirical Elise's psyche may be, sadly I recognized so much of her in how I used to be some twenty years ago: the confidence thing, the messed up-ness, the constant monkey-brain, assuming everyone hates me... so I really felt for her, because it is hell being in those shoes (or, in this case, in those pink, boy-friend bought doc martens boots). I did like this book a lot and may even re-read some time.
February 17, 2025
What a weird little book. I’m starting to think my new favourite genre is “esoteric pseudo-horror with unlikeable heroines”.
I really enjoyed Beta Vulgaris, while simultaneously hating it, and I think that was the point??
I saw a lot of myself in Elise, but I also know a lot of Elises: girls who love to throw their own pity parties and are only happy when they’re hating themselves. It can get very exhausting.
This was a trippy trek through the damaged millennial mind, a state I know all too well. Don’t we all just want to get absorbed into something greater than ourselves and cease to exist sometimes?
This is not a happy book, but it’s smart and strange.
I really enjoyed Beta Vulgaris, while simultaneously hating it, and I think that was the point??
I saw a lot of myself in Elise, but I also know a lot of Elises: girls who love to throw their own pity parties and are only happy when they’re hating themselves. It can get very exhausting.
This was a trippy trek through the damaged millennial mind, a state I know all too well. Don’t we all just want to get absorbed into something greater than ourselves and cease to exist sometimes?
This is not a happy book, but it’s smart and strange.
Read
December 18, 2025Hoo-Lordy. This is some tale.
There’s a great song by Radiohead called “Go to Sleep.” The song starts one way, and never changes key or meter, but by the end of the song it’s a completely different song than it was at the beginning. This book is structured much the same way.
This is the third book I’ve read this month that featured root vegetables, which is weird, but not nearly as weird as this story. And beets aren’t painful, as this story most assuredly is. We spend 283 pages with a young woman who hates herself with an intensity that’s breathtaking. Thinking about it makes my stomach hurt. A couple random quotes:
“Maybe someday she would be in history textbooks: the worst person to never actually do anything that bad.”
“She layered up and let the dog out, stepped down from the camper to re-snap the snap only to find that it would not snap closed; she couldn’t figure out why, because she wasn’t an expert in snaps. She was only in expert in egomaniacal self-hatred, the dark art of inventing new and spectacular ways to feel bad.”
How do you rate a book that makes you feel horrible when feeling horrible was exactly the objective the author had in mind? Sarsfield is skilled in her art.
There’s a great song by Radiohead called “Go to Sleep.” The song starts one way, and never changes key or meter, but by the end of the song it’s a completely different song than it was at the beginning. This book is structured much the same way.
This is the third book I’ve read this month that featured root vegetables, which is weird, but not nearly as weird as this story. And beets aren’t painful, as this story most assuredly is. We spend 283 pages with a young woman who hates herself with an intensity that’s breathtaking. Thinking about it makes my stomach hurt. A couple random quotes:
“Maybe someday she would be in history textbooks: the worst person to never actually do anything that bad.”
“She layered up and let the dog out, stepped down from the camper to re-snap the snap only to find that it would not snap closed; she couldn’t figure out why, because she wasn’t an expert in snaps. She was only in expert in egomaniacal self-hatred, the dark art of inventing new and spectacular ways to feel bad.”
How do you rate a book that makes you feel horrible when feeling horrible was exactly the objective the author had in mind? Sarsfield is skilled in her art.
February 9, 2025
Elise and her boyfriend sign on for a few intense weeks of harvesting sugar beets - a quickie job that promises a big paycheck - before they head back to their shared New York apartment. That was the plan. But, as they say, Man plans and God laughs . . . or maybe that's just the beets chuckling.
This is a deeply introspective dive into the mind of a dissatisfied and unhappy young woman. One thing I've noticed from my decades of reading is that when the main character is dissatisfied, the reader is often left feeling that way too. This book drained me. From Elise's financial problems to her eating disorder - she dragged me down with her into a swirling pit of despair. Though I was not expecting a happy, feel-good read, there was honestly no light at the end of this tunnel.
Well . . . that's not completely true.
At least the dog didn't die.
I suspect this will appeal to younger readers, but there was too much twenty-something angst for me.
Many thanks to W.W. Norton for sending a physical ARC.
This is a deeply introspective dive into the mind of a dissatisfied and unhappy young woman. One thing I've noticed from my decades of reading is that when the main character is dissatisfied, the reader is often left feeling that way too. This book drained me. From Elise's financial problems to her eating disorder - she dragged me down with her into a swirling pit of despair. Though I was not expecting a happy, feel-good read, there was honestly no light at the end of this tunnel.
Well . . . that's not completely true.
At least the dog didn't die.
I suspect this will appeal to younger readers, but there was too much twenty-something angst for me.
Many thanks to W.W. Norton for sending a physical ARC.
Read
February 21, 2025Genre: weird fiction (defined by me lol)
It's way less botanical horror than I'd hoped for (*sighs* too few evil beets 👹), and more like Kerouac's On the Road, but instead of chill, everything is cramped with anxiety.
I would say it's decent into madness, but the main heroine is anxious, paranoid, and delusional from the beginning, and throughout the book, we only witness how her facade for the outer world crumbles.
As someone who experiences many of the same anxieties, this was a hard read. Especially since the heroine hates herself so much, but when you read her thoughts and motives, you also kind of forced to become her inner hater voice, like, yeah, girl, you did make a stupid decision. But I also felt deeply sorry for her and wanted to hug her.
It's honestly hard to rate, as it's good art that strikes you 🎯, but this art I kind of want to strike back at 🥊, it's so close to home.
It's way less botanical horror than I'd hoped for (*sighs* too few evil beets 👹), and more like Kerouac's On the Road, but instead of chill, everything is cramped with anxiety.
I would say it's decent into madness, but the main heroine is anxious, paranoid, and delusional from the beginning, and throughout the book, we only witness how her facade for the outer world crumbles.
As someone who experiences many of the same anxieties, this was a hard read. Especially since the heroine hates herself so much, but when you read her thoughts and motives, you also kind of forced to become her inner hater voice, like, yeah, girl, you did make a stupid decision. But I also felt deeply sorry for her and wanted to hug her.
It's honestly hard to rate, as it's good art that strikes you 🎯, but this art I kind of want to strike back at 🥊, it's so close to home.
October 6, 2025
Horrifying but like not really in an engaging or truly scary or interesting way. Good discussion with my book club though as always! https://www.instagram.com/lesbianfemi...
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
December 29, 2024
This novel is asphyxiating. It is all flayed skin and raw nerves, a type of suffering that is only experienced through intimacy. There is no real plot to speak of, but instead a character study of a young woman suffering from mental illness without the necessary supports to keep herself afloat. It reminded me, not in specific themes or ideas, necessarily, but in vibes, as a combination of Iain Reid’s novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Coralie Fargeat’s film The Substance.
It is classified as horror, which might be a little misleading. The story is certainly horrific, a series of car accidents lined up one after another, which the reader can naught but witness, no matter how far in the distance you may see the accidents coming. The whole story follows the character of Elsie, and we are there with her small joys and victories, at the beginning, always overshadowed by her constant insecurity and anxiety. As her life and experiences spiral out of control we are along for the ride, the writing keeping us in a profound intimacy, one that parallels the disorientation she constantly experiences. There are a handful of other characters, though all of the ancillary characters are colored and shaped by Elsie’s experience of them, the roles she assigns them in her life. Because of this they are not incredibly deep, and yet they are memorable, they feel like genuine characters, even when filed down to the singular focus Elsie gives them.
Elsie is complicated and messy and feels all too genuine. Her past and her present and all of the voices telling her the ways she is nothing but a disappointment to everyone, herself included, everything feels painfully real. Bad decision after bad decision you may feel frustrated with her, so close to pulling herself out of the hole she just keeps digging, but at the same time all of her decisions make sense for her character. This slow-motion breakdown is set amidst really great world-building. The ethereality of seasonal work, the very lack of substance that it embodies, works really well. The environments, from the campground to the soup kitchen to the worksite, they all feel dirty and tangible, slowly building a picture of the particular assortment of circumstances that can push Elise farther away from herself than she has been before, a distance we wait with bated breath to see if she can return from.
This story isn’t particularly fun to read, in a conventional sense. But it is incredibly compelling and heartbreaking, in equal measures. It is expertly written, with prose that really situates you in the troubled and untrustworthy mind of the main character, and while you may not feel good when the story ends you will likely feel transformed, in some small way.
I want to thank the author, the publisher W. W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
It is classified as horror, which might be a little misleading. The story is certainly horrific, a series of car accidents lined up one after another, which the reader can naught but witness, no matter how far in the distance you may see the accidents coming. The whole story follows the character of Elsie, and we are there with her small joys and victories, at the beginning, always overshadowed by her constant insecurity and anxiety. As her life and experiences spiral out of control we are along for the ride, the writing keeping us in a profound intimacy, one that parallels the disorientation she constantly experiences. There are a handful of other characters, though all of the ancillary characters are colored and shaped by Elsie’s experience of them, the roles she assigns them in her life. Because of this they are not incredibly deep, and yet they are memorable, they feel like genuine characters, even when filed down to the singular focus Elsie gives them.
Elsie is complicated and messy and feels all too genuine. Her past and her present and all of the voices telling her the ways she is nothing but a disappointment to everyone, herself included, everything feels painfully real. Bad decision after bad decision you may feel frustrated with her, so close to pulling herself out of the hole she just keeps digging, but at the same time all of her decisions make sense for her character. This slow-motion breakdown is set amidst really great world-building. The ethereality of seasonal work, the very lack of substance that it embodies, works really well. The environments, from the campground to the soup kitchen to the worksite, they all feel dirty and tangible, slowly building a picture of the particular assortment of circumstances that can push Elise farther away from herself than she has been before, a distance we wait with bated breath to see if she can return from.
This story isn’t particularly fun to read, in a conventional sense. But it is incredibly compelling and heartbreaking, in equal measures. It is expertly written, with prose that really situates you in the troubled and untrustworthy mind of the main character, and while you may not feel good when the story ends you will likely feel transformed, in some small way.
I want to thank the author, the publisher W. W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 10, 2024
A surreal spiral of a book with a slow build. Reminded me of novels like A GOOD HAPPY GIRL, with shades of Mona Awad or Melissa Broder.
Elise is one of those lost in her life protagonists in her early 20's, working in a grocery store thinking maybe she'll go back to school. Her long-term boyfriend Tom comes from money but has principles so the two of them barely scrape by. They decide to spend a season at a sugar beet farm where they will live in a camper, eat meals provided for the homeless by a local church, and bond with other young, aimless weirdos who have made the same choice.
Elise is young, insecure, fighting off an eating disorder she thought she'd shaken. Things aren't going great and they slowly get more weird and full of dread the longer she works with the beets, which seem to speak to her.
I would have liked a little more here, but I can't deny that I was pulled along through the story even when so little was happening. I would love to see Sarsfield go bigger and shoot higher next time around.
Elise is one of those lost in her life protagonists in her early 20's, working in a grocery store thinking maybe she'll go back to school. Her long-term boyfriend Tom comes from money but has principles so the two of them barely scrape by. They decide to spend a season at a sugar beet farm where they will live in a camper, eat meals provided for the homeless by a local church, and bond with other young, aimless weirdos who have made the same choice.
Elise is young, insecure, fighting off an eating disorder she thought she'd shaken. Things aren't going great and they slowly get more weird and full of dread the longer she works with the beets, which seem to speak to her.
I would have liked a little more here, but I can't deny that I was pulled along through the story even when so little was happening. I would love to see Sarsfield go bigger and shoot higher next time around.
February 28, 2025
Elise is broke and up for an adventure—and a summer harvesting sugar beets with her boyfriend seems like just the thing to put her in the black and get her out of her rut. But she hasn't accounted for the pulsing of beets in the pile, for the pressing need to return the dirt, for other seasonal workers disappearing.
This is a little weirdo of a book (not a criticism), and it's definitely one to be read when you're in the mood for, well, a little weirdo of a book. Having finished the book, I'm still thinking about how much of the events I can take as fact and how much of them I need to take as Elise spiralling; without spoiling anything, I'll say that she's not in a great headspace for much of the book. I don't think this is quite body horror, but at times it leans in that direction.
I'm not sure of Sarsfield's background, but if she didn't study MFA-level creative writing I'll eat my hat.* The plot is tight and specific—can feel a bit random in places, but in a way that tells you that the author knows where she's taking you. I wasn't always a fan of the way Elise's backstory was woven in (a little too much exposition), but she's very self-aware in that way that tells you—well, it's one of the things that tells you this—that she really doesn't like herself very much.
One to pick up if you can't always get out of your head and would like to be in somebody else's head for a while, perhaps...if only to remind you that your own isn't so bad. Won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I expect the book will be very very relatable to a certain demographic. Would read more.
*I don't have a hat, so this is an empty threat; go with it anyway
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
This is a little weirdo of a book (not a criticism), and it's definitely one to be read when you're in the mood for, well, a little weirdo of a book. Having finished the book, I'm still thinking about how much of the events I can take as fact and how much of them I need to take as Elise spiralling; without spoiling anything, I'll say that she's not in a great headspace for much of the book. I don't think this is quite body horror, but at times it leans in that direction.
I'm not sure of Sarsfield's background, but if she didn't study MFA-level creative writing I'll eat my hat.* The plot is tight and specific—can feel a bit random in places, but in a way that tells you that the author knows where she's taking you. I wasn't always a fan of the way Elise's backstory was woven in (a little too much exposition), but she's very self-aware in that way that tells you—well, it's one of the things that tells you this—that she really doesn't like herself very much.
One to pick up if you can't always get out of your head and would like to be in somebody else's head for a while, perhaps...if only to remind you that your own isn't so bad. Won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I expect the book will be very very relatable to a certain demographic. Would read more.
*I don't have a hat, so this is an empty threat; go with it anyway
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
March 18, 2025
Are we sure this is Margie Sarsfield's debut? Her incisive attention to detail - not only in her storytelling but in the prose itself - impressed me from the start. I'm not sure I've ever come across such crafty, masterful use of motifs. Thanks to how efficiently and effectively you're brought into our FMC's mind, connecting with Elise feels effortless. The way her spiraling thoughts are used to propel the story forward and hint at subtle shifts in her reality is *chef's kiss*.
Beta Vulgaris only had 2 downfalls:
- This trope is so, so common
- There was a lull in the back half that almost lost me, The pace picking back up not soon after, I'm happy I stuck around. Removing that downtime, though, would push this to a 5/5.
While the ending was predictable, the way in which it unfolds was not. Unlike other books I feel predictable, I still wanted to push through in order to see how Margie Sarsfield closes the novel out.
I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Convenience Store Woman, Sky Daddy, Hard Copy, A Touch of Jen, Pizza Girl and/or My Husband and is looking for something similar, albeit much darker.
{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Margie Sarsfield and W.W. Norton and Company for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!}
Beta Vulgaris only had 2 downfalls:
- This trope is so, so common
- There was a lull in the back half that almost lost me, The pace picking back up not soon after, I'm happy I stuck around. Removing that downtime, though, would push this to a 5/5.
While the ending was predictable, the way in which it unfolds was not. Unlike other books I feel predictable, I still wanted to push through in order to see how Margie Sarsfield closes the novel out.
I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Convenience Store Woman, Sky Daddy, Hard Copy, A Touch of Jen, Pizza Girl and/or My Husband and is looking for something similar, albeit much darker.
{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Margie Sarsfield and W.W. Norton and Company for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!}
October 25, 2024
"Worms can't talk, said the beets."
Elise is a complex and compelling character. She has a lot of issues that, unfortunately, I and probably a good portion of the female population can relate to to some degree. And while she is interesting in those ways, she's mostly boring. This story is 80% her stream of consciousness, and most of it is repetitive, and nothing happens. Like the parts of Pretty Little Lists were absolutely unneeded.
I was intrigued, however, dying to find out what was going to happen, but I swam through so much stuff that did not forward the plot for nothing. The ending was so disappointing
Elise is a complex and compelling character. She has a lot of issues that, unfortunately, I and probably a good portion of the female population can relate to to some degree. And while she is interesting in those ways, she's mostly boring. This story is 80% her stream of consciousness, and most of it is repetitive, and nothing happens. Like the parts of Pretty Little Lists were absolutely unneeded.
I was intrigued, however, dying to find out what was going to happen, but I swam through so much stuff that did not forward the plot for nothing. The ending was so disappointing
February 13, 2025
It's giving Girl Dinner ✨
Did I give this two stars? Yes. Will I be recommending this often? Also, yes.
Beta Vulgaris is a genre-bending debut following Elise and her boyfriend Tom getting a job harvesting sugar beets in Minnesota to help her crippling debt. Working at the farm seems difficult, but the paycheck is worth it until Elise starts noticing weird rashes, things that aren't quite right, and the disappearance of her coworkers. As she spends more time at this farm, Elise obsesses over Tom's closeness to their gorgeous coworker, Cee, and falls into a downward spiral of disordered eating, disassociation, and insecurity.
If you were a part of and loved the weird-girl literature 'trend' a few years ago, myself included, you will love this. The reason I didn't is simply because I expected a horror novel where they turn into sugar beets and this was not that entirely. Definitely a literary fever dream with horror elements rather than just a plain horror. This is shelved in the horror section in Barnes & Noble, and if I was an avid horror reader who happened to grab this off the shelves, I would be disappointed– and I am.
It is partially my fault. If I read the reviews, comp titles, or even looked at the back to see the authors that blurbed it, I would have known this is a literary fiction with horror elements. The writing is superb and the way Elise descends into 'madness' is beautifully done; I would have eaten this up in 2022!
Regardless, I really think this will be loved by the majority. I would have loved it if I was 1) in the mood for it and 2) knew what I was getting into. I'd recommend this for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Mona Awad, and Sayaka Murata's literary horror.
Thank you to the publisher, W.W. Norton Company for the ARC! This title was released on February 11, 2025. My review is fully based on the ARC not the finished copy.
Did I give this two stars? Yes. Will I be recommending this often? Also, yes.
Beta Vulgaris is a genre-bending debut following Elise and her boyfriend Tom getting a job harvesting sugar beets in Minnesota to help her crippling debt. Working at the farm seems difficult, but the paycheck is worth it until Elise starts noticing weird rashes, things that aren't quite right, and the disappearance of her coworkers. As she spends more time at this farm, Elise obsesses over Tom's closeness to their gorgeous coworker, Cee, and falls into a downward spiral of disordered eating, disassociation, and insecurity.
If you were a part of and loved the weird-girl literature 'trend' a few years ago, myself included, you will love this. The reason I didn't is simply because I expected a horror novel where they turn into sugar beets and this was not that entirely. Definitely a literary fever dream with horror elements rather than just a plain horror. This is shelved in the horror section in Barnes & Noble, and if I was an avid horror reader who happened to grab this off the shelves, I would be disappointed– and I am.
It is partially my fault. If I read the reviews, comp titles, or even looked at the back to see the authors that blurbed it, I would have known this is a literary fiction with horror elements. The writing is superb and the way Elise descends into 'madness' is beautifully done; I would have eaten this up in 2022!
Regardless, I really think this will be loved by the majority. I would have loved it if I was 1) in the mood for it and 2) knew what I was getting into. I'd recommend this for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Mona Awad, and Sayaka Murata's literary horror.
Thank you to the publisher, W.W. Norton Company for the ARC! This title was released on February 11, 2025. My review is fully based on the ARC not the finished copy.
March 19, 2025
One star because Cake left the camp. I thought it’d be a horror story but it’s more weird sad girl pick me vibes. Every single one of the human characters were unlikeable.
May 7, 2025
was expecting eldritch horror but actually got the very mundane horror of living in the head of an overly self conscious person
June 10, 2025
Yoooooooo wut
Terrible reading experience though not a terrible book. So relieved I never have to be 25 again. I, too, straight into a pile of beets but for the grace of God. Eating a nice banana would have solved a lot of Elise’s problems.
Terrible reading experience though not a terrible book. So relieved I never have to be 25 again. I, too, straight into a pile of beets but for the grace of God. Eating a nice banana would have solved a lot of Elise’s problems.
March 10, 2025
This needed a stricter editor
February 8, 2025
Beta Vulgaris fits pretty neatly into the ever-expanding niche of books about insecure girlfailures with poor financial habits, body image issues, and relationship troubles. the surreal element doesn't even set it apart, as others have already done it much better (A Touch of Jen comes to mind). I went into this with high hopes that it was going to be a surreal horror about beets, and instead got a retread of something I've already experienced many times before.
I'm sure this just comes down to personal preference, but I think you have a few options for this type of book: provide answers for the surreal mystery you've set up, have some kind of growth/unique insights of your protagonist, or be so exquisitely written that the experience of reading is enjoyable enough on its own and the rest doesn't matter. this provided none of that, and as a result I just don't really see the point. maybe if this was the first of its kind that I'd read I would feel differently, but it just feels unnecessary and overdone. at this point I'm just begging for some good surreal literary fiction because I cannot take anymore of these.
also, what was the deal with the pretty little liars interludes??
I'm sure this just comes down to personal preference, but I think you have a few options for this type of book: provide answers for the surreal mystery you've set up, have some kind of growth/unique insights of your protagonist, or be so exquisitely written that the experience of reading is enjoyable enough on its own and the rest doesn't matter. this provided none of that, and as a result I just don't really see the point. maybe if this was the first of its kind that I'd read I would feel differently, but it just feels unnecessary and overdone. at this point I'm just begging for some good surreal literary fiction because I cannot take anymore of these.
also, what was the deal with the pretty little liars interludes??
July 13, 2025
i dont really have anything to say about this. I'm glad i didnt let my high school anorexia brain devolve to be becoming delusional about beets. 3.5⭐️
January 12, 2025
thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.
this one is out February 11, 2025
--
i'm going to be entirely honest with you - i'm not sure what i just read.
please don't go into this one expecting horror the way that i did. or, perhaps, if you go into it understand there's no tangible horrors, just the way our main character elise talks about her relationship, her body, her poverty.
so, to be clear - elise is a character with very little money in her bank account, dating a man called tom, a trust fund baby who is morally opposed to using his wealth for survival. the dynamic off the bat is insufferable. elise is in a constant state of fretting about money. she's got just north of 100 dollars in her bank account and instead of discussing it with her partner she hides her truth and spends through it, watching the number dwindle down.
together, elise and tom are headed to a beet farm where they'll harvest beats over a short period of time. the money they make will ensure rent for several months and elise is desperate for that.
elise has a LARGE amount of body issues. i mean, large. i don't even get the impression that she's that large but we're subjected to her constantly counting the calories of every single thing that she consumes and things that she doesn't. she'll ignore healthy meals to eat a plate of lettuce (20 calories). if you're a person with triggers related to eating disorders, i would steer clear of this one. there's also a point where she ends up binging in a big way and it was pretty unsettling to read.
if the unlikable characters don't sway you away, you may really enjoy this if you love surrealism where you understand that there's something happening, but you're not entirely sure what it is. surrealism is an area that i've struggled with in fiction. i didn't find much of a reason or resolution in this book, just that this was one character's descent into madness with a healthy dose of fatphobia, both internalized and not. i'm just not sure what i was meant to get out of it.
i think if i'd gone into this expecting something more literary, i'd have had a better time.
this one is out February 11, 2025
--
i'm going to be entirely honest with you - i'm not sure what i just read.
please don't go into this one expecting horror the way that i did. or, perhaps, if you go into it understand there's no tangible horrors, just the way our main character elise talks about her relationship, her body, her poverty.
so, to be clear - elise is a character with very little money in her bank account, dating a man called tom, a trust fund baby who is morally opposed to using his wealth for survival. the dynamic off the bat is insufferable. elise is in a constant state of fretting about money. she's got just north of 100 dollars in her bank account and instead of discussing it with her partner she hides her truth and spends through it, watching the number dwindle down.
together, elise and tom are headed to a beet farm where they'll harvest beats over a short period of time. the money they make will ensure rent for several months and elise is desperate for that.
elise has a LARGE amount of body issues. i mean, large. i don't even get the impression that she's that large but we're subjected to her constantly counting the calories of every single thing that she consumes and things that she doesn't. she'll ignore healthy meals to eat a plate of lettuce (20 calories). if you're a person with triggers related to eating disorders, i would steer clear of this one. there's also a point where she ends up binging in a big way and it was pretty unsettling to read.
if the unlikable characters don't sway you away, you may really enjoy this if you love surrealism where you understand that there's something happening, but you're not entirely sure what it is. surrealism is an area that i've struggled with in fiction. i didn't find much of a reason or resolution in this book, just that this was one character's descent into madness with a healthy dose of fatphobia, both internalized and not. i'm just not sure what i was meant to get out of it.
i think if i'd gone into this expecting something more literary, i'd have had a better time.
May 19, 2025
Beta Vulgaris is a chilling stream of consciousness driven story with an intensely relatable and always unreliable narrator. Reminiscent of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Iain Reid’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things this novel will have your head spinning wondering what’s real and what’s the delusion of a deeply troubled mind.
Sarsfield’s inclusion of a sugar beet farm is as unique as it is perfectly executed, (You wouldn’t want to know how many hours I spent googling pilers and sugar beets) and Elise is a mind with so many layers to relate to.
While perhaps wrongly marketed as a horror novel, it stands among the best of weird girl and coming-of-rage literature.
As many others have mentioned, please make sure to check triggers before reading <3
Sarsfield’s inclusion of a sugar beet farm is as unique as it is perfectly executed, (You wouldn’t want to know how many hours I spent googling pilers and sugar beets) and Elise is a mind with so many layers to relate to.
While perhaps wrongly marketed as a horror novel, it stands among the best of weird girl and coming-of-rage literature.
As many others have mentioned, please make sure to check triggers before reading <3
April 26, 2025
Weird sad girl lit with beets, what is more enticing than that.
This book is very much a character drive story with little to no real plot. You are in the mind of Elise, a young woman chock full of insecurities and self-loathing, who goes with her boyfriend to work a sugar beet harvest in rural Minnesota. Throughout the harvest, coworkers (including her boyfriend) disappear with no explanation. Elise starts to struggle more with her eating disorder and anxiety as the books progress, causing her to circle the drain into madness. Oh and the beets start talking to her.
This book is very raw. I think it really captured so well those feelings of being insecure, selfish, immature, and a touch neurotic when you're in your early 20s. If you have ever experienced anxiety or depression, then I'd think you'd agree that Sarsfield did a great job putting those feelings into words. It's amazing that this is a debut, and I'll definitely be reading this authors next book.
This is advertised as horror, but I think it's more surreal with horror elements than being a straight-up horror novel.
This book is very much a character drive story with little to no real plot. You are in the mind of Elise, a young woman chock full of insecurities and self-loathing, who goes with her boyfriend to work a sugar beet harvest in rural Minnesota. Throughout the harvest, coworkers (including her boyfriend) disappear with no explanation. Elise starts to struggle more with her eating disorder and anxiety as the books progress, causing her to circle the drain into madness. Oh and the beets start talking to her.
This book is very raw. I think it really captured so well those feelings of being insecure, selfish, immature, and a touch neurotic when you're in your early 20s. If you have ever experienced anxiety or depression, then I'd think you'd agree that Sarsfield did a great job putting those feelings into words. It's amazing that this is a debut, and I'll definitely be reading this authors next book.
This is advertised as horror, but I think it's more surreal with horror elements than being a straight-up horror novel.
April 25, 2025
This isn’t horror. Not one thing is horror. It’s a sad descent into anxiety, depression and anorexia. The main characters, Elise and Tom are your typical young, immature couple who have a lot of evolving to go through probably without each other. I don’t know why this is categorized as horror. I am giving 2 stars because I was mildly interested until the disappearances started. Who would’ve thought people disappearing could end up being so boring?
March 25, 2025
I enjoyed reading this book, but I think it's been let down by its marketing. This book is, at least in part, marketed as horror (the library copy I read certainly has a horror label on its spine), and I think it's much more in the realm of "weird literary fiction" (which I don't mean as a criticism!). I found at around the 100 and 200 page marks I caught myself wondering when the horror was really going to kick in, and if the book hadn't been marketed as horror I would've just been enjoying my reading experience instead of comparing the book to what I thought it was going to be.
Overall, it's a weird book about a sad young woman with an eating disorder. There's a few passages that might be classified as body horror. I liked reading it! But I think the marketing is setting up some readers for disappointment. I will absolutely be looking out for other works by Margie Sarsfield, I thought she wrote the shit out of this book!
Overall, it's a weird book about a sad young woman with an eating disorder. There's a few passages that might be classified as body horror. I liked reading it! But I think the marketing is setting up some readers for disappointment. I will absolutely be looking out for other works by Margie Sarsfield, I thought she wrote the shit out of this book!
January 31, 2025
This book was probably as "Awad-ian" ™ as you can get with a book that was not actually written by Mona Awad. I, personally, loved it. Fans of "Bunny" and "Rouge" will be foaming at the mouth for this Debut from Margie Sarsfield.
The story follows Elise, a perpetually broke 20-something year old who moves from Brooklyn, NY to Montana (or maybe its Minnesota) with her wannabe crunchy/granola boyfriend (he has a trustfund, lol). They're there to work a beet harvest which pays enough to cover several months rent in Brooklyn- with extra $ to spare. Thank goodness because Elise's account is in the red and she is dodging several calls per day from her credit card company. The beet farm employs a colorful group of characters that slowly begin to go missing. As the mystery of the beet farm unfolds, Elise begins to question what is real while simulatneously struggling to make it to her first paycheck.
Thank you, Netgalley, Margie Sarsfield, and W. W. Norton for the ARC.
TW: Animal neglect, E.D., infidelity.
The story follows Elise, a perpetually broke 20-something year old who moves from Brooklyn, NY to Montana (or maybe its Minnesota) with her wannabe crunchy/granola boyfriend (he has a trustfund, lol). They're there to work a beet harvest which pays enough to cover several months rent in Brooklyn- with extra $ to spare. Thank goodness because Elise's account is in the red and she is dodging several calls per day from her credit card company. The beet farm employs a colorful group of characters that slowly begin to go missing. As the mystery of the beet farm unfolds, Elise begins to question what is real while simulatneously struggling to make it to her first paycheck.
Thank you, Netgalley, Margie Sarsfield, and W. W. Norton for the ARC.
TW: Animal neglect, E.D., infidelity.
February 20, 2025
Gonna need 5-7 business days to process this one
February 5, 2025
felt that creating a surreal nature of beet farming and industrialization was intriguing to read about at first.… what followed instead (for the most part) was body dysmorphia and crashing out over her abandonment. I also just want to be a lil bean and not be perceived… but I was annoyed with her! the apparitions and stream of consciousness was nice but felt this was a bore until the 75% mark. compelling but not compelling enough!
Thank you W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the arc!
Thank you W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the arc!
January 16, 2025
gosh. so much potential. to all writers out there, please please please write characters that a reader can root for, understand, or forgive! I'm not sure I've ever encountered a characeter like Elise who hates herself so, so much. It was horrible to be trapped in her head, I had to stop. did like the eerie Minnesota beet vibe tho.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 594 reviews