3.5 stars

This was gross and weird and I mean that as a huge compliment! I love a descent into madness and this provided such in dividends. Bigggg TW for ED, definitely something to keep in mind as that struggle is present for the entirety of the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the idea here, and there are some fantastic visuals; plus the main character is fantastic, but it just didnt do it for me over all.

Thank you to the publishers for the copy! Beta Vulgaris was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025, but finishing it left me sorely disappointed. In what I expected to be a fervent horror story, Beta Vulgaris turns out to be 70% interiority of its insufferable protagonist, Elise, and 30% actual plot execution — genuinely the only horrifying part of the novel.

This book is weighed down so heavily by Elise's inner monologue, which is as incessant as it is intolerable. Granted, Elise has the standard set of issues that most people carry: she's borderline broke, incredibly insecure, and of course, dating some horrible man who clearly does not care for her whatsoever. And all of this would be fine if for a moment, there was some reprieve from the constant lamenting, or perhaps a better character setup other than having Elise lay down and take it. For the most part, I enjoy reading unlikeable characters, but they must transcend their original state in some form throughout the novel. For nearly 300 pages, Elise remains the exact same resentful and pathetic person, counting calories, hating fat people, and fretting over her child of a boyfriend.

Books with this fever dream / stream of consciousness narrative can be fun, but most of the enjoyment stems from living inside of a compelling character — an integral aspect that Beta Vulgaris severely lacks.

**Review for *Beta Vulgaris* by Margie Sarsfield**

Margie Sarsfield’s *Beta Vulgaris* is an eerie, haunting, and thought-provoking debut novel that weaves together themes of trauma, class struggle, and the insidious nature of consumption. With an audacious premise set against the backdrop of a sugar beet harvest in rural Minnesota, Sarsfield delivers a psychological thriller that explores not just the grueling physical labor of the harvest but the emotional and mental toll it takes on those involved.

The novel follows Elise, a young woman who, along with her boyfriend Tom, takes a seasonal job harvesting sugar beets in a remote part of the country. Her initial motivation is simple: the job promises a paycheck to help alleviate her mounting financial worries. However, what starts as a mundane escape from debt soon turns into a surreal and increasingly disturbing experience. As Elise navigates long, grueling graveyard shifts, she begins to notice strange occurrences—threatening texts, a mysterious rash, the unsettling disappearance of her fellow workers, and an almost hypnotic voice emanating from the beet piles themselves.

The atmosphere Sarsfield creates is one of unease, slowly building into an almost nightmarish sense of dread. The imagery of the beet pile, which seems to take on a life of its own, becomes a sinister presence that pulls Elise—and the reader—deeper into a spiraling descent. The supernatural elements are subtly blended with Elise's personal struggles, including her chronic body anxieties and fraught relationship with Tom, which add layers of complexity to the narrative.

At its core, *Beta Vulgaris* is a novel about consumption—both literal and metaphorical. Elise’s battle with self-destructive eating habits mirrors the greater, more insidious forces at play in her life, particularly the exploitation and erasure of the workers who toil in the fields. The beet harvest, as a symbol, represents the cycle of labor and consumption, where the workers are used up and discarded, much like Elise herself feels consumed by her anxiety, her relationship, and her self-image. There’s an overwhelming sense of being trapped in a cycle of toil and self-doubt, where even the very land beneath her feet seems to exert a sinister influence.

Sarsfield’s writing is sharp, incisive, and unflinchingly raw. The psychological tension builds gradually as Elise's grip on reality begins to loosen, leaving the reader questioning what is real and what is the product of her unraveling mind. The author deftly portrays the psychological toll of working in such an environment while also delving into the haunting, almost hypnotic allure of the beet pile itself, which serves as a chilling metaphor for Elise’s internal struggles and her growing disillusionment.

The characters are complex and multifaceted, particularly Elise, whose internal turmoil drives much of the novel. Her relationship with Tom is fraught with tension, but it is her increasing obsession with Cee, a charismatic coworker, that highlights Elise’s vulnerability and the ways in which she seeks validation outside of herself. As the pressure mounts, Elise’s dissociation and self-destructive tendencies come to the forefront, making for a deeply compelling yet tragic portrait of a woman trying to reclaim control over her life and body.

*Beta Vulgaris* is not a typical thriller. It is as much about the psychological unraveling of its protagonist as it is about the eerie, almost supernatural forces at work in the rural setting. The novel poses difficult questions about class, identity, trauma, and consumption, all while keeping the reader on edge with its sinister atmosphere and deeply unsettling plot twists.

In conclusion, *Beta Vulgaris* is a bold and captivating debut that will stay with you long after the last page is turned. It is an unsettling exploration of the darkness lurking beneath the surface of everyday life, wrapped in a haunting and mysterious narrative. If you’re looking for a novel that challenges expectations and dives deep into the complexities of the human mind, *Beta Vulgaris* is an unforgettable read.

As a former nomad, I've known many people who have worked sugar beets, so I was thrilled by the premise of a horror novel set at the harvest. I absolutely was not let down. This book didn't go in the direction that I expected, and I love it for that. It was absurd, weird horror at its finest, and I cannot praise it or recommend it more highly.

All of my thanks to NetGalley & W. W. Norton & Co for the ARC!

First of all, how could you not pick up this cover. I absolutely loved the absurdity of this. It was eerie and tense and honestly funny. Just truly captivated me.

Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica.
This novel is filled with toxic relationship dynamics, eating disorders, massive insecurities, gaslighting, emotional trauma, and oh so much more. Elise had some serious mental health issues going on and her dickbag boyfriend definitely didn't make those better. I felt for her all the while I was yelling GIRL DO BETTER. Sigh.
Personally, I feel like a lot of women at one point or another had a piece of Elise in them, so I felt like her character was very relatable, which made this such a quick read for me. Thankfully my Elisa era was about 10 years ago.
The setting felt pretty obscure and would be harder for me to place if I hadn't watched The Office repeatedly in my 20's. But the story overall felt like a fever dream, so I think the 'obscure setting' was intentional.
With all of that being said, I really enjoyed this weird story. Although I would love to have someone conspire with on that ending because truly, wtf.

**Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the eARC of this dark and trippy title!**

I am not usually one for lit fic, but Beta Vulgaris is also a horror through and through. The ominous undertones at the beginning had me HOOKED and I loved watching Elise’s internal battles.

20 year old me would have really resonated with Elise and I think that’s part of why I enjoyed this one so much. Elise is a broke, impulsive hot mess (been there) trying to claw her way out of her current hole.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this author! Check this one out if you love horror, literary fiction, and of course - beets!

Hated every character, which is the exact type of book I like. I love weird fiction. RETURN THE BEETS!
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton for the eARC!

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.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield!

This was a stellar read! Should probably come with a trigger warning for eating disorders because WOW was it ever.

The writing in Beta Vulagaris immediately drew me in but the pace of the story did not work for me. I hoped for a more surrealist vibe throughout the book. I was invested enough in the main character, Elise, to see the story to its end but did find it lacked action overall. Beta Vulgaris contains talented writing and an interesting story premise but the pace was too slow-burn for me. I will read Margie Sarsfield's next book and appreciate her debut voice in this novel!

Excellent unique idea, but lackluster execution.

The main character never feels fully formed and though the writing was really good in parts, other parts were a little too repetitive. The whole aspect of the beer harvest was fascinating and I wanted that and the beets thoughts explored more. I have never thought about sugar beets before and now I'm genuinely creeped out by them, so that's something.

Kinda a similar feel to I'm Thinking of Ending Things...as our main girl spirals but then we are left with that ambiguous ending. Not totally satisfying, but intriguing all the less.

While I admire the author's skill with language, Beta Vulgaris unfortunately fell flat for me. The narrative, trapped within the protagonist's voice, became an exercise in endurance. The constant self-surveillance, though perhaps a unique panopticon approach, felt overwhelming rather than insightful. Even the tantalizing hints of something sinister involving beets couldn't keep me engaged. This book, while well-written in parts, was ultimately an exhausting experience.

Thanks @netgalley and @w.w.norton w. for this arc. I have mixed feelings about this book, and I’ll try to be as clear and honest as possible.

I went in thinking it was literary horror, and although there are elements of horror, it’s more about Elise spiraling gradually throughout the book. This book’s tone is bleak; think Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. The narrative structure is meant to enclose the reader into the small space that becomes more acute as Elise loses all grip of reality and submits herself to the dark delusions that haunt her from the sugar beets. Her flashbacks and internal thoughts reveal that her teenage years were full of excessive bullying and body dysmorphia. Her self-esteem is in shambles, and her financial situation is a topic of hyper fixation for at least the first half of the text. To top it all off, her boyfriend is, to no one’s surprise, a complete douche.

Areas I think the book could have been better:
I think the author’s choice with writing it in third person p.o.v. detracts from the story and the intimacy with which the reader engages with Elise. The writing also threw me off because of this. There were so many instances in which pronouns could have been used instead of the constant repetition of her name.
On another note, this character the twenty something thoughts and language felt juvenile to me. Here’s an example (not a quote) “She was so cool. I wanted to be cool just like her” and then a couple of pages later some form of the same thing. This is not the books fault; it’s just something I personally didn’t care for.

I liked that Elise’s identity was a pastiche of the people in her life, meaning she both didn’t have a true identity, and at the same time she was multiple people at once. There were some passages I thought were well written and profound, and I can see the potential of Sarsfield growing in her craft.

Ah, how I love reading and seeing bits and pieces of myself in main characters. This time...not so much. I saw lots and lots of pieces of myself in Elise which ended up being very concerning. The absolute self-loathing paired with a really keen self-awareness. Haha anyway......

This was raw and poignant and completely spiral inducing. I felt like I was right there along Elise, questioning sanity, questioning everything. What an excellently written book...about BEETS. Can't beet it :)

I really loved this one and think that the idea itself is 5 stars. What a unique take on mental illness, specifically depression and eating disorders. Although I felt the metaphor obvious, I loved that this took place on a beet farm / sugar beet processing plant…so different. The imagery of the beets and the overall setting of the book added to the sense of inevitable doom making this at times incredibly unnerving. It felt very similar to I’m Thinking of Ending Things though I do think the pacing of this one was slightly off making the ending less effective. Still a great ending- just getting there was a doozy at times. Overall, great debut.

I want to start off by saying, if you're an avid horror reader like me who enjoys a fast-paced plot and lots of creepiness & spookiness in their books, this is NOT the book for you. I'm honestly iffy about even really calling this a horror book, because it leans very heavily into the literary and speculative fiction aspects of its genre. No spoilers here because it's literally in the book's description and first chapter, but the "horror" in this book is that our main character has financial troubles and an eating disorder, and it's making her lose her sense of reality and self. Which, yes, is terrifying in its own way for sure. I just don't expect that to be the sole source of terror in my horror books, you know?

PROS: I thought the premise of this book was really unique. Our main character, Elise, and her boyfriend are spending the next few weeks at a beet farm / processing plant in Minnesota to earn some extra cash. I've definitely never read a book with a plot centered around beets before, that's for sure. I liked the character of Cee and thought she could have been a really promising character to develop further. I also really enjoyed how easy the prose of this book was to read. The author's style is very conversational and flows very easily, which I always appreciate.

CONS: I don't know how to sugar-coat the fact that this main character (Elise) is absolutely insufferable in every sense of the word. At no point in this book was I rooting for her at all. And she has absolutely zero growth throughout this book at all. Even after a series of unfortunate events happen to her throughout the duration of the story, she does not overcome anything or develop as a character at all. I thought the "mystery" in this book was going to go somewhere as well and it never did. Something begins to happen at the beet farm's camp site that started to really intrigue me, and let me tell you right now: it never goes anywhere. We never find out what is going on. Why would you set up a mystery sub-plot in a book that is literally never mentioned again or touched upon? It had so much potential to become a major hook in the book to keep readers interested. I also thought the ending was lack-luster.

Overall, this was not the book for me. I went into this book expecting something way more horror than literary fiction, and I guess that's on me. If you're a fan of in-depth character studies and being in the mind of an unstable and unreliable narrator, you might really love this book, and I hope you do! If you're an avid horror fan like me who was gearing up for a good scare, you're not going to like this.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC of this book. It is very much appreciated!

This novel is a deeply intense character study of Elsie, a young woman struggling with mental illness, her life unravelling in a way that feels raw and suffocating. While there’s no real plot, the story follows Elsie’s spiral, with moments of small joy constantly overshadowed by her insecurities and anxiety, all while navigating a world that feels both tangible and ethereal. Though labeled as horror, it's a haunting, heartbreaking experience that immerses the reader in Elsie’s troubled mind, leaving you feeling transformed, though not necessarily comforted, by the end.