A Touch of Jen

By: Beth Morgan

Narrated by: Casey Turner

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A young couple's toxic Instagram crush spins out of control and unleashes a sinister creature in this twisted, viciously funny, "bananas good" debut. (Carmen Maria Machado)

"Um, holy shit.... This novel will be the most fun you'll have this summer." (Emily Temple, Literary Hub)

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 coworker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, Remy and Alicia's entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and new age mantra they know by heart.

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?

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.

©2021 Beth Morgan (P)2021 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

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“A Touch of Jen is bananas good. Funny and sharp and surprising and bittersweet. Just [three chef's kiss emojis]." (Carmen Maria Machado)

“Morgan has created a fabulous monster here, legitimately Frankensteined herself a wicked, unflinching, dynamite novel out of razor-sharp dialogue, toxic social media culture, and the nonsense notion that the self is just another brand to be endlessly plumbed for content. Wildly hilarious and absolutely terrifying, A Touch of Jen is truly a touch of genius. I loved every minute of it.” (Kristen Arnett, New York Times best-selling author of Mostly Dead Things)

Glad I have it a try.

Though very much NOT what I expected, it was an enjoyable listen. I certainly never got bored with it but still a bit perplexed with the turn it took. I normally have no interest in shows or books where millennial characters are at the forefront however this author and the fabulous reader did a beautiful job of making them interesting. I would love to listen to more done by both.

WTF

I'm not sure how to review this book. I'm not even really sure I know what I've taken away from this story. It's interesting but strange. Some of the characters are...
well let's just say they have some issues.
The narrator was great.

A touch of boring

All you need to know is this is very very slow. And I don’t even think any ending could have saved it. You hate all the characters besides Jake so their dialogue doesn’t even save it. Only one interesting thing happens 3 hours in then it takes another 3 hours for one more interesting thing to happen. Then 2 and a half more hours for interesting things to consistently happen. But even then. Since I hated every character I didn’t care what happened. You think 8 hours in you would be invested in the story but I just wanted it to end already. I wouldn’t listen. The only thing that is listening worthy is the reader, she delivers lines well and perfectly sounds like how I might think the characters would,

weird and I LOVED it

let me be honest, all characters in this book accept jake are like the worst people, but it's like a train wreck; awful, but you can't look away. it starts off the kind of weird you can easily see in people you'd know in real life and devolves into a kind of weird that I can't tell if it was syfy or psychosis. it seems like the kind of story that would make a good, obscure indie movie, so if that's not your thing I wouldn't read it. otherwise I highly recommend.

Like a Gregg Araki movie set in NYC

This story's second half took a wild turn.
The narrator did a fantasic job bringing life to these characters.

fantastic narration!

The woman who read this did such an incredible job. You are immediately wrapped up in the way she she tells this story. the story itself is very strange, and escalates only towards the very end. it got a bit weird for me, but I really liked it overall.

Speechless

Narrator was fantastic! I am not sure what I just listened to but it was original, snarky, and weird . I also want to get a ring tone made with the narrator saying knock ,knock,knock !

Demented and addictive

I got totally swept up in the wild ride that is this hilarious and weird story!

Takes a wild turn from the already wild.

This starts out pretty wild. Like diving into a story already started halfway through. The characters are pretty unlikable for the most part. The story takes a wild dive, then another and another. Overall, easy listen. And Casey Turner does a great job!

Unreal

This book blew my mind. The mind numbing misery of one couple turns into a super natural nightmare unlike anything I’ve ever read