Review: "Beta Vulgaris" by Margie Sarsfield

Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield
Published February 2025 via W.W. Norton and Company
★★★★

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.