A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan Summary

A Touch of Jen follows Remy and Alicia, two insecure restaurant workers in New York City whose toxic relationship revolves around their shared obsession with Jen, a former coworker who appears to live a perfect life on Instagram. When they unexpectedly meet Jen in person and join her on a surfing trip to the Hamptons, their fantasies spiral into increasingly disturbing territory. The novel begins as millennial social satire before transforming into psychedelic horror, exploring how social media obsession and the pursuit of self-improvement can unleash dark, violent consequences.

Beth Morgan is an American author who made her literary debut with A Touch of Jen, published by Little, Brown in July 2021. Her writing has appeared in prestigious literary journals including the Kenyon Review Online and the Iowa Review. Morgan lives in Brooklyn, New York, and her debut novel has been praised for capturing the loneliness and authenticity crises of the internet age with dark humor and psychological insight.

A Touch of Jen is ideal for readers who enjoy literary horror with sharp social commentary, particularly fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation or David Cronenberg's body horror. The novel appeals to millennials interested in critiques of Instagram culture, influencer worship, and toxic self-improvement trends. Readers who appreciate unlikeable protagonists, dark comedy, and genre-bending narratives that blend psychological realism with supernatural elements will find this book compelling.

A Touch of Jen is worth reading for its viciously funny dissection of social media obsession and the dark side of wellness culture, though readers should expect a jarring tonal shift. The first half delivers biting millennial satire with painfully accurate depictions of Instagram-fueled envy and identity erosion, while the final third becomes campy horror with graphic violence. Critics praise Beth Morgan's ambitious debut for capturing internet-age loneliness with "deft strokes," though some found the supernatural ending confusing compared to the sharp social observations earlier.

A Touch of Jen explores the destructive allure of self-improvement and how social media erodes authentic identity through constant performance. The novel examines class resentment, with Remy and Alicia's working-class insecurity contrasting sharply with Jen's wealthy, aspirational lifestyle. Beth Morgan also investigates obsession, toxic relationships, and the violence lurking beneath carefully curated Instagram personas. The book questions whether genuine self-actualization is possible when our lives are filtered through digital fantasies and influencer culture.

The spod in A Touch of Jen is an enclosed hot tub that Alicia obsessively builds, essentially functioning as a sensory deprivation chamber or womb-like vessel. Inspired by her experiences on the Montauk trip, Alicia becomes fixated on creating this prototype, constantly reassuring herself and others that "Perfection isn't really the goal here". The spod represents Alicia's descent into delusion and her attempt to physically manifest transformation, mirroring how she tries to become Jen through mimicry and self-improvement rituals.

The Apple Bush is a fictional self-help book within A Touch of Jen written by A. B. Fisketjon, described as "a healer, lifestyle expert, and spiritual counselor". The book teaches readers about manifesting universal energy to become the ultimate version of themselves—a concept Jen and her wealthy friends enthusiastically embrace. Beth Morgan uses The Apple Bush to satirize New Age wellness culture and manifestation trends that promise transformation while masking deeper issues of class, authenticity, and toxic self-optimization.

A Touch of Jen examines how Instagram creates parasocial obsessions by allowing Remy and Alicia to compulsively study Jen's filtered vacation photos, photoshopped bar pictures, and carefully crafted captions. Beth Morgan depicts how social media enables mass fraudulence that erodes the self through constant digital performance, making users vulnerable to influencer worship while impeding authentic human connection. The novel shows characters projecting their fantasies onto Instagram personas, with Alicia even role-playing as Jen during sex, illustrating how online personas colonize intimate reality.

A Touch of Jen blends multiple genres, starting as millennial social comedy and satire before transforming into psychedelic body horror. Critics describe it as "Ottessa Moshfegh meets David Cronenberg" or specifically "My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets The Fly". The first two-thirds function as dark literary fiction with sharp social observation, while the final third embraces supernatural horror with graphic violence and grotesque imagery. This genre-bending approach makes A Touch of Jen both wildly entertaining and literarily ambitious.

The ending of A Touch of Jen takes a dramatic turn into supernatural horror after the relatively realistic first two-thirds. Following the Montauk trip, eerie events escalate as Alicia's transformation into Jen intensifies, culminating in graphic violence and body horror. The novel ventures into "the kind of gore usually reserved for less introspective literary genres," with grotesque imagery and an act of violence that earlier literary predecessors only hinted at. Some critics found this supernatural climax confusing compared to the sharp social satire preceding it.

A Touch of Jen shares significant similarities with Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation beyond surface-level marketing comparisons. Both novels feature a New York City setting, deliberately unlikeable and bizarre protagonists, characters recovering from eating disorders, and delusional quests toward wellness motivated by deep trauma and grief. However, Beth Morgan takes her narrative further into explicit horror territory, embracing campy violence and body horror where Moshfegh maintained psychological realism. A Touch of Jen also focuses more directly on social media's role in identity erosion.

The primary criticism of A Touch of Jen concerns its tonal shift, with the supernatural horror ending feeling disjointed from the sharp social satire that dominates the first two-thirds. Kirkus Reviews noted the conclusion was "slightly confusing" despite the novel's otherwise "deft strokes" in capturing internet-age loneliness. Some critics suggested Beth Morgan's decision to embrace campy gore produced "sometimes mixed results" that overshadowed the book's more nuanced exploration of social media, class resentment, and authenticity. The New Republic observed Morgan "sidesteps most artistic concerns by declining to take her material too seriously".