This reading group guide for CLEANER includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

INTRODUCTION

A disaffected young woman’s work as a cleaner takes her on an increasingly surreal search for a creative fulfillment, gainful employment, and the meaning of life in this sharp, tragicomic debut—perfect for fans of Melissa Broder, Jen Beagin, and Alexandra Tanner.

A young artist returns to her childhood home with a host of degrees and diplomas in her back pocket. But when forced to confront the reality that the world sees no use for her scholarly exploits, she must find a job—and quickly.

Overqualified, underemployed, and idle, she starts a job as a cleaner for a gallery, where she meets another aspiring artist—Isabella—and they begin a passionate affair. Isabella could not be more different from the cleaner: she’s elegant, successful . . . and living with her filthy-rich boyfriend, Paul.

Isabella sneaks the cleaner into her life by hiring her to scrub the apartment she shares with Paul. Little by little, the cleaner relaxes into the comfort of her new surroundings. But when Isabella leaves the apartment one day and doesn’t come back, the cleaner is left to decide whether to return to her old life—or stay and step into Isabella’s.

TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

The novel explores how labor can shape identity, and how meaning can be found in seemingly mundane tasks. How does the book comment on the value we assign to different types of work and its effect on our sense of self?

After spending two months rotting in her bed, the protagonist is suddenly spurred into action, as she rushes “out onto the street, gasping theatrically for air.” She goes on long walks and repeats the “pointless excursion” every day. Why does she do this? What do these walks symbolize?

The narrator laments her staid existence as her “other housemates were long whisked away by beckoning purpose.” Why do you think she fails to launch or pursue the career-oriented paths her peers have chosen? What internal or external forces might contribute to her feelings of purposelessness?

Upon returning home to live with her parents, the narrator begins cleaning, now “frenzied with inner peace.” Why does she latch on to this activity, and why do you think it provides her inner peace? What about cleaning provides her with a sense of calm or control?

The narrator begins an affair with a woman, Isabella, whom she meets while working as a nude model/cleaner at a gallery, and later begins cleaning the apartment Isabella shares with her boyfriend, Paul. Analyze the power dynamics in the relationship between the narrator and Isabella. Who holds the power? Is anyone being exploited?

Think about the ways that loneliness functions in and appears throughout the book. The narrator thinks “if I don’t touch [Isabella] now, I’ll never know intimacy again.” How does loneliness drive her choices?

After falling asleep at Isabella’s house after a night of drunken revelry, the protagonist dreams of a girl who “lives a full and boring life,” and she wakes up “happy and without a guilty conscience.” What might this dream symbolize? How do her feelings after waking complicate our understanding of her character and desires?

Isabella’s sudden disappearance is a major turning point. How does this event transform the story’s direction and the narrator’s journey?

The cleaner has a degree but works a low-wage job. How does the book explore the tension between education, class, and self-worth? What commentary does it make about our contemporary economic situation, where many people with professional degrees are without the career options and financial security that previous generations seemed to have?

Consider the epigraph of the book, which excerpts a letter from Franz Kafka to his fiancée, Felice Bauer. How does this epigraph resonate with Cleaner’s themes?

Think about the structure of the book. Throughout the latter half, time seems to blur: Days seem to blend into one another, and the narrator loses track of chronology. How does the author’s adept manipulation of time mirror the protagonist’s unraveling sense of purpose or identity?

The protagonist’s parents begin hosting a Ukrainian guest while the narrator’s instability seems to grow. When her mother suggests “watching a film ‘as a family,’ [she hides] in the bathroom.” How does this new guest in the home shift the household’s dynamics?

Late in the book, the narrator returns to the art gallery where she first met Isabella. How has the space changed, and how has she changed in relation to it? How does her meeting with Isabella complicate our understanding of truth in the novel?

Revisit the final images of the book (the egg, Isabella’s departure). Has the narrator found purpose? What fate do you imagine for her?

The novel’s closing passage refuses tidy resolution. How do you interpret this ending?

ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

Read Kafka’s Letters to Felice as your next book club pick.

Fan-cast a film or television series adaptation of Cleaner. Who would you select for the roles of the cleaner, Isabella, and the parents?