Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

102 reviews

aestinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

percybabercy's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

If you liked how weird the movie Saltburn was and how gross it made you feel after watching it -- I'd pick this book up! It's so bizarre and atmospheric. It's also quite gruesome so...warning. The banter between the main character Greta and her housemate Sabine also made me chuckle. The book is just full of crazy turns and is incredibly weird. Read it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Death of parent

nekopersona's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Rape

poppyjarratt's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

jourdanicus's review against another edition

funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Funny. Beyond me in some ways but then maybe not so much if I don't overthink it. I almost didn't like this one because Greta is written so well as an unlikeable character... But there's still a lot about her with which to sympathize.

In hindsight the characters and writing style remind me of Ottessa Moshfegh's novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Lesbophobia, Addiction, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

katerina_l's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Excrement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, Drug use, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Gore, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Sexual harassment

cdingler07's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This one was one of the first on my TBR for the last year or so. It was good, but I think might have  accidentally set the bar too high for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder and Addiction

queenbookbuff's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I read this book for my bookclub. I finished it because I am bothered when people show up to bookclubs unprepared. If not for that, I would have never finished this book. I am appalled by the behavior of the main character, and the woman she was obsessed with. I feel like the author was deliberately being provocative, and it felt overdone and trite. If you have trauma with suicide, assault, depression, sex, drugs, and stalking don't read this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Medical trauma

swapacoinforafish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I found the beginning of this book really quirky in it's writing and that's what was really entertaining about it. Beagin's descriptions are very unique and it makes you drawn to the uniqueness of the characters. When i'm reading I usually have a good picture of the main characters in my head (typically with elements of celebrities or people I know) but I found it really hard to do with this. I didn't find myself identifying with them in any way which made it quite difficult for me to read. Having said that, it didnt stop me enjoying the dialogue and journey that the characters went through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use

hannahgarstang's review against another edition

I was super busy whilst reading this, but binged it any free moment I had. I wasn't sure if I liked it earlier on, but as soon as we met Big Swiss I became obsessed, which is ironic. 

The drama and characters are messy as they make lots of bad decisions. These personal flaws matched with an unfiltered sense of humor make them ultimately likeable and relatable. 

How people relate to traumatic experiences is explored very thoroughly. It asks questions like  how does trauma impact our sense of identity? Should we focus on the future and cleave it away from our personhood, but then potentially dismiss any influence it has had on us leading to unresolved emotional processing and maladpative behaviour? Alternatively do we overly identify with it and use it as an excuse to shirk accountabilty for maladpative coping mechanisms and bad behaviour, using it ultimately as a crutch to become a passive or destructive actor in our own lives? 

Or should we all maybe go to therapy and process being alive, accepting that accepting ourselves is a lifelong practice?
After thinking about this all so much it made me reflect on my own relationship with trauma.

Their is also a frankness and sometimes even humor in the way they speak about trauma which felt true to life. Humor is a pretty common way of dealing with the hardest stuff in life. 

The rich inner lives of animals in this book is also whimsical and wonderful. Adoration or horror of the local insect and bird population along with miniature donkey anticipation parallel the mental states of our protagonist in a really satisfying way. The house Greta and Sabine live in is also a character in itself. 

Finally, I really appreciated the perspective Big Swiss is written from. Adult woman doing gay shit in the woods and bar bathrooms is hard to come by, you know. So with that said, what are you waiting for? Don't Regretta not getting around to this bad Boi! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse