Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Big Swiss

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!

Content Warnings

gmariecosta's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

Weird as shit— and not in a good way. “Big Swiss” is reduced to a manic pixie dream girl and the therapy is written like the author doesn’t know what therapy is. Definitely has some racist and biphobic moments too. Funny sometimes.

Content Warnings

cpardonme's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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pamelamoreno's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

boop123's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

This was written in an interesting format as most parts of the book were written in a transcript style, which I am not used to. I recommend reading this through audiobook because I feel like reading through those parts with different narrators would hit differently.

On another note, I was not expecting the main character to be lowkey unlikeable over time. Although I feel like I should’ve seen it coming, considering the premise of this story is about how the main character had an affair with one of Om’s clients who is married and knew from the very beginning that it was her but still continued interacting with her. However, I did not expect the MC to slowly turn paranoid and overjealous even though they weren’t exclusively dating like that’s crazyyy.

This book also tackles grief and trauma and how different people deal with it. The main character, Greta, almost always uses her troubled past to justify her actions and behavior. Hence, instead of taking accountability for her actions, she believes her trauma makes her excused from it. On the other hand, Flavia is anti-trauma believing that it is only one major event that happened, but it shouldn’t excuse shitty actions. Basically, she is detached from it and doesn’t believe it should affect people that hard. Both perspectives were fascinating to read as they are two completely different ends of the spectrum.

Overall, it is a fun (and lowkey unhinged) read! But honestly, I could not understand how people thought this was hilarious because I did not let out a single boisterous laugh, maybe a chuckle, but it was not THAT funny (perhaps the humor is just not for me).

Content Warnings

oliviakoeppen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

3.0

The author’s descriptions of feelings & events simultaneously enamored me and disgusted me. This book made me feel a lot, but mostly feelings of discomfort and embarrassment. I am glad I read it but would be contentious in who I recommend this book to.

Content Warnings

princesstiramisu's review against another edition

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funny mysterious 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

4.25

Content Warnings

mconant's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful

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

4.0

I liked this more than I expected!

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