Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

81 reviews

brewingdaisies's review

challenging emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

4.75

—a good read for psychology students/enthusiasts. I enjoyed reading the transcripts, being in people's minds (especially greta's) and seeing how fucking unhinged everybody is. LMAO. not your average small town story, that's for 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Grief

aestinson's review

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

lilgriff's review

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Addiction, Suicide, and Stalking

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny, Gore, Miscarriage, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Cancer

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

ccmarie_'s review

dark emotional funny 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Addiction, and Death of parent

mstrouse's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Suicide, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

indiahaze's review

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

Pleasantly queer, unapologetically weird, and deeply human.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, Addiction, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty, Stalking, and Cancer

swapacoinforafish's review

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

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

amanda_reads89's review against another edition

dark funny sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, and Sexual content