Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

29 reviews

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-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

4.0

What a strange and witty story, but quite entertaining and well worth a read. 
  
When Greta, a transcriptionist for therapist Om, she becomes engrossed in a client she names, Big Swiss.
  
When Greta comes across Big Swiss in real life, she hides who she is. At first, she tries to end the friendship before it goes too far, but the more she transcribes Big Swiss's sessions, the more Greta falls until both their worlds fall apart.

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sarahduensing's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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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mraddd's review against another edition

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

3.25


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jaiari12's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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foxytroxy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0


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okiecozyreader's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Big Swiss reminded me of Goodnight Beautiful. Both are about a person who overheard (in this case transcribes) psychiatric (here, sexual therapy) sessions and develops thoughts about the clients.

I thought the audiobook was fantastic with 5 narrators. Told from the viewpoint of Greta, who lives with her dog and her friend Sabine in a dilapidated farmhouse in the Catskills. She transcribes sessions from a sex coach, Om, and goes to locations where his clients may hang out and tries to recognize them by their initials. She becomes fascinated by one in particular from Switzerland who she nicknames Big Swiss. 

I was fascinated by these interesting characters and curious where the story would go. The last chapter was interesting from Om’s POV? But the very ending ???? 

LGBTQ bi-sexual main characters
Unreliable narrator
Unlikable characters
Trauma and abuse 
Suicide

Read with the Bad Bitch Bookclub and a zoom with the author.

“People age horribly - they suffer strokes, their bodies and brains fall apart, but the male ego, fully intact until the bitter end.” Ch 2

“Greta considered her own behavior among red flags. Her habit was not to ignore them so much as to ingest them.” Ch 4

“… human relationships were pure folly, because nothing was ever perfectly mutual. One person always liked or loved the other person a little more than they were liked or loved. And sometimes it was a lot more and sometimes the tables turned and you found yourself on the other side. But it was never, ever equal. And that was pretty much the only thing you could count on in life. This went for relationships between friends, siblings, lovers, spouses, even parents and their children too.” Ch 18

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hschlecht's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad tense

4.0


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toffishay'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? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I found this book engaging, but in a strange way, it also didn't really jump out to me. A lot of it washed over me. Greta is an interesting, conflicting character and the relationship at the center was so strange, that I had to keep reading. But it was also gone from me once I set the book down. I could see other folks really connecting with this though. I think if you really liked My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, then you would really like this one too. 

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dogdad1972's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.5


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