Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

145 reviews

signeskov's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia

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

kerriski's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Blood, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Animal death

aggie2010's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Homophobia, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Minor: Drug use

ibshaver's review against another edition

dark emotional funny

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, and Infidelity

Moderate: Addiction, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia

crismcmahon'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

3.25

It's funny I'll give it that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity and Stalking

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

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

jfin54's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Death of parent, Blood, and Suicide

boop123's review against another edition

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). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Mental illness

pestosito's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Stalking