Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Big Swiss

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Loved this book!!!!!! I LOVE DAMAGED WOMEN DOING UNETHICAL THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give me moreeeeeee
Is the 4.5 a bit pedantic ye maybe but I wasn’t sure about the 2nd last chapter (written as a transcript) which seemed to just kind of base cover her traumas ? I do get the purpose but I felt it was a little lacking

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glitterdeww's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Just about everything in this book is an A+, and I need to give it all that credit up front. The plot setup of Big Swiss is brilliant. An emotionally immature woman in her 40s has on a whim, uprooted her life, moved in to a friend's 300 year old dilapidated farm house in a small New York town, started a job as a transcriptionist to a sex therapist, and became infatuated with a client that she hears through the recordings. I see why this is supposed to be an HBO series (if they just get a move on, already). You look at that cover, and you know this is going to be an unhinged, horny, and hilarious novel, and it sure holds up on each of those aspects.

Pairing with the "bigness" of the title, there is certainly a BIG messy energy all throughout this book. Each one of these characters put out an intense but yet imaginable chaos. I feel like I have seen versions of these people in the wild. They are exceptionally written.

Speaking of messy, Big Swiss is also a great depiction of unreliable narrators. Jen Beagin uses transcripts from those aforementioned therapy sessions AND the POV's unhinged internal monologue to show how memories and storytelling aren't dependable from person to person.

Now all that said, are there things in this book that simply aren't for me? Yes, 100%, and that will bring down my rating a smidge. Because reviewing IS a subjective activity, no matter how you come at it. The POV character of Greta... I wanted to. Throw. Her. Off. A. Bridge. 🤣. Goddamnit lol I ended up pushing through some parts quickly because I just couldn't personally stand her actions anymore. I could never be her friend, Sabine is a saint, and Big Swiss needs even more therapy. So again, the characters in this book DO get 5 stars, because she's supposed to be the pitiful, gross, traumatized, selfish mess that she is. I believe that is entirely on purpose, so well done... But I still didn't *enjoy* wanting to smack her so much.

Plot: 5

Characters: 5

Craft: 4.5

Engagement: 4

SPARK: 3

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maryoliverenjoyer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

if you’re looking for messedddd up lesbians, BOY do I have a book for you!

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queenbookbuff's review against another edition

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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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indiahaze's review against another edition

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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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sjxa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense 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

4.75

Big Swiss is a riot.

It handles its difficult themes, well, I wouldn’t say ‘delicately’ so much as thoroughly. It spanks them and sends them home to their mamas. Which I appreciate.

People keep saying that this book is gross, often in good reviews, and I guess it is, but I think really it’s SEXY. It’s ‘gross’ parts are bodily, obsessive, and cosmically kinky.

Greta is completely lovable in her obvious flaws and bad behaviour, and I quickly bacame just as obsessed with Big Swiss as she is. So much so that I was pining for more of her tall blonde coldness in the last act, and as the book ended I didn’t know if I found the ending itself dissapointing for a lack of her, or wether I was just dissapointed that the book was over.

I did actually take a quater of a point off for this. I’m sure something else could’ve been done with that very last leg, but not all books can be perfect.

It’s a completley addicting read with vibrant characters that makes you believe in a more interesting world.

PS: I accidentally fancast La Grande Dame from RPDR France and then UK vs The World as Big Swiss, Kimiko Glenn (who I aged 10 years with the power of my mind) as Greta, and Harriet Walter (-10 years) as Sabine (who I LOVED and kind of want to be when i grow up). These castings would be impossible for obvious reasons but are somehow the only right answer.

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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).

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