Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Big Swiss

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

138 reviews

jilianluk's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective slow-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

3.0

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hannahgjenson's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH this was SO good! So many juicy characters. I loved how the house was basically a character unto itself. So many hilarious and absurd details were built into that house like the bee hive and the bedroom fire pit that had to be tended every three hours or you'd get bombed by smoke. Beagin's writing style was so great- I really appreciated the way she zoomed in on minute details about a person or a place and extrapolated from there through Greta. I am now dying to become a sex therapy transcriptionist and move to Hudson and run around amongst all these crazy, wacky people causing drama. This book did have so many laughs and insane plot lines and devices, but was really centered around deep aching and trauma, and it all just sung together. I found so much of myself in these people living a life largely unlike my own, and that is such a good feeling in a book. What a great read!

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joensign's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny slow-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

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disguisedposer's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny slow-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

3.5

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a_violentfemme's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this way more than I thought I would. I purchased a copy after seeing lots of positive reviews online but put it mostly down to "hype" and had a feeling I would ultimately be disappointed...damn was I wrong.
The characters are absolutely wild, completely bizarre and flawed and I loved getting to know them. It was funny and dark at the same time and I will definitely be recommending. I was also surprised by how successful the format is.

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kotletka_polina's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-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? Yes

4.25

Major Saltburn vibes. Unlikeable characters, well-crafted satiric dialogues, dark themes, rich/poor kind of situation. Honestly I can compare these two pieces of art forever because to me they’re practically an adaptations of each other.
Overall, I enjoyed this book but I wish it was more disturbing in an unhinged way. The premise is cool but it’s not as big on the plot as I expected, the side events were more alarming.
Also, the ending didn’t feel like an actual ending to me because the pace didn’t changed throughout the book. I expected to feel closure of some sort but I only knew it was the end after I read “the end”.
Thought it’d be more eccentric but that’s fine too.

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plumdustsuns's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

0.25

😭😭 the plot was so all over the place and everything was so racist. I need to stop listening to online book recommendations/buying them because the book has queer content.
There was no linear string of concentration. Went from flavia’s trauma to random affair to Greta’s random descent into jealousy without showing that she had a tendency to be as much and that her mom was the same way. The blasé way of ‘I didn’t care that my mother offed herself’ in the last therapy session versus her using and being bogged down and sad by this trauma was not only conflicting but distasteful. Also Om randomly caring about her when she’s just his transcriptionist and his care/their friendship not even being handled before?? It’s not plausible/would have made for a better plot line and betrayal and made sense when he offered her sessions if they were friends or friendly. He said ‘Lmao’ when she said her house was cold and rain was coming in. And he suddenly cares?
And Keith was made out to be such a big deal and the stalker narrative and it barely did anything/added anything into the story? It wasn’t even resolved in the end properly?
Greta saying she had been SA’ed but it never coming up for her own intimacy issues? And it was just an offhand mention??
Also racist humour and just… so much wrong with this book, man. And how Flavia reacts to/keeps coming back to Greta doesn’t quite make sense. Also Greta gaslighting Flavia that adultery was worse than what she did? No???
Absolute fucking disappointment. Just a lazy and unfocused book.

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