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A review by yourspookymom
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
5.0
I want to cry thinking about how much I loved this book. The plot was nothing spectacular, albeit darkly humorous…a transcriber, for a small town sex therapist, falls in love with one of the patients. The deceit, hilarity, confrontation, train wreck (rebirth, even) that was Greta and Big Swiss (her real name is Flavia, but Greta and I like Big Swiss better) enthralled me from start to finish. I felt like I was eavesdropping on the demise of someone else who strangely resembled me. Not in her actions by any means, but in her inability to get out of her own way. Greta, our transcriber/narrator/main character, had this way about her that I found quite a bit of comfort in.
I took me a better part of my twenties to truly understand that the horrible experiences I lived through were simply not a crutch that I was allowed to continue to rely on. “If everything can be explained by your trauma, then nothing is really your fault, right?” stuck with me for days after reading. There’s a lot of ways that I personally have waived away poor behavior and blamed it on trauma, whether I realized it or not.
I loved this book. I loved its frank discussions around mental health, women’s health, gender identity, SI, aging, sexual identity, and honestly, sex in general. I don’t think this book will be for everyone. Big Swiss isn’t one you walk into work and recommend to your colleague like “Hey! I know we talk about nothing that really matters to make conversation, but I read this great book recently. I think you’ll get a total kick out of it.” This is a book you discover on your own or recommend to a friend you’ve talked extensively about your hemorrhoids with.
Big Swiss has earned its keep as the “Holy Spirit” in my trinity.
I took me a better part of my twenties to truly understand that the horrible experiences I lived through were simply not a crutch that I was allowed to continue to rely on. “If everything can be explained by your trauma, then nothing is really your fault, right?” stuck with me for days after reading. There’s a lot of ways that I personally have waived away poor behavior and blamed it on trauma, whether I realized it or not.
I loved this book. I loved its frank discussions around mental health, women’s health, gender identity, SI, aging, sexual identity, and honestly, sex in general. I don’t think this book will be for everyone. Big Swiss isn’t one you walk into work and recommend to your colleague like “Hey! I know we talk about nothing that really matters to make conversation, but I read this great book recently. I think you’ll get a total kick out of it.” This is a book you discover on your own or recommend to a friend you’ve talked extensively about your hemorrhoids with.
Big Swiss has earned its keep as the “Holy Spirit” in my trinity.