A review by wisteriariaa
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

medium-paced

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

2.75

This book is just way too weird for me. It feels like it's trying too hard to be quirky, and was unnecessarily gross a lot of the time. I also kept sitting there and asking myself "What is this books supposed to be about? What was the point?" and I realized that I didn't have an answer. This book felt aimless, and it didn't even have interesting characters to compensate for that. Greta is annoying and creepy and Flavia is so holier-than-thou and rude, I couldn't stand either of them or their boring-ass relationship. They have absolutely no chemistry, and I do not buy that Flavia was so into Greta that she considered leaving her husband for her. The sex scenes were also very disgusting. I get the sense that they were intended to come off that way, but some parts genuinely made me feel sick. The part where Greta talked about rearranging Flavia's genitals with her tongue? Vomit inducing. I'm not sure what the author was trying to do here, but they were doing too much. 

There were also a few moments in this book that made me uncomfortable. Some bits came off a bit racist to me, and there is stuff bordering on ableism. Like, the book basically straight up says the r-slur, like seriously? It's 2023, the author knows better than that. Idk, 2.75 stars because I don't care anymore I want to move on to something else.