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dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked this up on the strength of its outrageous premise. Protagonist Greta is a transcriptionist for a sex therapist in the small, upstate NY city of Hudson. Already, this is a great setup—imagine the gossip. Soon, she develops an obsession with one of the therapist’s clients, who she calls Big Swiss (real name Flavia). Juicy.
Big Swiss is dreamy, a tall blonde who has a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude when it comes to overcoming her trauma. This appeals to Greta, who is an absolute fucking mess. She is terminally passive, living in a massive old house that is literally falling apart and occupied by a massive beehive. She has just exited a ten year long engagement with a perfectly nice man who she didn’t like all that much. And she attributes a lot of these issues to her (admittedly, fucked up) relationship with her mother, who died by suicide when she was a kid.
The themes of Big Swiss (novel) center around how its infatuated main characters choose to deal with their trauma (or guilt, or grief, or whatever you’d like to call it). Despite Big Swiss’ refusal to admit that her past experiences affect her day-to-day decisionmaking, her traumas come back to haunt her in more ways than one.
But Beagin doesn’t really have a thesis here. It feels like she’s asking a lot of questions about our society’s obsession with trauma and therapy—which Beagin seems to be skeptical of—without staking out any answers. Clearly, the solution lies somewhere between Greta’s approach (complete submission to the currents of your past fuck-ups) and Big Swiss’ (Trauma isn’t real! The libs have gone too far!) This is a really fun book to talk to your friends about, and I suspect people will have wildly different takes on each character.
I usually dislike a “just asking questions” book, but Beagin’s prose is so undeniably funny. The climax of Greta’s affair with Big Swiss is hilariously horny (I’ve never seen the word “pussy” in print this many times on one page) and the fallout from it so deliciously predictable and unhinged. I laughed more reading this than anything maybe ever? One chapter about a dinner party with Greta, Big Swiss, and her husband Luke begins with “Maybe it was the wrong day to try microdosing….” I mean, come on. This is peak comedy. Worth a read for the lols alone.
Big Swiss is dreamy, a tall blonde who has a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude when it comes to overcoming her trauma. This appeals to Greta, who is an absolute fucking mess. She is terminally passive, living in a massive old house that is literally falling apart and occupied by a massive beehive. She has just exited a ten year long engagement with a perfectly nice man who she didn’t like all that much. And she attributes a lot of these issues to her (admittedly, fucked up) relationship with her mother, who died by suicide when she was a kid.
The themes of Big Swiss (novel) center around how its infatuated main characters choose to deal with their trauma (or guilt, or grief, or whatever you’d like to call it). Despite Big Swiss’ refusal to admit that her past experiences affect her day-to-day decisionmaking, her traumas come back to haunt her in more ways than one.
But Beagin doesn’t really have a thesis here. It feels like she’s asking a lot of questions about our society’s obsession with trauma and therapy—which Beagin seems to be skeptical of—without staking out any answers. Clearly, the solution lies somewhere between Greta’s approach (complete submission to the currents of your past fuck-ups) and Big Swiss’ (Trauma isn’t real! The libs have gone too far!) This is a really fun book to talk to your friends about, and I suspect people will have wildly different takes on each character.
I usually dislike a “just asking questions” book, but Beagin’s prose is so undeniably funny. The climax of Greta’s affair with Big Swiss is hilariously horny (I’ve never seen the word “pussy” in print this many times on one page) and the fallout from it so deliciously predictable and unhinged. I laughed more reading this than anything maybe ever? One chapter about a dinner party with Greta, Big Swiss, and her husband Luke begins with “Maybe it was the wrong day to try microdosing….” I mean, come on. This is peak comedy. Worth a read for the lols alone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Suicide