Thank you to Faber and Faber for this arc copy on Netgalley!

I enjoyed this character driven book a lot. I found the ways the characters interacted with each other interesting and the format of the book also very interesting as well, I loved how the format was as a transcription in some parts. I enjoyed the inner monologue of Greta and hearing how she was thinking.

I did get a little bit confused in some parts of who was speaking when, but not so much that it made it hard to read.

I would recommend this book.

All I want right now is a novel with an interesting narrative and STRONG point of view, you know? Jen Beagin gives us two complex women in BIG SWISS and to say more than it's about a therapy transcriptionist in a small town would be giving too much away. This is funny, interesting and revelatory in the most surprising ways. Read it.

Thanks to Net Gallery, Jen Beagin and Faber and Faber for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'big swiss' is an eccentric, witty and discomforting work of absurdist literary fiction that follows 45-year-old greta, a transcriptionist who lives with a flatmate in a deteriorating dutch farmhouse in hudson, new york. every night, greta spends hours in front of her computer transcribing the sessions of an amateur sex coach who calls himself 'om', and she soon grows obsessed with one of his clients.

flavia, who is known in greta's transcripts as 'FEW' and in her head as 'big swiss', is a tall, married, swiss woman in her twenties, whose blunt and stoic attitude and traumatising backstory has greta hooked. when the two women cross paths in a dog park, greta panics and conceals her real identity; a decision that becomes increasingly problematic as they begin an unlikely sexual affair that hinges on their mutual feelings of entrancement, temptation and repulsion.

to me, this is a novel that expertly balances the sufficient exploration of heavy topics with lighthearted humour. every single character is hanging on by a thread and somewhat plagued by death or the threat of death, yet nobody takes themself too seriously- nor does the book itself- making for a strange but enjoyable read. admittedly, i didn't race through it as quickly as i thought i would as i found myself bored with the abundance of animal-related side-storylines, but when i was gripped, i couldn't put it down.

beagin's narrative voice is sharp and ridiculously entertaining, and i enjoyed her depiction of new-age psychology, gendered trauma, and sex between women. greta's transcriptions and letters to her late mother were clever and welcome interruptions to the novel's traditional prosaic structure, and help in positioning beagin's characterisation as the novel's strongest facet.

overall, i think the idea behind the central plot of this book is brilliant, and i can't WAIT to see jodie comer playing flavia in the HBO adaptation!

thank you so much for the arc!

Though I did enjoy this initially, it left a slight sour taste in my mouth. I loved the premise and the way that different responses to trauma were explored. However, the off-hand racism (evident from the start) was what my reservations were about, and in hindsight can't be overlooked.

This is a really unique and different book. We follow our main character Greta as she transcribes recordings from a local sex therapists sessions. She starts to have real life encounters with some of the patients and develops an obsession with a particular patient who she calls Big Swiss. There are lots of quirky characters and personalities in this book with some very entertaining and random stories told throughout. Do check the trigger warnings as lots of difficult content is described.
Overall I enjoyed this book but felt I didn’t connect with the story or characters as much as I would have liked.

I really tried with this one, I got around halfway through and then had to DNF it as it was not for me and I wasn’t connecting with the characters nor enjoying the plot. It is a shame, but thanks, as always, to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this prior to publication.

Big Swiss - this was a ride for me. Totally not something I’d usually pick up & read but it sparked my interest and I dove straight in. I do not regret doing so!
Absolutely wild in the best of ways! This is definitely a different & unique novel but ultimately still fun!
The way that Jen has written this is so well done that you’ll still get a lot of fun & joy from reading, but it will also have you thinking at a deeper level (if you choose to let yourself) about basic every day morals & situations.
A big yes from me!

Thanks NetGalley letting me read an advanced reading copy of this!

This was such a fun read. I read it in one day, as I just loved being inside our main characters head. The cast of characters are so unique and I found myself laughing out loud many times. The absurdity and unlikeliness of the plots sometimes went too far to be believed, but that was also part of the fun. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars, and would defintely reccomend people to pick it up.

My tiktok review of this book is also linekd below.

This book took me a while to get into, but boy when it hit that 50% mark I just could not stop. The characters are all so complex and deep, even the side characters have immensely convoluted back stories, and every single character is somehow connected with another. I loved this aspect. I felt as though I was reading the thoughts of everyone, in on all the gossip at the same time. While this was amazingly satisfying, to be the omniscient being, it was also frustrating at points. However with this book, even though you could predict what was coming, you could never pre-empt the actions or responses of these characters.

I’ve seen them be compared to Moshfegh, and while they are unhinged, I think they are still quite different. I think these characters communicate and have so much trauma underlying their overly calculated moves, that they’re not innately selfish or selfless, rather they are all just trying to figure out life in their own, convoluted ways. They want to reach a certain point but don’t know how. They experience envy, lust and greed. They are self-sabotaging. They make the wrong moves. But their words and emotions, or lack of them, also have power. They feel, maintain friendships, relationships. They grow and they love, or try to.

This book gave such an interesting perspective on the fluidity of sexuality, identity and freedom, through the lens of societal constrictions and class. The things we want to be, versus the things we are. It made me question whether the parts of others we aspire to or yearn for are ever achievable, or even real. Many existential thoughts were had while reading this.

There were so many parts of this book where I cringed, or squirmed in my seat from discomfort and vulgarity or sometimes even excitement, but in the end, I really crave more. Just like the characters do.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m looking to reading more of Beagin’s work in the future.

Please check trigger warnings before reading.

How do you write about a book as unique, original and downright weird as this one was?!

The novel focuses on Greta, a 40 year old transcriber for a local sex therapist. She becomes infatuated with one of the patients, who she affectionately nicknames ‘Big Swiss’ (she knows that she’s tall and from Switzerland).
Greta and Big Swiss inadvertently meet in the dog park, Greta worried about confidentiality breaches creates a new identity and befriends Big Swiss the pair ultimately having an affair.

If you’re a fan of Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh this book is is screaming out for you to read it!! I really enjoyed the outright weirdness of it and the unhinged characters within. It is very witty yet explores female trauma and mental health issues in depth. I think this read will be like marmite for some but I personally enjoyed it

I really wanted to like this book: from the blurb, it seemed right up my street. The first chapter is delightfully jarring and intriguing, but after that I soon found that the narrative had nowhere else to go.

Once Hudson and its characters are established as beyond extra, the shock-value humour quickly gets old. There’s no room for Greta to develop as an unreliable narrator. I found the constant (and repetitive) bizarre humour exhausting to read. Greta has the potential to be a fascinating unlikeable protagonist, but her constant witty asides feel so on the nose that you forget they’re really a symptom of her own insecurities.

Big Swiss is one of those books that tries so hard, it loses all subtlety. Sadly, it’s a miss for me.

Quite an entertaining read. But sometimes I felt the quirkiness of the book could have been amplified. The ending didn’t feel all too put together.

This book displays the stark contrast between how people experience and deal with trauma (regardless of their origin) so well. Greta and Big Swiss are very different people, and though you would think Big Swiss is less in touch with her feelings because of her cold and stoic demeanor, it is actually Greta who is most detached from reality and her surroundings.

Her continuous referral to Flavia as Big Swiss is one indication, as well as the barbaric circumstances she lives in and doesn't care about, but also her incredible attachment to Piñon but her inability to connect normally to the people in her life, show that she is still quite unhinged by her traumatic past.

I loved Big Swiss - her mystique and reservedness, and her total submission to the affair. She was such an interesting and real character to me. Greta was a bit more difficult to love (as unhinged protagonists usually are), but I really appreciated the character arc and the gradual unpeeling of her various layers. I had difficulty believing that Greta was 45 and Big Swiss was 28 (as it felt the other way around), but getting further into the story it started to make more sense why this was.

Om, and Greta's comments while transcribing, was the main reason I found this book so funny. His character is irritating to the point of wanting to throw things at his head, but he is also an excellent caricature of 'self-defined coaches'. Hiring Greta to transcribe sessions for his novel, and finding out at the end he doesn't need them at all - hilarious.

CW/TW: suicide, infedelity, (violent/extreme) physical abuse, animal abuse.

This was a refreshing and unique read which I devoured. The approach when discussing confronting and triggering topics I found to be realistic and relatable. I was amused throughout the whole book from all characters and their contrasting personalities and interactions. A novel that makes you really think about morals, sexuality and relationships.
I would recommend this book for open minded readers and lovers of stories like Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.

I would also like this thank Netgally for letting me read an advanced readers copy of this book!

Funny, sassy, clever. This is a modern intelligent romcom for the 21st Century. Funny women are finding their voices and taking no prisoners. This book is outrageous and unapologetic. I loved it.

This book was completely unlike anything I’ve ever ready before. I found it so laugh out loud funny, so sad, so tender, so weird and so brilliant. Congrats to the author, it’s an amazing achievement.

And thanks for letting me read!

Funny, unhinged, completely out of pocket. Loved it. Exactly what I needed and overall really good book.

This book was just average to me. The premise really caught me but I just could not get into this book like I thought I would. I think Greta and Flavia are really interesting examples of how trauma can manifest but together I didn’t really get it. The plot went a little too off the rails for me, but that being said, I don’t think it’s anything to do with the book. I can see why so many people adore this and I thought I would be in that camp however I don’t necessarily think it’s for me right now. I’m not totally sure how I feel about this book except maybe a little meh? But I do really appreciate the opportunity to read it.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC! I was so excited to get access to this book, I had seen so much hype for it on bookstagram, but unfortunately it didn’t hit great for me. It was ok, but not really for me. I struggled to get into it but I did push through and by the end I found it to just be a bit bland and the plot was just a bit ridiculous.

They say 'don't judge a book by its cover' but I actually picked this up because I loved the cover art. That and the wild premise of a transcriber falling in love with one of the clients of the sex therapist she works for.

Big Swiss is the most unhinged book I've read this year, I found it to be incredibly funny at times and bizarre and disturbing at others. I wouldn't read it again, but I won't forget it either!

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review