This book did not hold my attention and I did not finish it at 19%. I was originally drawn to the premise: that a sex therapist's transcriptionist falls in love with a client, while listening to their sessions. I really wanted to love this, but I think maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I couldn't finish the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: suicide, misogyny, homophobia, rape (mentioned, off-page), eating disorders, violence, stalking, animal cruelty, racism.

Greta lives in an old Dutch farmhouse, working as a transcriber for a "sex and relationship coach" in Hudson, New York. She's also a mess. Listening in on people's therapy sessions hasn't done much for her own mental health, but she gets a kick out of it nonetheless, and she's particularly captivated by one of her boss's new clients. Greta calls her Big Swiss (owing to the fact that she's tall and from Switzerland) and for Greta, listening to her sessions is somehow cathartic -- they both have experienced major traumas in their lives, but their ways of coping are about as opposite as you can get. One day, Greta hears a familiar voice as she's at the dog park, and when she realizes it's Big Swiss in the flesh, she quickly introduces herself -- not as Greta, but Rebekah. As the two of them become tangled up in a messy, intense relationship, Greta is forced to face the demons of her past and some of the demons in her present, too.

Let me start off by saying that Big Swiss is not my usual kind of book. I decided to give it a go, mainly because I love messy female protagonists with a dark, dry sense of humor (and the lesbian relationship is a plus, too!), but I think it's only fair to mention this before I properly begin my review. Some people have likened Beagin's style to Otessa Moshfegh, and as I'm a big fan of her books, I thought, why not? It's always good to broaden your horizons. Unfortunately, in this case, I probably should've trusted the hesitation I felt.

The biggest problem I have is with the two main characters, Greta and Flavia (the titular Big Swiss). At first, I was intrigued by their dynamic, and I even found them oddly charming in some situations, but as the novel progressed, I quickly grew tired of their flakiness, their inability to be kind to one another, and, head and shoulders above the rest, the lack of chemistry between them. It was difficult to understand why they put up with each other, and what attracted them to one another in the first place. Although the 'why' is repeatedly spelled out for us, it doesn't really make sense with the actual interactions we see on-page. Big Swiss, in particular, is not a likable or even interesting character to me. Why Greta is so instantaneously infatuated with her is really anybody's guess.

There's a lot of social commentary here, but most of it falls flat. It's the usual type of dry humor, making fun of everyone for everything, and to put it simply, it's boring. I also don't think that this book is quite as funny as it thinks it is, and instead of laughing or feeling tickled by a lot of the things intended to be funny, I was mostly left cringing. Greta is tactless, almost to the point of stupidity or naivete, and although she's forty-five, I had to continuously remind myself that she wasn't actually meant to be a vapid teenager or twenty-something.

There's also really no plot to speak of. The ending is a bit disappointing; it feels like a lot of build-up for nothing. I didn't hate this book, but reading it felt like filler, like waiting for something meaningful to happen. Also, there's a lot of casual racism, and I wasn't a huge fan of the way the book handled Greta's questioning of her sexuality, nor did I like some of Big Swiss's comments about lesbianism (the whole "I could never be a lesbian" thing was just kind of weird).

All in all, not my cup of tea, but judging by the very high ratings this book has gotten, I might be the odd one out.

Big Swiss takes big leaps and chances. While its story can feel specific with its slapstick nature, at times it does feel just as reckless as a reader. While overall I found the read satisfying, the reading experience felt a bit disorientating, which may have been the point. If so, perhaps I'm just the incorrect audience for the book, but I'm just glad the book itself is interesting amidst its contemporaries, certainly memorable if anything.

This felt very similar, to me, to Motherthing. A little /a lot perverse, uncomfortable, gross but fascinating and a compulsive read. Not sure who to recommend it to!

This book was crazy town! But so fun and really kept my interest to the end. Bravo to the author on a story that is different and captivating, funny and sad at the same time!

✨ Review ✨ Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

This is kind of indescribable so just read it!

😂

It gave me similar vibes as Vladimir, where all kinds of bonkers things were happening and it was digging deep into deconstructing ideas of sexuality and mental health, and love and relationships; and it left you just with your mouth hanging open.

Greta is a transcriptionist for a local sex therapist, and the book intersperses narrative with excerpts from these transcripts. She is intrigued with a woman she calls Big Swiss because of her accent, and they end up meeting in the real world. As Greta grapples with the ethics of hiding her knowledge of Big Swiss's life from the transcripts, their relationship continues to grow. What's left is something that's surprising and unusual and you kind of can't stop gaping at it all.

This review doesn't do this book justice, but I loved the weirdness. It's a book that's so unusual that not everyone will enjoy it, but if you like weird things (e.g. Vladimir, Motherthing), you might like this!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: literary fiction
Location: Hudson, NY
Reminds me of: Vladimir meets Motherthing (but without the horror/gore)
Pub Date: out now!

Thanks to Scribner and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

So weird and fun! This felt like what Otessa wants to write like. I love to see a feral no reliable female character who has aged and still remains messy and awkward. Really excited that Jen Beagin is writing still and only getting better in her craft as time goes on. Excited for more!

Absolutely loved the writing style of this one. So irreverent, so blunt, so chaotic. Big Swiss is perfect for fans of Melissa Broder, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Sayaka Murata.

It started out very promising, but I had a hard time with the time jumps and the tone of the novel just wasn’t for me. I ended up not finishing this novel.

Netgalley ARC. Very dark humor and quirky characters. This book touched on many serious issues, including suicide, assault, and childhood trauma. But despite these heavy topics, I didn’t find this book depressing at all. And I loved the eccentric characters. They did not come across as over-the-top cliches, but authentically flawed, broken people doing their best to survive. #BigSwiss #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley, author Jen Beagin, and publisher Scribner for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book!!!!!! Big Swiss has been everywhere it seems, from BookTok to articles, about being one of the most anticipated books of February/2023, and I'm happy to report that IT LIVES UP!!! I have a confession to make-- I'm pretty ambivalent about miserable women books. I have loved some (Writers and Lovers, Mostly Dead Things), liked others (Animal), and thought some were just okay/didn't live up to the hype (My Year of Rest and Relaxation). I love an unreliable, unlikeable narrator, but sometimes, this subgenre of books just takes it TOO far to where I really hate the women or are bored by them and don't find anything redeeming about the reading experience. However, Big Swiss is the antithesis of that. There is humor, heart, relatability, sadness, growth, life, and so much more. I could relate to Greta and Flavia both so much in ways, and they felt authentic. I haven't laughed in a book in a while, but this book was genuinely funny in parts while also being heartbreaking in others. The duality of the Beagin's writing style just worked so well in this book, and I was hooked from the start. The premise was unique, and I loved reading the transcript sections. Although I would cringe and feel uncomfortable at the manipulation between Greta and Flavia, I also found myself rooting for both women because hello sapphic storyline!! All the secondary characters are so interesting as well, and I would happily read more books about any of them. There is truly a bit of everything here, and it was refreshing to read a book that felt so new. I already know that this book is going to sit with me, and I can't wait to revisit it.

This is a wild ride! Jen Beagin is insanely imaginative, and I'm here for it. Just the premise alone—the main character is a transcriptionist for a therapist and falls in love with a patient, the titular Big Swiss–is so unique and unexpected, and then Beagin dials it up way, way more as the two get into a relationship with one another. It kept me guessing and engrossed all the way through, and I'm going to go back and read her prior books!

Greta lives in a NY farmhouse and transcribes sex therapy sessions for work. She becomes obsessed with one patient who she calls Big Swiss, and when she hears her voice at a local dog park jumps head first into a fake identity and a real infatuation. Chaotic, queer, and a bit messed up - this was a fun, wild read with characters I absolutely adored. Greta is batshit, but in the best possible way (I think? 🤪). There’s definitely some darkness here, but it’s so well balanced by the genuinely interesting and often charming cast of characters. So good!

Sometime in the early '10s the idea that women can be assholes, too, was a major driving force in entertainment. It felt, at the time, like a feminist break-through.:Yes, women also can be thoughtless! And messy! And unkind! (Remember the first season of Girls?)

But back then that was sort of the end of the entire thought. Jen Beagin's novel Big Swiss focuses on a woman who could have easily been the protagonist of one of the women-can-be-dirtbags-too novels, but it's more complicated than that. In Big Swiss, Beagin looks at the ways that past traumas can shape your life, but not in the usual The-Body-Keeps-the-Score way. Rather, she explores what it's like to resist the trauma narrative, to have had something really very bad happen to you and attempt to not have that singular event fuel your self-perception, It's funny and smart, and Beagin regularly delivers a descriptive line that would stop me in my tracks. I can't believe it took me until now to get wise to her work—I'm going to read everything she's written.

I LOVED this book!!! It was so funny and weird and touching at the same time. If you are looking for dark irreverent humor with a touch of sadness, this book is for you. The audio was also especially well done.

I saw one of my favorite bookstagramers reading this and had to get it myself. I'm not going to lie, it's a little bit out of my comfort zone with it's literary nature (I'm really more of a trash book girl). I totally understood why this was recommended after reading this though.

I love teh therapy world and loved this centering around sex coaching. The characters are so complex but there's also a humor to this. The descriptions of the dutch farmhouse was so descriptive and immediately drew me into the scene.

I'm so excited to hear that this was picked up by HBO and is going to be a series!

Big Swiss is a fever dream of horny neurotic splendor. Rich people making a mess of their lives, women exploring their sexuality mid-life, processing trauma, and a unique spin on a voyeuristic narrator. I loved it. Lust at first read, love at last page.

My review appears on Boston's ArtsFuse

https://artsfuse.org/268793/book-review-big-swiss-quirky-as-all-get-out/

I do not award stars.

Weird, laugh out loud funny, wild ride of a book.

Living in Upstate NY I'm familiar with the specific type of gentrification that's happening to the Hudson Valley and Catskills, and this satirical take on it is spot on. For those of us Townies, it's worth reading just for that. But then about half way through the novel you'll stop and realize that you haven't laughed in a while and notice that the book takes a decided turn in it's tone as you slowly sink into the obsession and dark thoughts with our MC. Not too deep and dark, but just enough to be different and slightly uncomfortable. If we were emotionally invested in the characters, it would be too much, but the nearly clinical feel of the interactions between characters prevents this.

Full of metaphor, this would be an interesting book club selection if you could sell it to the group.

Firstuvall, if you've not read Jen Beagin's first two novels, you must do so now. They are funny & quirky & so very readable. This one, not so much. I didn't like any of the characters (except the animals) and didn't care what happened to them. I'm so very glad folks are finding her, however, and will read what she writes next.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy.