Name: Neta Harris's review of Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Item: Big Swiss
Rating: 5
Author: Neta Harris

Jen Beagin

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house, built in 1737, is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss, since she’s tall, stoic, and originally from Switzerland. Greta is fascinated by Big Swiss’s refreshing attitude toward trauma. They both have dark histories, but Big Swiss chooses to remain unattached to her suffering while Greta continues to be tortured by her past.

One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and contrives a meeting. They quickly become enmeshed. Although Big Swiss is unaware of Greta’s true identity, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…

A Novel

Big Swiss

Cloudface

She’d never claimed an identity for the same reasons she’d never gotten tattoos. She couldn’t imagine settling on anything. 

Helen 

"The ceiling's great," Sabine agreed. "But the main reason this room is beautiful is because it's perfectly square. A perfectly square room is extremely rare. It does something to your brain chemistry:"

The first time hed mentioned it to a client, hed aid, "I waxed my gong for you, in case you wanted a sound bath at the end of our session" which Greta had transcribed as "I waxed my dong for you. Om had texted a few days later: "Its gong, honey, not dong,” a phrase Greta now repeated to herself at random. 

FEW: I'm told my voice is like a blade. When I pick out pastries at the bakery, it sounds like I'm ordering someone's execution.

Neta Harris

I usually love a flawed protagonist but every character felt half baked. 

Nicole Neuman

I was scared if I read other people's reviews of Big Swiss it would make me feel dumb for liking it so much 🤡 but idc, I'm still thinking about this book almost two weeks after I finished it.

I loved that Greta was an annoying messy bitch and a total Gen X cornball. I loved the cringey dialogue. The sex scenes were autistic but endearing. Each character was such a caricature I could see so clearly in my mind.

Because of that, I'm willing to overlook all the parts that didn't make any sense (like Big Swiss agreeing to see a sex therapist like Om in the first place, or being interested in a loser like Greta)

Sydney Burns

I was scared if I read other people's reviews of Big Swiss it would make me feel dumb for liking it so much 🤡 but idc, I'm still thinking about this book almost two weeks after I finished it.

I loved that Greta was an annoying messy bitch and a total Gen X cornball. I loved the cringey dialogue. The sex scenes were autistic but endearing. Each character was such a caricature I could see so clearly in my mind.

Because of that, I'm willing to overlook all the parts that didn't make any sense (like Big Swiss agreeing to see a sex therapist like Om in the first place, or being interested in a loser like Greta)

Made me want to be a sex therapist transcriptionist 

Akriti

Have maybe never read a book so fast. Weird, wayyyy too graphic in the sex depictions but good imagery and just a wacky fantasy world made out of up-state. 

Lily Dendy

Sometimes i enjoy books in which the main character is insufferable and makes bad decisions at every turn. This is that! I enjoyed most of it. Was more sexual than I expected but still fun. 

Harlee K

Didn’t hate it but didn’t like it all that much either. The dialogue is awkward in a way that I guess is intentional, but also awkward in ways that don’t feel intentional. Also, I understand Greta is narrating this so we’re hearing it through her voice, but there are a handful of comments that are just uncalled for, like when she compares the donkey braying to ‘a deaf man bellowing’ like….. let’s not do that 

ashley

Juicy and unique, plus I am a sucker for an unlikeable female character 

Miranda Hall

Chris Dailey

Raunchy romp filled with trauma, humor and biting prose. A life long self saboteur begins a new life in upstate NY transcribing sex therapy sessions and falls for a fellow dark soul. Sex, sadness, self exile and tragedy all play a role in what is fundamentally a funny book. Highly readable and memorable with several laugh out loud moments following stomach turning melancholy.

Cici Pearson

mara

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss.

One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…

Couldn’t stop listening to this! SO JUICY lol, love books that have a NOSY main character lmao. I felt so involved in the drama. 

Kyra Cracchiola

Couldn’t stop listening to this! SO JUICY lol, love books that have a NOSY main character lmao. I felt so involved in the drama. 

Greta is an Aquarius lmfaoooo

I think this lost me in the second half but that could be because I found the romance so compelling in a fucked way and got upset when it ended

Liz Harris

character driven, descriptive, and internal. 

similar to animal by Lisa Taddeo, but better in my opinion, the characters are more fleshed out, the themes have more depth.

I'm still figuring out what the stalker represents, the last act was less compelling, it was more the consequences of Greta's actions, but I think the ending was nice. 

gingy :3

character driven, descriptive, and internal. 

similar to animal by Lisa Taddeo, but better in my opinion, the characters are more fleshed out, the themes have more depth.

I'm still figuring out what the stalker represents, the last act was less compelling, it was more the consequences of Greta's actions, but I think the ending was nice. 

Krisna Martinez

I’m going to give it a 4 stars only because I love the idea of the book, but i’m not sure i loved the execution. I loved how uncomfortable some parts made me feel, as if I were in the room with Greta and Big Swiss. I love the realness of mental illness and how raw it gets. THOUGH, I feel like i may need to read it again to fully understand the symbolism, with a different lens. I hated the ending, i felt like i wasted so much time with the ending but maybe I wasn’t getting it how it was intended.

i have no idea how to rate this book. i couldnt put it down but hated every character (except the animals). reading this book felt like the first time i rode a rollercoaster after reaching an adulthood— i loved the thrill but felt incredibly nauseous. here are some sounds that encompass my feelings of big swiss: AH STAMP BANG BOOM POP WHAAA

Ellie Younger

I don’t think it lived up to the hype for me. But definitely presented compelling evidence why I should never go to Hudson, NY.

Amelia Hruby

Bizmare, unusual, hard to follow at times - but that’s how Beagin’s main character, Greta, is. There’s such delight in reading a book where characters are as real as we are.

Nina

Kendall McClain

Allegra Solomon

lily taggart

the premise of the book was more exciting than the execution. all the main characters were pretty unlikeable. cheating stories make my tummy hurt but they are interesting  

petrina

marlene

what a strange choice of character names.

Bailee Strong

Ottessa moshfegh-esque anti heroine fever dream tale, with a dose of withnail and I  energy 

Neta Harris &
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

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Neta Harris &Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

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Neta Harris &
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin