Big Swiss
A Novel
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3.9 • 388 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER AND CULT FAVORITE
Named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker, Time, NPR, Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, NBC News, Lit Hub, theSkimm, Condé Nast Traveler, Town & Country, and more!
“One of the funniest books of the last few years” (Los Angeles Times) about a sex therapist’s transcriptionist and her affair with one of the patients.
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…
“A fantastic, weird-as-hell, super funny novel” (Bustle), Big Swiss is both a love story and a deft examination of infidelity, mental health, sexual stereotypes, and more—from an amazingly talented, singular voice in contemporary fiction.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Love is strange, messy, and extremely European in Jen Beagin’s slightly absurdist novel. Greta is a middle-aged transcriptionist in Hudson, New York who works for a second-rate sex therapist. As she listens to the anonymous audio recordings of his sessions, she finds herself bewitched by one woman—who has an austere attitude and a slight accent—and dubs her Big Swiss. Beagin’s plainspoken writing style makes it easy to dive into Greta’s off-kilter point of view. Pretty much everything in Greta’s orbit is untenable, from her transient lifestyle to her bee-infested house to Big Swiss’ denial of her own emotional trauma, and that definitely feels like the point. The more we learn about Greta, the more her bizarre world makes sense. This oddball character study really stuck with us.
Customer Reviews
Very funny feminism
An entertaining read with an original storyline. I enjoyed it until the plot ran out of gas.
Such a surprise
I really loved this book! It was definitely a surprise after not knowing what I was getting into. Nothing bad and not to give anything away, but I thought the narration of the book was so calming and relatable. I loved the characters and how quirky the town was. Made me really feel like I was a part of it.
Ugh
I found nothing humorous or pleasant in reading this book. I did not like any of the characters. I did not like the writing style. I decided to put it down unfinished with no regrets