Big Swiss
'Incredible book. . . I couldn't put it down.' Jodie Comer
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3.7 • 133 Ratings
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- £0.99
Publisher Description
** SOON TO BE A MAJOR HBO SERIES STARRING JODIE COMER **
'Made me laugh and think too much (the right amount?) about sex and death and honesty.' MONICA HEISEY
'Utterly addictive. . . I laughed so hard it ached.' GILLIAN ANDERSON
'Juicy, salacious and compelling. Trauma shouldn't be this fun.' SARA PASCOE
Greta liked knowing people's secrets. That wasn't a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.
Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her - she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Greta can see her now: dressed top to toe in white, that adorable gap between her two front teeth, her penetrating blue eyes. She's a head-turner: including the heads of infants and dogs.
Well that's how Greta imagines seeing her; they haven't actually ever met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland.
Greta and Big Swiss are not in the same room, or even the same building. Greta is miles away, sitting at a desk in her own house, wearing only headphones, fingerless gloves, a kimono, and legwarmers, transcribing this disembodied voice.
What Greta doesn't know is that she's about to bump into Big Swiss in the local dog park. A new - and not entirely honest - relationship is going to be born.
A relationship that will transform both of their lives. . .
Readers are obsessed with Big Swiss:
'This thing is a riot. I laughed out loud regularly. I've never read anything quite like it.'
'This book is f u n n y'
'The premise is bizarre but brilliant! I am ready to move to Hudson, NY to meet these folks!'
'I haven't read a book this engrossing for a long time.'
'The blend of real and wit made for a wonderfully sublime experience.'
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Big Swiss instantly absorbed us with its electrifying originality. The plot follows Greta, a sex therapy transcriptionist, who becomes infatuated with the voice of a client she affectionately nicknames Big Swiss. When Greta and Big Swiss coincidentally meet while walking their dogs, the women begin a wild and bizarre affair. Jen Beagin’s immaculately crafted plot exploits the hilarious salaciousness of Greta’s unusual job by immersing readers in the messy complexities of other people’s bedroom secrets. The stories recounted in the therapy tapes are often hysterical and outlandish, as Beagin’s masterful prose brings our most complicated intimate desires to light. Razor-sharp dialogue throughout the therapy recordings takes aim at shallow wellness platitudes, shrewdly ridiculing the therapist’s urge to simplify complex trauma. Big Swiss is relentlessly astute, mesmerisingly readable and totally unforgettable.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Beagin (Vacuum in the Dark) delivers a delightfully off-kilter romantic comedy set in a Hudson Valley increasingly transformed by transplants from New York City. The protagonist, Greta, is in her 40s, living in a semi-derelict Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, N.Y., with her beloved dog, Piñón. Greta is working as a transcriptionist for a local sex therapist named Om when she is captivated by the voice of one of Om's patients, a 30-something married woman whom she nicknames Big Swiss for her height and nationality, who used to live in Brooklyn. At the dog park, Greta and Big Swiss (whose real name is Flavia) meet by chance, and romance between the two blossoms, complicated by the fact that Greta is privy to Big Swiss's most private inner thoughts. While the interpersonal intrigue is palpable, this is also very much a novel about place, full of alternately snide and affectionate commentary about the rapidly gentrifying town. When encountering another of the therapist's patients and his wife at a coffee shop, Greta notes, "like most people in Hudson, they were better looking than average and dressed like boutique farmers." Beagin is a gifted storyteller with a flair for the eccentric and a soft spot for a wayward soul. This unconventional love story has a surplus of appeal from page one.
Customer Reviews
Strange
Disappointing ending
Nice though hard
Is not as funny as I’d like to have it such almost exact portrayal of life. Ouch, it did hard as I recognised myself in the main character. Unputdownable for me thoroughly recommend for autistic women of any age. Loved it immensely.
It’s a no for me
Gave up half way