Big Swiss by Jen Beagin is big, bold, wicked, funny, and totally engaging.
Beagin’s offering is certainly in my top three reads of this year, I loved Big Swiss by Jen Beagin is big, bold, wicked, funny, and totally engaging.
Beagin’s offering is certainly in my top three reads of this year, I loved it.
Greta is a transcriber for a sex therapist in a small town. The audio files are sent to Greta, and she performs her work, usually in her underwear, at home. She takes a particular interest in one of the therapist’s clients – a woman Greta calls “Big Swiss”. Greta imagines Big Swiss (she is from Switzerland) as a stunning woman with a massive presence. Big Swiss is a 28-year-old gynaecologist, she loves dogs but has never had an orgasm, she is married to a wealthy man in town.
Greta is forty-five, she is also a dog lover and lives in a shared home which is a bit of a shambles. For example, there is a bee hive inside the house and the old place is falling apart. Her mother suicided when Greta was a girl. Greta has also shed as many responsibilities as possible – she yearns for a simple life.
Anyone can see that Greta was not a horse person. Her hair was not long enough, and neither were her teeth, and as a child, she had not been mistreated by other children
I found myself constantly surprised by the acerbic humour littered throughout this book, it made me laugh and often shocked me, not in a bad way – but in a guffawing, losing my nasal contents type of way.
People age horrible. They suffer strokes. Their bodies and brains fall apart. But the male ego? Firmly intact until the bitter end.
The transcripts of the sessions between the therapist and Big Swiss are fascinating, explicit, and often funny. I could not get enough of being a fly on the wall here – that is terrible isn’t it? But I loved it.
Big Swiss and Greta meet at a dog park – and things kick off. This is an ideal group or buddy read book – I can imagine pro-Big Swiss readers, throwing muffins at Greta fans, and vice versa. There is a lot to digest here, lots of sides to take.
Okay, this is important, this book is not all beer and skittles. It has some horrible violence and covers control and power in relationships.
This book really is the finished article, one of the best. I will hunt down other books from this author right now. Oh, HBO are making a movie based on this book – starring Jodie Comer as Big Swiss, I cannot wait.
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