Big Swiss

A Novel

By: Jen Beagin

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman, Carlotta Brentan, Stephen Graybill, Joy Osmanski, Matt Pittenger

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.

Critic reviews

"Rebecca Lowman captures Greta’s sardonic personality. Carlotta Brentan and Stephen Graybill skillfully deliver Flavia’s frank expressions and Om’s slightly pretentious demeanor. Scattered throughout are snippets of therapy sessions with other patients, who are superbly performed by Joy Osmanski and Matt Pittenger."

One of my favourites

This and The Guncle are comedic gold. Excellent narration and story with the narration perhaps my favorite ever!

Fascinating characters

Original story with fascinating characters I didn’t know where the story was going sometimes funny sometimes sad sometimes sexual but the characters were fascinating

The twists and turns

It was an okay story. A bit charming, gloomy, funny, interesting. But sadly it was nothing crazy to write home about. I enjoy stories like this however but I think I wanted something less mundane. However, it was enjoyable nonetheless and I found happiness in listening to it everyday.

Trauma dumping

I really enjoyed it! The characters seemed true to themselves and the performance was great by the reader! I love that everyone has there own mental hurdle they need to get over. It was trauma dump after trauma dump. But if felt true to Greta to over share in that way. It also felt like a lot of Greta’s long monologs and rants she go on are super poetic in her description making it feel like she writing a letter instead of talking. really enjoyed it felt it did drag a little with the descriptions but loved the humor LOLed quite a lot!

Adventures of a Bitter Gen X Karen

I have mixed feelings about this book but most of my feelings can be boiled down to: huh? A generally unlikeable cast with a deeply unlikeable and at times unreliable narrator. Greta (the MC) is bitter, repressed, rude, likes animals over humans, makes racist jokes but mostly mentally, and starts an affair with a married woman who doesn’t seem to like her very much. I ended up getting hooked into the story but in the end it kinda feels like it was all for nothing. But Greta’s life feels like that, and she’s traumatized, so I guess that’s the point? Idk. Weird & disappointing w/ a couple questionable moments that gave me the ick.