Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

409 reviews

rosrey's review

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin follows Greta, a former pharmacy tech turned transcriber. She works for a sex therapist, transcribing his sessions with his patients for a book he is writing. Through her transcribing, she falls in love with a woman she dubs "Big Swiss." When they meet in real life, Greta can't help but befriend Big Swiss, but the looming fact that she knows too much about Big Swiss' personal life hangs in the air, threatening to ruin their relationship.

Although I couldn't help but be hooked by the book, listening to it as I drove to work, I couldn't overlook Greta's racist comments. Throughout the book, she references the fact that she is a problematic character and knows it, but most of her problematic actions have consequences. On the other hand, her weird and racist comments towards Asian people go unchecked and leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Greta's character reminded me a lot of the protagonist in My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. This whole trope of a white woman who has some edgy, problematic opinions and could care less about anything going on around her is starting to get tired. Maybe it's because I read them close in time, but I didn't enjoy Big Swiss as much as I did My Year of Rest and Relaxation. For that reason, I give this book 3 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

clarencemd12's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Drug use

hollycandlerhiggins's review

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

jackbifrost's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

yayathegreat38's review

dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

finnc's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Personally did not find this book to be funny. Yes, there were maybe two times I genuinely laughed, but I found it to be much more raw. 

This book is a slow plunge into a clear lake that appears refreshingly cold, before you dive in and your breath hitches at the discomfort. 

To be succinct: this book takes the course between precontemplation and preparation. The way Jen Beagin curated these characters with such genuine humanity that I forgot I was reading fiction, and honestly divulges into those difficult stages, is art. 

I personally found my perspective focusing on the truth of how trauma and unhealthy behaviors snow-ball. 

I think it made me uncomfortable because, from an objective/reader's point of view, I was experiencing second-hand ""embarassment"" for lack of better words. 
The awareness of how such trauma operates on internal and external levels, from a healed place, was uncomfortable in the way working out or stretching is.

Utterly: this book was human and I found it to be more compelling to think than to laugh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Blood, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, and Addiction

lgiery's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm borrowing this from a reviewer: Made me laugh and think abour sex and death and honesty

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Suicide

aheinicke27's review

dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really interesting book. Initially, the hilarious commentary of Greta the main character, drew me in. As the plot unfolded into a somewhat chaotic and disastrous love affair however, I found myself unable to look away. Greta seems to be a fairly unreliable narrator, and as the book progresses, it’s difficult to tell what is real, what is her perception, and whether those two truths overlap if at all. I also felt like the ending of this book was fairly interesting too. It felt like a lot was building only to end on a fairly anticlimactic note. When the book ended, I didn’t believe it at first because it didn’t feel “done” necessarily. I’m still undecided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. This book definitely has a little more of a literary feel to it, which is a lot different from what I’ve been reading lately. Overall I enjoyed it, but I also wouldn’t say it kept me totally enthralled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

lo_ferrara's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

So dark, weird, strange, enjoyable!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail