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A review by loquaciousleon
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail