Big Swiss
Jen Beagin
Another book club read that drags me out of my comfort zone into something that I would be unlikely to pick up otherwise.
We had a long break over the summer, which was useful as it took me a long time to read this! Not because it is bad - the construction and structure is very clever whereby we follow only the inner life of Greta, just that single point of view. However (and this is the clever bit), Greta works as a transcriber for the town sex therapist and so knows everyone else’s inner secrets. We are shown many of these transcripts so we get insights both into Greta and into the love interest (Big Swiss of the title). Even cleverer we get Greta’s reactions to hearing the inner thoughts as revealed in the transcripts. And where that conceit isn’t quite sufficient we fall back on Greta listening to gossip to find out what goes on beyond our protagonist’s point of view. I did particularly like the idea that the gossips she overhears actually turn out to be unreliable narrators, as in much of real life they often are!
But to (finally!) explain why this took so long to read, it was because almost every interaction was quick-fire, witty, disorientating, and sometimes deliberately confusing (did Greta say that out loud, or did she just think it?). And that takes some concentration to read and I just couldn’t keep up the necessary focus for extended periods of time. I had to come up for air every so often and would then be distracted by something else, putting the book aside for a while.
Ultimately though, yes, I did enjoy it, it has genuinely stretched my boundaries and did entertain me. It isn’t neatly tied up with a bow and ended in a satisfying fashion - certainly our heroine has moved on with some part of her life, as has the love interest, but there are still unknowns, unanswered questions and ongoing stories - just like life then!