Field Notes from a Reader: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Greta transcribes sex therapy sessions and becomes obsessed with a patient whom she calls “Big Swiss” whose real name is Flavia. When a chance encounter brings Greta and Flavia together in person, Greta finds herself unable to resist entering an illicit relationship while also attempting to keep her identity, and her intimate knowledge of Flavia, a secret.
Greta is not a role model, and she doesn’t care to be one, and that kind of character is one I find particularly compelling. Her internal observations are very funny, and I think that goes a long way in creating a connection with a reader, even if they don’t necessarily agree with the behavior of the character. Greta is unconventional in her approach to her work and likes to masturbate “at the end of every workday, and sometimes during, as it was difficult to transcribe sex therapy without touching oneself” (129). After listening to one session where Flavia recounts being beaten almost to death, Greta decides to listen to the recording again, and “Although the occasion didn’t call for bubbles, the only alcohol in the house was a bottle of prosecco” and, while listening to the transcription, finds “herself wanting to punch herself. In the fact. Just to see how it felt” (83-84). Greta isn’t concerned with narrating the possible moral or ethical implications of her actions, she just acts as she wants to, and the reader is left to interpret what is going on for themselves, creating a window for catharsis and connection where a reader can also indulge in (and not be judged for) their own moral failings. What is the point of being alive, if we don’t let ourselves experience all the extremes of being a human in this complicated existence?
When Greta accepts an invitation to have dinner with Flavia and Flavia’s husband, under the guise of being Flavia’s friend, while they have already been sleeping together for a few weeks, Greta prepares for the evening with a narrative voice that is established in Greta’s cavalier, dry sense of humor:
Maybe it was the wrong day to try microdosing, but she’d needed something to help her get through dinner, and she remembered Sabine’s saying that one stem plus one cap equaled a Valium and a cup of coffee, or maybe it was one cap, no stem, two Tylenol PM. In any case, she felt pretty loose as she drove to their house, which she’d always imagined as a Swiss chalet built directly into the side of a mountain. (206)
Beagin does not shy away from writing Greta as a fully flawed, complex character, and there is no impetus to try and create some kind of moralistic argument or justification for how Greta behaves. The narrative voice is close-third and Greta’s humor and personality are always at the forefront, which keeps the story close Greta’s experiences and allows the reader to enjoy the story without getting bogged down in the moralistic trappings of infidelity or other hot button topics addressed in the novel.
Beagin, Jen. Big Swiss. Scribner, 2023. Print.
