Our Take

Jen Beagin has a gift for writing characters who are simultaneously repellent and magnetic, and Big Swiss might be her sharpest creation yet. The premise, a woman falling for a stranger she's only encountered through transcribed therapy sessions, could easily tip into gimmick, but Beagin grounds it in genuinely strange, specific detail: goat farms, dog parks, a supporting cast as odd as the leads. The prose is fast and funny in a way that recalls Ottessa Moshfegh's deadpan cruelty, though Beagin's characters have more warmth underneath the bad behavior. There's also a kinship with Halle Butler's The New Me in how both writers find comedy in women who know exactly how badly they're behaving and do it anyway. What sets this apart is the way Beagin uses the therapy transcript conceit to explore how much intimacy can exist without honesty. Greta isn't a villain exactly, just someone who mistakes information for connection, and watching that unravel is uncomfortable in the best way. It's messy, horny, occasionally cringe inducing, and never boring. If you liked the anxious energy of Convenience Store Woman crossed with something much raunchier, this is your book.