contemporary

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin – Book Review

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Big Swiss by Jen Beagin – Book Cover

Big Swiss is a woman. She goes to a sex therapist. Namely, to Om—who seems spectacularly unqualified for the job. Greta is also a woman. She transcribes the therapy session recordings. Greta is completely fascinated by Big Swiss. (Can’t blame her—everyone is.) And once they run into each other while walking their dogs, it’s clear that things are about to get complicated.

Big Swiss is Irresistible

In 2023, Big Swiss was ranked the 11th best novel by Goodreads readers. Normally, that kind of thing doesn’t mean squat. But in this case, it actually kind of does.

Jen Beagin’s third novel was named Book of the Year by Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Elle, and The New Yorker. So basically, every girly mag out there. Which, let’s be honest, might immediately scare off a very specific chunk of the reading population. But if you’re bold enough to crack it open out of sheer curiosity, you may find yourself reading a lot further than you expected. Possibly all the way to the end.

Why? Because of the instantly likeable characters, the wry yet warm humor, and the unmistakably unique, sharp narration.

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The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel – Book Review

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The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - Book Cover

After achieving worldwide fame with “Station Eleven,” St. John Mandel waited six years to release her next book. Achieving worldwide fame, obviously, might be like winning a Nobel Prize. Afterward, it’s somehow harder to concentrate on writing. Finding topics becomes more difficult, everything seems to progress slower. In the case of “The Glass Hotel,” it’s not easy to determine what it’s actually about. Because it’s definitely not about a glass hotel.

Is The Glass Hotel just a transparent trick?

Emily St. John Mandel’s book is like listening to a classical music piece. Certain themes, or rather characters, recur throughout, seemingly randomly. One character takes the spotlight at one point, another at another. Some only gain prominence in the final third of the novel, while others appear at the beginning and merely reappear towards the end.

The titular location, the Hotel Caiette, stands in the forest in a secluded cove on Vancouver Island, Canada. It’s only accessible by boat. (It seems they skipped the preliminary market research before construction.) Thirty percent of the book’s characters work here (some only for a fleeting moment), 10 percent are occasional guests, and 5 percent are owners who don’t participate in managing the hotel but have a stake in it for investment purposes.

Alright, ‘The Glass Hotel’ isn’t such a bad title after all, even though the book is much more about the psychology of financial investments.

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