44 pages • 1 hour read
Jen BeaginBig Swiss
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Greta listens to a therapy session without headphones and transcribes “as if it were a podcast or a radio interview” (103). Sabine overhears it as well. A flock of vultures has become lost and perches in a tree near Sabine’s house.
In the session, Big Swiss is annoyed that Om, a sex therapist, doesn’t know what endometriosis is. She reports that she recently had sex with her husband Luke, but that sex remains physically painful for her. She tells Om about Luke’s hobby of watching other people play his favorite video game. Big Swiss talks about her husband’s discolored penis, his collection of prisoner’s shivs, and his desire to have sex with her when she’s menstruating. Om suggests that Big Swiss try masturbating with a vibrator.
Greta brings Piñon to the dog park, where another dog attacks him. The owner of the attacker does nothing, but another woman swoops in and breaks up the fight. She chats with Greta and Greta realizes that she’s speaking with Big Swiss. Big Swiss is even more beautiful in person than Greta had imagined. Greta introduces herself as Rebekah, and Big Swiss introducers herself as Flavia. They chat about work, and Greta tells her that she transcribes interviews for journalists. Flavia and Greta agree to meet for drinks.
Chapter 7 Summary
Greta receives the next tape of Big Swiss’s therapy session. Om explains that the tape is cut off because he didn’t want Greta to be made anxious knowing the full name and address of Big Swiss’s attacker, Keith. In the session, Big Swiss tells Om about meeting “Rebekah,” whom Big Swiss believes is gay and was hitting on her. Big Swiss tells Om that she’s finally had an orgasm with the vibrator he recommended. Greta wonders if she should tell Om that she met Big Swiss and introduced herself as Rebekah.
Greta meets Big Swiss at the bar. Greta tells Big Swiss about her mother’s death by suicide, and Big Swiss tells Greta about being raised in a cult. Big Swiss asks Greta to be her dog park friend. Greta wonders if Big Swiss is worried that Keith will get a dog when he’s released from prison and find her at the dog park. Greta lies about her age; she tells Big Swiss she’s 38, but she’s actually 45.
Chapter 8 Summary
Greta grows concerned for Sabine, who continues to lose weight and leaves the house for days at a time. Greta and Big Swiss walk their dogs together nearly every day. Greta tells Big Swiss about her ex-fiancé. Big Swiss asks Greta if she’s gay and Greta tells Big Swiss that she’s had sex with both men and women. As they talk and get to know one another, Big Swiss notes that Greta often deflects the conversation away from herself, preferring to listen to Big Swiss than to talk about herself. Big Swiss wants to hear about Greta’s high school girlfriend. Greta’s high school girlfriend’s name was Robin; they had a short and chaste relationship, but many years later reunited and had an affair about seven years into Greta’s relationship with Stacy. When Big Swiss kisses Greta on the cheeks to say goodbye, Greta kisses her on the mouth.
Chapter 9 Summary
Greta transcribes Big Swiss’s next therapy session with Om. Om asks her how she feels about Keith’s release from prison. Big Swiss believes she’s being followed, perhaps by Keith but also by an older woman at the dog park. Big Swiss describes the woman and Greta tries to picture her from the dog park but can’t place her. Big Swiss tells Om about a teenage sexual fantasy of hers in which she’s being interrogated by Olivia Benson of Law & Order: SVU. She says that her new friend Rebekah reminds her of Olivia Benson. Big Swiss tells Om about their kiss but rushes out to see a patient of her own.
Big Swiss visits Greta at home unexpectedly. She gets a tour of the house and Greta confides in her that she’s worried about Sabine, who goes to the city supposedly for work. Big Swiss tells Greta that she thinks of her night and day. Big Swiss admits that before they met, she saw Greta at a market and was immediately attracted to her forearms. Greta kisses Big Swiss. Greta wants to undress for her, but Big Swiss’s fantasies about Greta have her fully clothed while Big Swiss is naked.
Big Swiss undresses in front of Greta. She sets up boundaries; she considers penetration cheating on her husband, so she doesn’t want that, and she doesn’t want to kiss Greta. Greta performs oral sex on Big Swiss, then Big Swiss does the same for her. Big Swiss admits that until recently she hadn’t had an orgasm, and Greta pretends she doesn’t already know that. Neither Big Swiss nor Greta have an orgasm, and Greta notes that when they’ve finished, Big Swiss looks sad. Before she leaves, Big Swiss tells Greta that they’ll meet again the next day and Greta can do whatever she wants to her, including kissing.
Chapter 10 Summary
Greta has sex with Big Swiss the next day and is overwhelmed by her joy: “It astounded her how satisfying this felt, how natural and innate” (173). Big Swiss has several orgasms. Greta admits that she lied about her age and though Big Swiss is perturbed by her dishonesty, she’s not bothered by their nearly 20-year age difference. Big Swiss tells Greta about Keith’s assault, and Greta tries hard to act surprised. Big Swiss gives Greta details she withheld from Om, such as her begging Keith to let her jump out his third story window and the time she spent in the hospital afterward. Big Swiss reflects that the assault made her a kinder person. Big Swiss admits that she read her husband’s books on how to give a woman an orgasm so that she could be good at oral sex with Greta. Greta comments on Big Swiss’s aura, which is a term Om uses in his therapy sessions with her. Greta is finding it “increasingly difficult to keep track of what Big Swiss had said in therapy and what she’d said in bed” (182).
Chapter 11 Summary
Sabine has been gone from home for over a month. Meanwhile, Big Swiss continues her affair with Greta and Greta continues to transcribe Big Swiss’s therapy sessions with Om. Big Swiss hasn’t told Om about sex with Rebekah. One day, while Big Swiss and Greta are together in bed, Sabine comes home and calls out for Greta. Big Swiss asks who Greta is, because she knows Greta as Rebekah. Greta sneaks Big Swiss out of the house.
Sabine doesn’t explain where she’s been. She notes that a couple of the vultures have moved onto the top of their roof, like an omen that one of them will die.
Chapters 6-11 Analysis
Chapters 6 through 11 begin with the symbolic appearance of a committee of vultures. In literature, vultures are an important symbol. The prevalence of vultures in literature dates back to Ancient Greek mythology. In one version of the myth of Prometheus, Zeus punishes Prometheus for educating human beings with fire by having a vulture pick at him for eternity. Thus, vultures in literature often symbolize death and decay. The vultures symbolize Greta’s use of Manipulation and Power Dynamics with Big Swiss. As a vulture preys on their kill, so too does Greta use her knowledge from Big Swiss’s therapy sessions to target Big Swiss where she is most vulnerable. The vulture’s tendency to move closer to the house signifies Greta’s proximity to their nature as scavengers.
Voyeurism plays an important role in this narrative. Greta’s voyeurism is a core duty of her job. As a transcriber of therapy sessions, she can’t help but watch someone’s intimate truths come to light without their knowledge. Big Swiss’s therapy sessions make Greta feel sexual desire, a case of voyeurism that fits the term’s sexual connotations. Big Swiss’s husband, Luke, is also a voyeur in his own way: He doesn’t play video games, but he watches someone else play video games. He substitutes himself into the player’s role without having to deal with the actual playing of the game. In Luke’s case, voyeurism isn’t sexual, but it is notable that he refuses to deal with the complexities of actually playing the game while deeply engaging in someone else’s ability to do so. Luke’s relationship to video games is an analogy for Greta’s relationship to The Complexity of Human Connection.
As Beagin reveals the depth of Greta’s voyeurism, her voyeuristic detachment becomes a way to explore all of the novel’s key themes. For Greta’s voyeuristic inclinations and projection of desire to work, she still thinks of Big Swiss by her nickname despite knowing her real name. This suggests that Greta prefers creating an image of Big Swiss that necessarily denies who Big Swiss truly is. Greta enjoys that Big Swiss is a figment of her imagination come to life.
The nature of the affair and the foundation of lies both women use highlights the theme of Manipulation and Power Dynamics. Greta’s sexual and romantic relationship with Big Swiss fulfills Greta, but she prefers her projection of “Big Swiss” over “Flavia.” In this novel, Beagin explores how repressed desire can be so overwhelming that it erases our moral codes. Desire is a physical sensation that craves satiation, whereas ethics and morals are socially constructed, learned, and easily broken. The violation of Big Swiss’s privacy also taints the relationship she’s forming with Greta. They tell one another deep secrets and have passionate and gratifying sex, but their relationship is founded on their mutual dishonesty. Greta’s guilt is overridden by the enjoyment of having access to Big Swiss on multiple levels: through their affair, and through Big Swiss’s intimate therapy sessions.
Greta and Big Swiss both tend to criticize patriarchal norms, especially in sexuality. By being dishonest with Big Swiss, Greta violates the trust two women have in one another outside of patriarchal norms. Meanwhile, Greta is a way for Big Swiss to escape her marriage. Though Big Swiss doesn’t describe her marriage as bad, nor does she want to leave Luke, Greta provides her with a newfound sexuality that Luke cannot. Greta frees a repressed sexual need for Big Swiss, which she rationalizes away as not counting as cheating. Both women have clear needs that only the affair fulfills, yet the layers of deception and ethical violations it is built on highlight’s the novel’s dilemma of The Complexity of Human Connection.
Despite the relationship’s questionable ethics, it allows both women to grow in ways their heterosexual relationships have not. The sex between the two is physically gratifying and allows them to grow emotionally. Greta likens being with Big Swiss to finding the home she always wanted. Big Swiss has moved away from her initial sexual issues with orgasm, regularly having them with Greta. Greta and Big Swiss are both giving to one another, and they can pleasure one another in ways that a heterosexual relationship cannot. Beagin explores how complicated sex can be through the transcribed therapy sessions in the narrative, as well as the sexual relationship between Greta and Big Swiss. Sex is a natural part of the human experience, but anxieties about bodies and external pressures can create problematic relationships between an individual and their sexual experiences. Greta and Big Swiss’s sexual relationship frees both women from these anxieties, at least temporarily.
