Big Swiss

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Big Swiss is a novel concerned with the boundaries between healthy curiosity and problematic voyeurism. How has this issue manifested in your own life or in modern society?

2. Both Greta and Big Swiss respond differently to trauma: Greta flees from it while Big Swiss confronts it. Which character’s approach resonates more with your own understanding of processing difficult events?

3. Greta’s relationship with her dog Piñon represents what she calls “pure and uncomplicated love” compared to her human relationships (64). What role have pets played in your life during times when human connections felt complicated?

4. Hudson’s tight-knit community  is one where “everyone knows everyone’s business.” What parallels do you see between the novel’s representation and communities you’ve experienced? In what ways has your experience differed?

5. The contrast between Greta’s dilapidated living situation and Big Swiss’s affluent lifestyle highlights significant socioeconomic disparities. When have you witnessed class differences affecting relationship dynamics in your own experiences?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What does Big Swiss suggest about our society’s evolving attitudes toward psychological care and trauma healing?

2. How does Beagin’s portrayal of Greta and Big Swiss’s relationship challenge or reinforce current cultural conversations about sexuality and identity?

3. Greta’s voyeuristic transcription work raises ethical questions about privacy in the digital age. How does this aspect of Big Swiss compare to other literary explorations of surveillance like Dave Eggers’s The Circle or George Orwell’s 1984?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. In the novel, Greta consistently refers to Flavia as “Big Swiss” even after learning her real name. What does this linguistic choice reveal about Greta’s character?

2. Discuss the use of symbolism in the novel. What purpose does the committee of vultures serve as a symbolic element? What other symbols contribute to the themes of the novel?

3. Analyze the representation of the phantom glass in Greta’s foot in the novel. How does it function as both a literal plot point and a metaphor for her unresolved trauma?

4. Discuss the novel’s use of juxtaposition to explore contrasting approaches to processing trauma through Greta and Big Swiss. What insights about healing does this juxtaposition provide? How does this strategy work to amplify this message?

5. The setting of Hudson is described as a “community of expats.” How does this environment influence the development of the plot and characters?

6. Analyze the significance of the miniature donkeys in the novel’s conclusion. How do they relate to Greta’s journey toward healing?