On Jen Beagin’s 'Big Swiss'

In the novel’s opening pages, everyone is maimed by trauma but disinterested in self-pity. In fact, the characters stubbornly resist victimhood. “Trauma people are almost as unbearable to me as Trump people. If you try suggesting that they let go of their suffering, their victimhood, they act retraumatized,” says one of the characters — affectionately nicknamed Big Swiss — to her sex therapist, Om. Big Swiss is seeking counsel because, despite being married, she has never experienced an orgasm. She was also the victim of a brutal assault, and the perpetrator is set to be released from prison next month. After revealing this detail, Big Swiss casually advises her new sex therapist, “Also, don’t read into this too much.”