Greta lives in a drafty, unheated farmhouse in Hudson, New York, where she works as a transcriptionist for a sex therapist. She becomes obsessed with a patient she nicknames Big Swiss, a stoic woman with a traumatic past who has never had an orgasm. When Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice at a local dog park, she conceals her identity and starts a secretive, volatile affair with her. The narrative tracks Greta’s deception as she balances her clinical knowledge of her lover's private history with their physical reality.
Readers who appreciate cynical humor and unconventional relationship dynamics will find this story useful for examining how people reconstruct themselves after trauma. It appeals to those interested in the ethics of voyeurism and the messy intersections of professional boundaries and personal desire. The reader walks away with a blunt look at the difference between intellectualizing one's psychological damage and the chaotic process of actually living through it.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
