Trauma

The author introduces her interest in exploring the individual’s relationship to her trauma within the opening chapter of the novel. Although Greta’s mother committed suicide when she was 13 years old and roughly three decades have passed since, Greta has yet to fully confront, reconcile with, and heal from this traumatic event. This is why the author places a description of Greta’s mother’s death at the forefront of the novel. This is also why, for example, Greta becomes immediately intrigued by Big Swiss when she hears how she talks about trauma. In her first session with Om, presented in Chapter 1, Big Swiss resists talking about her attack because she does not want to use “what happened to [her] as an excuse” for laziness, inertia, “rage or aggression” (8). Greta is fascinated that Big Swiss is “not attached to [her] suffering” and that she does...