Chapter 7: Greta Meets Flavia (Big Swiss) In Person

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The day after the dog park encounter, Greta receives Big Swiss’s latest therapy file. Om has “truncated” the recording because Big Swiss revealed specific details about her attacker, Keith—his release time and address—and Om worried about Greta knowing them. In the session, Big Swiss (real name Flavia) mentions meeting a transcriber named Rebekah at the dog park who made a joke about Easter Bunny semen. Greta is horrified to realize Om never asked follow-up questions about this “Rebekah.” Big Swiss also reports having her first orgasm with a vibrator while looking at pictures of jimsonweed (datura), and she describes a call from the state inmate notification system confirming Keith’s release at midnight and his new address near Route 9G. Greta worries that Keith might live near her own house, where she has noticed a compound of dog kennels and shaved-headed men.

To prepare for her evening drink with Big Swiss, Greta tries to masturbate but fails. Her housemate Sabine helps her dress, selecting a white Japanese voile dress (with visible bloodstains, “old blood”) and a boiled-wool cape. Sabine also gives Greta tea-bag compresses for her eyes. At the Farmacy bar, Greta orders a Sazerac and reflects on the power she holds as an anonymous transcriber who knows clients’ secrets, noting one woman in the bar (the laundry-detergent heiress) who has cried on Om’s couch. When Flavia arrives, Greta deliberately tries to be off-putting: she talks about masturbating while working, her financial woes, her back problems, and her habit of transcribing conversations in her head. She also makes obscure cultural references (Nico, Velvet Underground). The conversation turns personal: Flavia reveals she grew up in a European cult centered on “radical authenticity,” attending workshops like Authentic Movement where she shook with rage. Greta discloses that her mother died by suicide when she was thirteen, that she was raised by aunts, and that she became a born-again Christian at fourteen after a TV preacher’s prayer—an experience she calls her “first real high.” Flavia asks whether one can be born again repeatedly. Greta jokes about having nearly killed herself. When Flavia asks for a strange favor—“Can we be dog friends?” and hang out at the dog park—Greta agrees. Flavia also declines Greta’s request for a hysterectomy (saying she’d need to remove the ovaries). After finishing her wine, Flavia leaves two twenties on the bar, squeezes Greta’s shoulder, and exits without saying goodbye. Greta orders another drink, realizing she enjoyed the night despite her efforts to repel Flavia. She thinks Flavia might be looking for a bodyguard, and she resolves to start lifting weights or using an axe.

Key Events

Greta receives the truncated therapy file and learns that Big Swiss mentioned meeting “Rebekah” at the dog park.
Big Swiss reveals details about her first orgasm, her use of jimsonweed images, and the notification of Keith’s release and address.
Greta worries about Om’s lack of curiosity about “Rebekah” and about Keith possibly living near her home.
Sabine dresses Greta in a white Japanese voile dress with old bloodstains and a wool cape, and gives her tea-bag compresses.
At Farmacy bar, Greta and Flavia meet in person for the first time; Greta attempts to be obnoxious to discourage future meetings.
Flavia describes growing up in a cult that practiced radical authenticity, including Authentic Movement workshops.
Greta shares her mother’s suicide, her Catholic aunt’s condemnation, and her born-again Christian conversion.
Flavia proposes they become “dog friends” and Greta agrees; Flavia declines Greta’s request for a hysterectomy.
Flavia leaves abruptly, paying for both drinks and squeezing Greta’s shoulder.
Greta reflects on the evening, considers whether Flavia wants a bodyguard, and plans to get stronger.

Character Development

Greta: Continues to navigate her dual identity as the transcriber who knows everything and “Rebekah,” the stranger at the dog park. Her anxiety about being discovered peaks when she hears her own fake name mentioned in the therapy file. In person, she deliberately tries to alienate Flavia through oversharing and crudeness, yet she also reveals genuine pain (her mother’s suicide, her born-again experience). After the meeting, she admits she enjoyed the conversation and is open to a dog-park friendship, but she misreads Flavia’s motives, assuming Flavia wants a bodyguard rather than a friend.

Flavia / Big Swiss: For the first time, the reader sees her outside the therapy framework. She is direct, unflappable, and curious. She questions Greta’s age, her career, and her religion with a detached yet engaged manner. Her request to be “dog friends” suggests vulnerability—she may not want to face the dog park alone after Keith’s release. She also reveals her cult upbringing, which helps explain her unconventional worldview. She declines Greta’s hysterectomy request with calm professionalism.

Sabine: Appears as a supportive but intrusive housemate who takes control of Greta’s appearance and offers grooming advice (tea bags for bags under eyes). Her wardrobe donation includes a bloodstained dress, hinting at a possibly violent past she dismisses with “Old blood.”

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Identity and Deception: Greta’s entire encounter is built on the lie that she is Rebekah the transcriber, while in reality she is the transcriber who already knows Flavia’s secrets. Flavia, in turn, does not yet know Greta’s real name or role. The fake name “Rebekah” bothers Greta, who wishes she had chosen a name like Carmen or Piper.

Voyeurism and Power: Greta feels “omnipotent” knowing the intimate details of strangers’ lives (e.g., the laundry-detergent heiress with restless genital syndrome). Yet when she meets Flavia face-to-face, she loses that power and becomes anxious, fumbling.

Cult and Control: Flavia describes her childhood in a cult that valued “radical authenticity,” a stark contrast to Greta’s current life of deception. Greta’s own born-again experience provided structure and peace for three months, though it wore off. Both women have strained relationships with organized belief systems.

Flowers as Symbol: Jimsonweed (datura) appears first as an object of masturbatory fantasy for Flavia, then as a toxic plant that her dog barked at for hours. Greta dismisses the flower as “only titillating to a child, say, or a moth.” The flower represents artificial or misguided attempts at pleasure, and also poison and danger (linked to Keith’s release).

Costume and Disguise: Sabine dresses Greta in a white dress with “old blood” stains and a moth-eaten cape, turning her into a grungy Gretel figure. Flavia comments on this, inadvertently picking up on the fairy-tale theme. The costume underscores Greta’s performance as Rebekah.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 7 is the story’s pivotal first face-to-face meeting between Greta and Flavia, moving their relationship from one-sided surveillance to direct interaction. It deepens Flavia’s characterization by revealing her cult background and her fear of Keith’s return (hence the need for a dog-park companion). For Greta, the chapter exposes her insecurities about age, career, and her own past trauma (mother’s suicide, religious conversion). Their conversation crackles with miscommunication and mutual curiosity, setting the stage for a friendship that will inevitably be complicated by Greta’s secret identity as the transcriber. The chapter also darkly foreshadows danger: Keith’s address near Route 9G, the loopy skid marks near a white-supremacist house, and Greta’s thought of carrying an axe.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Greta deliberately try to be off-putting during her drink with Flavia, and does it succeed?
Greta wants to ensure Flavia never contacts her again, hoping to end the dangerous charade of being Rebekah. She overshares about masturbating while working, her poverty, and her habit of transcribing conversations. However, the strategy fails: Flavia remains engaged, asks follow-up questions, and eventually proposes they become dog friends.
What does Flavia’s description of her cult upbringing (radical authenticity, Authentic Movement) reveal about her character?
It shows she values genuine emotional expression and rejects artifice—which contrasts sharply with Greta’s deception. Her experience of shaking “from rage” indicates unprocessed anger, possibly related to Keith’s attack. Her craving for “structure, rules, discipline, uniforms” also hints at a desire for order after a chaotic childhood.
How does the symbol of jimsonweed (datura) function in this chapter for both Flavia and Greta?
For Flavia, jimsonweed is tied to her first orgasm and to a memory of her dog barking at walls after eating it—connecting pleasure, toxicity, and hallucination. For Greta, the flower is inadequately erotic; she decides it would only work “for a child, say, or a moth.” The plant mirrors their differing approaches to sexuality and experience: Flavia is experimental but naïve, while Greta is jaded and dismissive.

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