Cline’s ‘Switzy’ stirs readers and Booker debate

A novel about a man with dementia travelling to Switzerland to end his life has become an unexpected literary sensation, with its omission from the Booker Prize shortlist prompting an outcry among readers.

Emma Cline’s Switzy has attracted enthusiastic support since its September release, despite its confronting subject matter, Clare Thorp reports for the BBC.

The American author was already a literary heavyweight. Her 2016 debut, The Girls, loosely inspired by the Manson family cult, sparked an 11-way bidding war and a reported $2 million advance.

Her follow-up, The Guest, about a young woman deceiving her way through the wealthy Hamptons community, became a summer publishing hit in 2023.

But Switzy takes readers into more unsettling territory, exploring memory, mortality and the collapse of an identity built around professional success.

Its protagonist, David Hastings, is a retired business executive with Alzheimer’s disease who has arranged to attend an assisted dying facility in Zurich. Accompanied by his assistant, Cody, he travels by borrowed private jet, stopping in London for dinner with his daughter, Rebecca.

Their meeting exposes the emotional distance between them. David has been an absent father and does not explain the purpose of his journey.

As his memory deteriorates, he relies on a pocket notebook to retain essential information, including his whereabouts, his grandson’s name and the number of days remaining before his planned death.

His recollections increasingly centre on apparently minor details: childhood wallpaper, music shared with his parents and the fabric of his first tailored suit. The career that once gave his life structure and significance barely features.

An episode of teenage cruelty also resurfaces, prompting his determination to visit a former boarding-school roommate before reaching the clinic.

According to Thorp, Cline’s fragmented narrative places readers inside David’s increasingly disorientated consciousness. Memories, passing observations and moments of clarity interrupt one another, conveying his growing isolation without sacrificing humour.

The novel approaches assisted dying through David’s experience rather than presenting an explicit argument for or against it. His decision predates the opening pages, leaving readers to consider its implications.

That approach has resonated widely. The book reached the Booker longlist of 13 titles, but its failure to progress to the shortlist prompted readers to rally behind it on social media.

Literary influencer Jack Edwards joined the reaction, while established writers including Matt Haig and former Booker winner Samantha Harvey expressed admiration for the novel.

Responding to questions about its exclusion, Booker judge Patricia Lockwood said the panel had to disregard “hype cycles”.

Critical enthusiasm has nevertheless been substantial, with favourable reviews in The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Atlantic.

Others have questioned whether its execution matches its ambition. Writer Devon Halliday criticised its opening in a widely shared Substack essay, while Nick Roberts, writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, questioned how readily readers would connect with a wealthy, frequently unsympathetic protagonist.

The divided response has added to a wider discussion about literary popularity, prize judging and the demands fiction can make of its audience.

For Cline, the central questions concern what survives when the routines and achievements through which people define themselves begin to disappear.

“As life gets smaller and starts to fall away, what is left?” she told The New Yorker.

Sources: Clare Thorp, BBC, supplied feature; interviews and reviews cited in that report.