In Booker Prize nominee Switzy, retired businessman David is taking one final plane trip to Europe – he struggles to come to terms with the decisions that have led him here, and the relationships he’s leaving behind.
Review:
Emma Cline, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls and The Guest, has returned with her third novel, currently longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026. In Switzy, we follow retired businessman David on one last trip; he’s traveling to Switzerland to end his life by assisted suicide before his Alzheimer’s disease can progress any further. His assistant Cody guides him from airport to hotel room, from restaurant table to bar – his only companion in this bleak final journey.
David’s notebook keeps him tethered to the world around him; he lists the names of people close to him, the answers to questions that he’s already asked, the details of where he is going and what he plans to do. First, dinner with his estranged daughter in London, then an attempt to make amends with an old friend in France. The final stop of Zurich looms closer as David struggles to maintain a grip on his spiraling mind, filtering through memories old and new, adrift on his “mental ice floe.”
Emma Cline is a master of her craft and her use of the steam-of-consciousness narration in Switzy is a stroke of genius. This narrative choice gives Cline full freedom to do what she does best – taking the reader on a dizzying ride via her sharp and richly written prose. As David’s reality progressively begins to fracture, clever choices in wordplay give the reader an almost humorous look into David’s confusion and attempts to make sense of his situation. ‘Yuzu’ becomes ‘you-zoo’, Sodium Pentothal becomes ‘sodium pinot-barbiedoll’.
There’s a dreamlike sense of the steps of David’s journey being fluid and interconnected. The restaurants, plane interiors, hotel pools and lobbies blend into one another. The perspective blurs and feels offkilter in a way that is truly unsettling to read. It’s an effective way of putting the reader in David’s shoes, and you get a strong sense of the uncertainty and frustration he’s experiencing.
This book is not an attempt to start a discussion on ethics; it doesn’t preach or weigh the morality of David’s decision. Instead, it tackles a confronting subject with empathy and poeticism, answering the question that David is faced with – when a man’s formative memories and experiences begin to fade, what is he left with?
Verdict:
Overall, Switzy has emerged as Cline’s best work to date. Philosophical, mind-bending and lyrical, it takes us on a difficult and demanding journey, while remaining a deeply entertaining read.
Philosophical, mind-bending and lyrical, Switzy takes us on a difficult and demanding journey, while remaining a deeply entertaining read.
- Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026
- 338 pages
- From the author of The Guest and The Girls
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