Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Trust Exercise: A Novel

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Trust Exercise: A Novel by Susan Choi

13 reviews

hedyharper's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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bookishlittleme's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I hated this.

That’s not true. But I didn’t like this book just because of personal preference but I will defend almost every choice in it. It’s truly one thousand books in one because of the multiple perspectives and contradictions throughout the story offered by multiple characters. It asks the question of what truth really is and who are we to decide what truth is? Can anyone objectively decipher truth?

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erickaonpaper's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

you will be thinking. of this book, during this book, after this book. susan choi makes sure of that. i applaud all of the care, the thought, and the possibilities this book offers. i'm so excited to reread this!

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mandi_lea's review against another edition

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mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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laurensilva's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Trust Exercise is an interesting exploration into how there are always several sides to a story. We begin fully believing Sarah's narration, even though she is a teenager when everything seems outsized, only

to be told about halfway through the book that this has all been "fiction," or more accurately, "auto-fiction." We enter a new POV, "Karen's," which tells us that the Sarah we know is fake, a self-absorbed lie. It turns our preconceived notions around. But because of this switch, Choi also gets us questioning Karen's POV. Just like Karen says Sarah cannot speak to Karen's relationship with "Elli," neither can Karen truly know Sarah's relationship with her own mother; but still, Karen speaks with full authority on that topic. Karen is written from the self-righteous POV that she alone is right, she alone knows the truth and is a victim of Sarah's re-telling.

I do love how Choi switches between first and third person narration, especially with Karen, underscoring the difference between what a person remembers and what "actually" happened. For example, Karen's initial first-person telling of what happened between her and Sarah is that Karen went away to "Bible school" for the "fall and winter of [her] junior year" and Sarah struck out alone to London. Then about 70 pages later, we get a third-person telling of "the truth."

I do think we could have done without the final section with Claire. I feel like that story line cheapens the rest of the book, turning it more into a soap opera drama.