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Trust Exercise
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Publisher's Summary
2019 National Book Awards - Finalist, Shortlisted
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2019 by Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, Electric Literature, The Millions, PopSugar, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Publishers Weekly, Lit Hub, Bustle, and The Huffington Post.
In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing-arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarefied bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed - or un-toyed with - by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.
The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls - until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside down. What the listener believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true - though it’s not false, either. It takes until the audiobook’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place - revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.
As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave listeners with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Peter G
- 2019-04-16
Very disappointing
The story starts well and then falls apart in the second half. There names are changed, or maybe not, there are several time jumps, and many questions left not quite resolved. The review in The New York Times is quite harsh (which is unusual - they tend to not review books they don't feel somewhat positive about). Here is the final summary paragraph from that review: "In the end, the experience of reading “Trust Exercise” is reminiscent of the most famous trust exercise of all: the one where you fall backward into your partner’s outstretched arms. You believe your partner will catch you. In this case, she doesn’t."
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- working mom
- 2019-05-22
fabulous performance, incisive writing
This book gave me a good deal of insight into my own high school experience, as well as the experience of my family members
The author is very talented with her phrasing and metaphors.She also discussed the etymology and usage of certain words, which I found quite eye-opening!
I highly recommend the audio version of this book, as the "exercises" contain repetitive phrases that are fleshed out in the performance, but would remain undifferentiated as words on the page
Don't miss this! Very enjoyable
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
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- Blondie
- 2019-05-04
Terrific!
So much to think about in this novel! How do we recall the past? What is truth? What is fiction? How does one person’s truth contradict someone else’s? I found this to be a thought provoking page turner that makes me want to read everything else Susan Choi has written!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- Erin M McNellis
- Long Beach, CA United States
- 2019-07-25
Gets much more interesting at the halfway point
Some reviewers are saying that they gave up on this after a few hours, and I agree that I spent a lot of time waiting for it to be more than just a teen drama.... but then about halfway through, it started to deliver. The first half turns out to be a novel written by the main character, and the second half is narrated by one of the minor characters who resents the distortions that the author made to their real-life high school story. This isn't so much a spoiler as literally the reason to read the book - it's an interesting meditation on fiction and memory, where you're forced to question every narrator's version of events.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- Margaret Jego
- 2019-04-22
Don’t waste your time.
I listen to a lot of literary fiction. This book is awful. I gave up after two hours and returned it. If you want a really good listen about teenagers and consequences that follow through adulthood, try Ohio.
6 of 11 people found this review helpful
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- Judy A. Masters
- Huntville, AL
- 2019-11-27
not a YA novel
When Trust Exercise begins I thought, oh another YA novel. Luckily, the novel was so much more. The writing is superb. The character development was unique and believable. Setting most of the book in the 80's was excellent because it was a pre cell phone era. The teen years are difficult and no matter the time frame it doesn't get easier.
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- Silly catz
- 2019-11-06
content questionable
While the narration was good, listening to accounts of teenage sex without compassion and without clear logic beyond discomfort of the reader made me return this book.
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- Shannon Geier
- 2019-10-13
Not for the linear thinker
This was awonderful book that kept me off kilter. After an interesting and well written (but pretty standard) beginning, I was thrown a curve and loved it! The "Karen" section is hysterical and heartbreaking and if you like a neat, tidy ending (I don't) you may be disappointed. fantastic narration that really showcased the different characters.
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- Pamela Cooper
- 2019-07-08
Couldn't finish it
This is the second book in my entire life that I couldn't finish. The performance was fine from those I heard but the story itself was terrible. It was over described, pretentious...ugh. I wanted to like it so much but I just could've bear listening to another sentence. Sorry. I hope others enjoyed it.
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- Peter Miovic
- 2019-06-17
Did not make much sense.it felt artificial and the style at times pretentious. Not worth the time to read it
Did not make much sense. Disconnected. Felt forced. There are lots of other books that are better
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- L. Wentworth
- 2019-05-27
Vile words
Official reviews on NPR and the Atlantic led me to try this book, thinking it would be clever and emotionally impactful. However, no one gave any warning of how VILE it would be, starting from the first page. Boob-grabbing in a dark classroom, narrating a boy’s sexual experiences with his ex as a “sex recipe” in which they never deviated from a certain order of activities, etc. The tone of the narration is very odd too, seeming to relish in shocking the listener with self-congratulatory but unnecessary “calling a spade a spade” -ness. Am I supposed to be impressed just because they (author and narrator) throw the word “intercourse” about in a story about high schoolers? The narrative is rich in gratuitous vileness and thin in character psychology. I understand that halfway through, this narrative is revealed to be a false one. But I couldn’t endure the mincingly self-conscious narrative any longer than five minutes, let alone five hours. Life is too short. For narrative cleverness, there’s Joshua Ferris’s Then We Came to the End. For sensitive treatment of teen angst, there’s Rainbow Rowell’s “Fangirl”. Just because a book is difficult and abrasive does not mean it is then “literary”. The praise for this book smacks of self-important types being avant-garde for the sake of being avant-garde, without a thought of how readers might actually want to enjoy their books—and enjoy their time.
3 of 11 people found this review helpful