Trust Exercise: A Novel

I hated this book. My suggestion: follow your instinct. If you don't like it after the first few/several pages, stop reading.I kept reading and reading, thinking I'd start caring about one or more of the characters. I never did. It was a waste of time. I read all the way to the end, and it got worse and worse.

My understanding is that the structure of this book is what's brilliant about it. It's been quite buzzed about, and I was expecting something perhaps like Notes on a Scandal.However, I was so turned off by the self-conscious writing style and distant narration I quit reading on page 8. Here's the line that made me drop the book - for context, two teenagers are making out:"He realized with a shock that it needn't be thus."Done, but I rated this two stars because I can see how others might not mind being so distant from the characters or have writing this stilted.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Henry Holt, for the advanced reading copy of this book. I so enjoyed it. FYI to all: It’s going to be published this coming Tuesday, April 9th. And you gotta read it.Trust Exercise is going to be a hard book to review without spoilers (but I shall attempt). So much of what makes it great is in the surprises you get along the way as a reader. So you’re just going to have to trust me when I tell you that this book was really, really good.One thing to know: The prose in this book is like poetry. It’s like music. It’s breathtaking and poignant and takes you on an emotional trip. If you love to read prose like that, then this book is absolutely for you. But if that kind of musical, somewhat flowery prose isn’t your style, no big; this one might not be for you.The book opens from the almost-constant perspective of Sarah, a 15-year-old girl who attends a local high school for performing arts students. She and David have passionate summer love affair. But when they get back to school in the fall, their own inherent differences and the constant teenage-mixed-with-competitive-acting-class drama … splinters things. Sarah doesn’t quite know what happened and yet also knows full well what happened, and that’s pretty much how she lives her life.I wish I could tell you more, but it really would spoil it, so I’m going to stop there. But the dust jacket does a good job with this description: “A shocking spiral of events catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down.”I will say this: The book doesn’t read as though a teenager is narrating it. I have read some reviews that say the characters are just not believable as teenagers, but I kind of think that’s the point. Who among us hasn’t looked back at our teenage selves and thought, “Wow, if I had only known then what I know now.” or “Yeah at the time, I thought X, or I thought that I knew everything about Y, but wow, I was so wrong.” That’s what this narrative does. It gives us a bird’s-eye, more adult view of what these characters are thinking, feeling, and doing. Which is a whole thing in and of itself.Here are some words from the book’s description that might seem overused, but could not be more true about this book: “Narrative-upending.” “Truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.” “Captivating.” “Tender.” “Surprising.”Read it.

This was a hard book to review, and in some ways, is a perfect example of why I wish there was the ability to give a book 3.5 stars instead of having to choose between three and four stars. The summary of the book provided in the description gives the reader the basics - it starts out at a performing arts school for high schoolers, with a focus on Sarah and David and their romance in front of their classmates and teacher. It then goes into the future with unique twists in the narrative format to make the reader question what they have read or to see it from a different view. I'm hesitant to say any more than that, as it would risk spoiling the book. "Trust exercise" refers to exercises in the performing arts school, but it also refers to the reader needing to trust the author.On the plus side, I'm impressed that the author provided something new with this book. It's difficult to find experimental formats that work, and it's even harder to write them. I was surprised by the changes in format and didn't really see them coming. Choi's writing is crisp - she doesn't waste words - and she sets scenes up well. I had a clear picture in my mind of the school and the theater. She hits the right notes with the time setting (the early 80s) and her descriptions of the clothes the teenagers wear fit in with that time period. I'll also note that while Choi does not specifically name the large southern city in which the book was set, I'm pretty sure I know what city it is supposed to be or resemble, and the descriptions are stunningly on point.On the negative side, I feel that to really enjoy a book like this, you have to be invested in the characters. Most of the characters are fairly unlikeable, and while it's definitely not a requirement to like a character in order to enjoy a book, a reader still needs to be invested or engaged with them in some format. I just couldn't get there with these characters. I did not like or have a lot of sympathy for Sarah, even for some of her hardships which were likely designed to elicit sympathy from the reader, and the rest of the characters weren't much better. I felt like I had to push myself through the first 200 pages of the book and it wasn't until after that point that I felt more invested - and given that the book only has a little over 250 pages, it would have been beneficial to be engaged before that point. Furthermore, even at the end, I wasn't entirely satisfied. I thought that the story would redeem itself then - and to some point it does - but I definitely still had questions after finishing reading. This might be partially the fault of the book's summary, as it states that the final piece of the puzzle falls into place and truths will be revealed, but it's also entirely possible I'm missing something.Overall, this one will definitely get mixed reviews. I suspect some people will give up about 50 pages into it, some people will be in the middle like me, and some people will absolutely love it. I know that after it's released, I'll be looking for discussions and forums on the internet to see what others thought and if there were meanings that I missed. One final piece of advice - don't pick this one up for a time when you need a book to get through quickly. Although I read it in about two days, I wondered if reading it at a slower speed would have been more beneficial.

I see one star and five star reviews and I guess I am part of the half that just didn’t get this book. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and didn’t understand the ending. It felt like the author was deliberately complicating the language and the sentences just for the sake of it. It took me a long time to read because I wasn’t enjoying it.

This book is divisive in every way possible. It took me a long time to decide if I liked it or hated it, if it's was trash or brilliant, or if it was a fun mind bender of just plain confusing. In reality, it's all these things.If you are looking for an engaging story that will end when you close the book, I would steer clear. In general the characters are insufferable, each in their own special way and despite being a story about rape and abuse of power - topics that would usually invoke some emotional reaction - I could not care less about anyone.If you want to read a book that challenges the convention of fiction, it's worth a read. It is interesting in the way it is structured and the questions is raises about what fiction is and about how we trust the narrator of any story. These questions are fun to think about, especially within a story thats very evocative of #metoo, however it goes too far with the experiment, as much as the entire point of the book is that you don't know who's telling the truth, that doesn't actually make for an engaging story. As a piece of experimental fiction, it was far less enjoyable than many others I've come across. The entire book feels juvenile and overwritten. Every scene feels like I'm watching it being acted out by teenagers in a bad school production, which - as much as that fits with the theme - is not enjoyable in the slightest. The bad execution of the structure, really hindered what could have been an excellent and gripping story. I was sure I hated the book when reading part one, but part two gripped me and I was hopeful for an interesting second half, that is until I was bored stiff by 'Karen' and her lack of personality. I was then surprised to find part 3 and then further surprised to find it end so quickly, it felt like an afterthought that the author didn't bother finishing, and really you knew where it was going so why bother to even include it.This book could have been many things: it could have been a thorough exploration into unreliable narrators and a rumination of what we think of as 'the truth'; it could have been an exploration into the behaviour of a predatory teacher and the of the grey areas of intimacy; it could have been a story about two friends who were very different (but perhaps also very similar) and how they each coped with a traumatic event in their lives. However, what this book ended up being was a pale shadow of all of these stories; all executed badly within a structure that proports to be cleaver but is really just pretentious.

This book serves to prove any useless idiot can be deemed "an author." Choi herself talks incessantly about performing arts and how you can choose a method whereby you don't stop, you just plough on, no matter what crap you unearth. Well she certainly does it in this mountain of drivel. At least 90% of the book is endless, directionless descriptions that serve no purpose other than making you question why you are putting yourself through the chore of reading this book. The characters are one dimensional and boring. The dialogue is minimal and uninteresting. The background filler is pointless and rather unbelievable given the time the book is set in at the start. Never in a million years could that be true of that time period. Choi also seems to get off with using vile language, which again, isn't in keeping with that time period. The book is in 3 chapters- which should give you a sense of how long she drones in for. The book doesn't ever fully come to a conclusion,you just fill in the gaps and try to make sense of the rubbish printed. A good editor would have binned this book, I can only assume it was printed she to her personal circumstances rather than any perceived talent. Good news is, after you waste nearly 5 hours of your life reading this, you realise you could have skipped full pages without consequence. Perhaps for another book, Choi might like to use believable characters, have a story, a point to the story and a decent ending, and hell, throw in a lot more dialogue so you get a feel for the characters and have feelings about those characters. Choi should also be asking for a refund for her "education."

I was lured in by the promise of all those awards it won (or was it only one? don’t know) I thought it might be one of those books you either hate or love (<judging my the mixed reviews and the overall GR rating) but really it was in between for me.It’s really hard to say anything without any spoilers since it’s that kind of story/book.In a nutshell there’s 3 parts to the story, part one takes up most of the book and is set in the 80’s with the characters being teenagers and then the second part switches to a different narrator, Karen, and the events take place many years later.Now, I won’t say anything more about part 3 which is only a few pages long, because it would be very spoilery but also because to be honest, I’m not even completely sure what happened.Here’s what I’m assuming: most of the characters in this book are not real (i mean in the book world they all embody different traits found in one or maybe two real (book) life people which inspired them. I think Mr. Kingsley can actually be found in both Liam and Martin. And that Mr. Kingsley is not real either - as Karen pointed out- but he is actually Mr. Lord?! Maybe?! Also can Sarah and Karen be one and the same, sort of like contradicting realities of the same person?! At this point anything is possible!I’ll be honest in saying that I’m not 100% sure of anything in this novel, but I can guess most of it?! I can definitely pick up on certain cues but then, we’re basically being told that we are reading subjective accounts and some might even be fabricated and not just hidden under false names. So after rationalising all that, I suppose that you see/understand what you want and that’s the whole point!? But not really the whole point because there is like an umbrella type of theme, covering this whole convoluted (>because - human nature duh) but actually simple story - and depending on who is reading, they might find it to be different.To conclude, while I did like the idea of the book, and the themes it approached, I think it just didn’t manage to be compelling enough. The story needed something more and the writing felt a bit lacking in some places. There was a lot of repetition, which I believe was intentional, but it just didn’t work for me, it didn’t have the intended effect.

This book was chosen for my book club & I can honestly say it is one of the worse books I’ve ever read!. I didn’t finish it and nor did the other members of my book club, which is unheard of. It’s so American, no story, it might have been written in another language!. I do not recommend it all.

It took me a long time to get in to this book and I'm not sure if I liked it or not.