Trust Exercise, Susan Choi
Trust Exercise, Susan Choi
5 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Trust Exercise
A Novel

Author: Susan Choi

Narrator: Adina Verson, Jennifer Lim, Suehyla El-Attar

Unabridged: 9 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/09/2019


Synopsis

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

“Electrifying” (People) • “Masterly” (The Guardian) • “Dramatic and memorable” (The New Yorker) • “Magic” (TIME) • “Ingenious” (The Financial Times) • "A gonzo literary performance” (Entertainment Weekly) • “Rare and splendid” (The Boston Globe) • “Remarkable” (USA Today) • “Delicious” (The New York Times) • “Book groups, meet your next selection" (NPR)

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified 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 untoyed 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 reader 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 book’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.

About Susan Choi

Susan Choi is the author of Trust Exercise, which received the National Book Award for fiction, as well as the novels The Foreign Student, American Woman, A Person of Interest, and My Education. She is a recipient of the Asian-American Literary Award for fiction, the PEN/W. G. Sebald Award, a Lambda Literary award, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. She teaches in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Becca Hoetger on April 16, 2022

ME to SUSAN CHOI: “I did not enjoy this book.” Susan: “You did not enjoy this book.” “I did not enjoy this book.” “You did not enjoy this book.” “I did not enjoy this book.” “You did not enjoy this book.” “I did not enjoy this book.” “You did not enjoy this book.” You’ll get it after reading Trust Exercise.......more

Goodreads review by Ron on April 08, 2019

One lurks in every high school: a charismatic teacher who cultivates a clique of acolytes. Miss Jean Brodie aside, this teacher is typically a man in his prime, parceling out the precious gift of his intimacy to a select group. No matter how many years have passed, you can probably still recall his......more

Goodreads review by Adam on January 26, 2019

Incredibly ambitious structurally, with a shape that is more organically interesting than ASYMMETRY (which it is quite similar to). Reminds me a bit of SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS, but loses its connection to the fun teen drama that propels the first 100 pages of the novel. A very, very fun b......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on April 12, 2019

This is a book that has some structural tricks up its sleeve, similar to books like FATES & FURIES and ASYMMETRY. So you need to proceed with caution when reading anything about it. Just saying it plays with structure feels like a bit of a spoiler, but in this case (like both the books I mentioned b......more

Goodreads review by Meike on July 23, 2023

Now Winner of the National Book Award 2019 This experimental novel discusses consent by shifting timelines and perspectives, thus forcing the reader to question and re-adjust which characters to trust - and it's no spoiler to state that in the end, no one will turn out to be who you thought they'd b......more


Awards

  • New Yorker Best Books of the Year
  • New York Magazine Best Books of the Year
  • NPR Best Book of the Year
  • National Book Awards - Winner
  • Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
  • Shelf Awareness Best Books of the Year
  • Slate Best Books of the Year
  • Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year
  • Time Magazine Best Books of the Year
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
  • NYPL Best Books of the Year