I'm not even sure how to review this book. Here's what I can say: it was my last book of 2019, and if I could go back and re-do my top 10 list, this book would for sure be on it. I was captivated by the entire thing and am still having some of my best discussions of the year about the characters, the narrative structure, and the ending. Thank you to Net Galley for approving this request, I absolutely loved this book.

This is one of those books that is probably more fun to discuss and argue about with friends than it is to actually read. Much has been made about the internecine structure and how clever it is, but I didn't find it all that original or revelatory ... and the lack of any final resolution, or even narrative coherency, bothered me, even though that was obviously intentional.

Having been a 'theatre kid' myself, I DID relate to and find those sections intriguing, but once we got into the metafictional second section and then the coda (which made little sense to me), I had kind of truly lost interest, and just wanted it to be over. Many questions abound, such as why we constantly switch from first to third person (often within the same paragraph) in section two. Are we to understand that a major character who is presented as gay in part one, and possibly bi in part two, is not only straight, but so perverse as to hit on his own daughter in part three? (if I am reading it correctly).

My sincere thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt for providing me with an ARC, in exchange for this honest review.

I really didn't like this book. It was too experimental for my liking. By the end, I saw what Choi was trying to do, but I don't think she accomplished it.

This one was not for me. I didn't care for the plot or the characters. I wound up not finishing in spite of the hype.

I just couldn't get into it AT ALL. Maybe cause it barely had dialogue. I don't know it just wasn't that compelling at all. And it was too heavy prose at times.

Susan Choi is a very talented writer. I would recommend this book especially to those who participated in performing arts or attended a performing arts school as a teenager, as I think they would relate to the dramatic relationships in this book. As someone who does not have that connection with the characters, I much preferred the second half of the book.

I read about 25% of this book, but I really could not get into it. I don't know if it's the lack of dialogue or just the writing style but, I had to DNF. I definitely think it was more of a me problem and that others will probably really enjoy this.

Trust Exercise takes place during the 1980s at a competitive performing arts high school. It explores the drama of falling in and out of young love and follows Sarah and David in their journey. However, with each section of the novel our conceptions about what is true continues to alter.

I must say that I love Choi's exquisite and delicate writing style and the way she writes from an all-knowing third person narrator. However, it felt like neither a character or plot driven novel, so it was rather difficult for me to take anything away from it or connect to any of the characters. Choi expertly crafted this novel and it was certainly unique. I will definitely be reading more from her, although this one left a bit to be desired.

I couldn't get past the first few pages--the scene with the students in the dark was so, so awkward.

I don’t think I get this one. The first half was weird and full of teenage angst, more angst-y than more YA. The second half, instead of providing clarity on the first, was more confusing than anything else. I left the book unsure of who these characters were or what actually happened to them.

This book is divided into three parts. I would have given the first part a 4, but the second and third parts irritated me enough that I began to skim and didn't truly finish the book except for skimming. I was reading this on an airplane, and I can almost always finish a book on a plane, if that gives you any indication about how much this book irritated me.

So, the first part of the book is a standard lit novel featuring two teenagers, David and Sarah, who go through the usual literary novel struggles of figuring out who they are while falling desperately in love while they're too young and immature to handle it. To make things even more dramatic, these two are students in a small school for the artistically gifted. It's like "Fame", but if your drama teacher is an emotional vampire who preys upon his students' vulnerability (that's the drama teacher, who is also an unhappily paired, attention starved and closeted gay man in a southern town in the 80's). So, no shortage of drama here! There are some intense if unrealistic sex scenes, no adults who behave in responsible adult ways, and a school full of kids who each want to be recognized for their exceptionality even though most of them don't have to goods to really make it as a performing artist. It's an ugly stew of vulnerability, cruelty, and anxiety- high school turned up way past 11 on a 10 point scale.

But I actually kind of liked it. It was set in the 80's and did a fairly good job of shoutouts to that time, and I hung out with a lot of drama kids and engaged in some risky semi-public acts of intimacy myself, so it felt slightly familiar, especially the part where you find you're on your own in a tight situation with no one you can count on.

THEN; the second part of the book becomes sooo clever. It turns out that it's from the first person POV of a minor character from the first part of the book, who is meeting her old friend who wrote a novel about drama school in the 80's outside of a book signing- ambushing her, as it were. This new POV wants to tell us that most of the stuff we read in the first part of the book is embellished BS that is written to flatter the author and leaves out the fact that our new narrator was actually much more important to the story than the first part of the book led us to believe. Meta, right? Ugh. I did not want the whole previous part of the novel torn down. It hadn't been perfect, but it had managed to tap some genuine emotion. This second part of the book was all about the new main character taking her slow, meticulously plotted revenge for things that happened in high school. Ugh. What happens in high school should stay in high school, I think, at least in this book it should have. The new main character also has a very annoying tic in which they choose random words and then give you the dictionary definition of the word so that you can see their clever word selection. Really. I didn't need another reason not to like you, narrator. This is where I started skimming.
Third part of the book is the child of the narrator from the second part of the book trying to find more information about her mother. Least engrossing, yet still gross because of predatory adults, no fun and I didn't read it closely.

So, the author took a reasonably well written, if sincere and sentimental, mini-novel and then scoffed at her own vulnerability (and the reader's) in the second section, showing that she's beyond all that silly pathos now and is actually sophisticated and cynical. Then trails off into a horrible non-ending. The title of the book is Trust Exercise, and the author draws the reader in, not only to let the reader fall, but mock the reader for their trust in the author. Blech. Fool me once, Susan Choi. I won't trust anything you write again.

This book did not work for me at all. I consider myself a relatively intelligent person and one who can follow storylines but this book had me questioning whether or not I was even literate - that's how confusing it was. None of the characters were likeable. The premise sounded really interesting but clearly, this book was not written for me. Someone out there may find this work brilliant and that's wonderful but it just wasn't me.

While I love the premise of this book, with the characters and activities they are involved in at school, which very much reminds me of high school myself, I am not a huge fan of this POV in novels. Any time the narrator is unreliable I find it to be confusing rather than adding to the drama of the plot. But, that may just be me and my own preference. So, this was an okay read for me, I liked it but just not my favorite perspective.

#TrustExercise #NetGalley

Interesting narrative and use of the unreliable narrator. The writing style and structure of the book were very unique. The book did get confusing at time. Most of the characters were very unlikeable and honestly, I didn't really care about any of them. Sorry not to be more positive. .

Trust Exercise looked promising, but in the end it remains just that: a mirage.
A group of drama students and their professor go through pain, heartache and deception while trying to navigate their path to adulthood. While the premise is good, the characters are not the least bit interesting. Instead of wanting to look closer to understand what makes them tick, you want to cover your ears and leave the room as quickly as possible.

I was quite excited to read this book after hearing such enormous hype about it.. One of its very strong points was the superb writing. You could easily envision what it takes to audition and be accepted into an elite performing arts school.
The love story of Sarah and David is certainly explained well and in-depth along with the desires and longings of the other main characters. Yet, so much occurs in the many relationships that I felt the story got a bit muddled and hard to follow.

The function of narrative in a book is typically very predictable - but after reading Trust Exercise, I was so blown away with how Choi plays with narrative and how she structured this book. I absolutely delighted in the change of pov in the middle of the book and have been highly recommending this title simply for it's ability to break away from convention. Not to dismiss the excellent writing and pace. Overall - a great, and thought provoking read.

Unfortunately, I did not not get to read this one before it was archived which was an oversight on my part due to scheduling. This will definitely go into my to be read list for the future as the first chapter was very interesting!

2.25 stars, rounded down to 2.

This book came with so much expectation. I had heard about Susan Choi and there was so much buzz about this book coming out that I jumped at the opportunity to read it for NetGalley.

I'd like to blame my high expectations for why I didn't enjoy this book, but I don't think it was that. In fact, the book has some gorgeous language and Ms. Choi crafts beautiful sentences and using really impactful imagery. However, I found the story really difficult to follow.

Trust Exercise takes place in the American South, at an "elite" performing arts school where the students explore their craft through deep-dives into wordplay and character study. The story focuses heavily on David & Sarah, alternating narrators. At times I could relate to one or another of the characters but I found the book overly ambitious.

Just when I thought I was understanding where the story was going, it flashed forward and brought in what I thought was a supporting character and placed her in a position of prominence.

Mostly, I just felt confused by this one. Not my favorite.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Not many of you could probably guess that I’m an old-fashioned theater nerd….well, maybe you could?

This is one reason why I was so excited to dive into the contemporary novel, Trust Exercise, this month. This was a big buzz book for Spring and has gotten a lot of positive press, in particular, about it’s exploration of the #metoo movement, told through these reflective stories.

I am having a hard time reviewing this one because the concept was brilliant, but I felt like the entire plot could have been tightened up entirely. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. The writing, while excellent, didn’t always have a story that I felt entirely connected to.

This novel is set in the 1980’s at a highly competitive arts high school. Along with the talent and greed to get ahead, hormones are raging and relationships between students began to splinter and friendships are tested.

In a spiral of events, Choi begins to flip the plot on its head that makes everything flip upside down for the reader. What you think may be happening, isn’t happening, and a new perspective on the story changes the plot entirely.

It is these new glimmers of truth that allow the reader to see that everything is not as it seems and the power that comes to play in the arts world.

I can see this leading to heated discussions in book clubs about our own past experiences with adults and teachers, in particular, in the arts community. The changing narrative, in itself, becomes a trust exercise into itself.

Not only are the kids doing these trust exercise in their classroom, but Choi is giving us an exercise in who to believe.

Had the plot been tighter, I could see this being a 5-star read, simply for the value of the discussion and the smart twists Choi uses. I struggled to connect though as the chapters felt a bit clunky at times and I found myself having difficulty to keep attention through it.

For reference though, I listened to this one on audiobook! It might lend itself better in print format and I still found the topic and plot twists to be solid. I can’t wait to see what Choi writes next.