Susan ChoiReseñas

This was a book club selection. This novel follows some students at an elite performing arts high school as they engage in the worst of teen behaviors, the consequences of said behaviors, and their lives about 15-20 years later. The book has three "eras", the first of which is half the novel. I loathed this part. The unnecessarily vulgar language, the not entirely believable overly mature sex lives of the kids, and the awful depiction of (and reading/accents) the "English People", made me dread putting this book back on. The second "era" was really good and explained the necessity of disgusting first part. The third era was confusing and unsatisfying.
I see what the author was trying to do. It is extremely ambitious and I just don't think she pulled it off. The message is a little muddy but seems to involve themes of badly behaved rapey men/boys, women/girls who lack the confidence to take ownership of their own bodies, and a system that rewards talent even in the face of predatory behaviors. But there were too many loose ends.

I may have liked this more if I'd read the print version. The audiobook narrator in the first part was not my favorite. And listening to a book like this left me feeling more confused than if I'd read it (at least I think so). It is a super confusing book, especially the last part. Also, I read [b:Normal People|41057294|Normal People|Sally Rooney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571423190l/41057294._SY75_.jpg|59141209] earlier this year, which is also about an intense teen relationship and I liked it so much more than this.

Even though I'd really like to talk to someone about this book and try to figure out the confusing parts, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to ask anyone I know to read it. I wouldn't want to waste anyone's time. In the end, the effort to finish this didn't feel worth it.

UPDATE: I enjoyed this piece about the book way more than the book itself: https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/who-owns-a-story-trust-exercise-sus...

It's an eery coincidence to read this right after [b:This Was Our Pact|40864829|This Was Our Pact|Ryan Andrews|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536917259l/40864829._SX50_.jpg|65285306] because the two books are unexpectedly similar. Both are about boys having an adventure with a talking animal. They both have a surreal quality. The pinnacle of both stories is a spread of the night sky which seems especially magical in that moment.

I'm interested to see how 4- to 7-year-olds will react to this story. Will they have ideas about what the tiger represents? Will they think the boy was just imagining the tiger? This is a great one to start a discussion. I imagine some kids will be nonplussed and some will dive into interpretations.

Overall, the illustrations are impressive but uneven. Some of the spreads are gorgeous, particularly the one where the boy and the tiger are cuddling in the tent.

I'm not sure about this one. Three stars usually means a good, average novel. But this wasn't an average reading experience. I was ready to DNF pretty early in the novel but I knew the story shifted and wanted to understand the wide range of reviews. The first half was a bit of a rant-read (ugh, another adult novel about teenagers) and the second half gripped my attention but left me unsatisfied. Even so, I didn't hate it and I think I may want to re-read it. I'll wait to see if it sticks with me.

The ending was very flat and disappointing, but the tension and drama was interesting. It probably wouldn't have worked if the affair/gender roles weren't flipped. (The student fell in love with the wife instead of the classic prof). I remember it being wordy but I like a lot of description and atmosphere so it didn't really bother me. A lot of the same words (erstwhile!!) were used a lot which sometimes took away from the moment by just getting thru the grocery list of description.

Picture book of an end of summer camping trip where the 5 year old younger brother keeps company with a tiger, a small for a tiger tiger, mind, until the morning of the family's departure. Is the boy saying good-bye to some wild part of himself or did something extraordinary happen? The illustrations were competent by not quite beguiling.

LOVE the illustrations. The story not so much.

I’m not smart enough to understand it.

Typically I do not mind a time-hoppy narrative, a la The Hours, although it is not my favorite device as the late 90s and afterward sort of sucked the genre dry. I do mind overly dramatic teens and their inflated sense of importance, and I thought this book illustrated that quite well, but it didn't make it easier to handle. If you haven't experienced theater life at all, I doubt you'll like this book, as it will seem foreign to the point of absurdity. My disdain — for how theater teachers of the era in which this takes place and the level of overblown ego they seem to invoke in their students, the superiority complexes and inferiority complexes covered up by thinking they are so unique and them being so cliquey — made me averse to a lot of this novel (yes, despite my theater background and despite this all being intentional writing). That said, I ended up loving the story of David and Sarah, which was incredibly relatable and nostalgic to many people's teen years of fumbling around and thinking everything is love. But the narrative flips failed to keep me engaged. The nonstop and "college essay"-esque explanations of words and their meanings, while likely laced with irony/purpose, irritated me. The first person to third person mid paragraph alternating threw me off even though it was intended to show the author/real person/meta-ness of the characters/their situations. The characters caring and remembering this much this long after high school was hard to believe, even for the sake of a meta book within a book type narrative. This book has many important things to say, especially comments on consent and assault and love and friendship, but it didn't hook me like I thought it would. It reminded me of Ponti, which I love and has many of the exact same themes, and which captivated me much more.

I really wanted to love this story. The writing style was unique. It took me a little while to get used to the flow of the writing, but once I got into the rhythm the story flowed quickly, and the story itself started out interesting. While Sarah and David were not my favorite characters, I found them to be typical teenagers and read their portion of the story easily. I did not like Karen, though, nor did I like reading from her point of view. I slogged through the last half of the book which killed it for me.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I quit this reading this book when I had read about two thirds of it. It was definitely not for me, even though I have had much experience with arts schools. The repetition was so boring and offensive. The second part was very different from the first, and I had hope for it when I started, but it was also boring repetition after boring repetition. Maybe I would have appreciated some of this is it had been presented as a very short story.

Baffling.

Probably would have given up on this one if I wasn't so curious about the big twist in the middle. I'm glad I hung in there, but I'm a bit disappointed. I loved My Education by Susan Choi, so I had high expectations for this book that just weren't met. However, I do think this probably deserves a re-read someday now that I know what to look out for.

Divided into 2 parts, the first half of the novel is the story of the students in a prestigious high school drama class, their relationships with one another (mostly, pardon the pun, very dramatically played out), and with their teacher. The second half reveals that the first half is half of a novel written by one of the students years later, and the POV switches to another of the former students, who is disgruntled at the wild liberties the writer has taken with the truth. There is a reunion of sorts amongst some of the alumni of the class, in the form of a play written by their visiting British instructor, directed by one of their classmates, and performed, in one part, by the secretly disgruntled member of the class. Both sections end without really ending, make each other unreliable, and inform one another in fascinating ways. There's an additional small sort of postscript section that adds even more upheaval and uncertainty to what has come before it, and it, too, breaks off without really giving the reader a tidy conclusion.

I loved it. I love the feeling of having the rug pulled out from underneath my reader-feet multiple times, of getting almost comfortable with the idea that I've sorted out what's possibly really going on only to have that feeling dashed again. This is a cleverly constructed novel that manages to stupefy without overly confusing matters, while also delivering interesting and believable characters in an engaging, if not easily verifiable, plot. Highly recommended.½

That poor kid. Childhood trauma might as well be my middle name. I really wanted more from this short story though. It ended so abruptly and I felt so bad for Louisa. I really hope she makes peace with herself and is able to repair whatever issues she has with her family.

Well I didn't expect my Tuesday reading group to dislike this book, but they did, almost all of them. To my mind it's a wonderful and sneaky novel of perspective and betrayal. Choi starts with a lushly written story of a teenage love affair in the hothouse confines of a performing arts high school, but she doesn't stop there. Two changes of perspective later, the reader is left wondering what, if anything, is reliable in this novel, so the 'trust exercise' extends to the reader and author themselves. Big lies? Complex misunderstandings? One protagonist, or two, or three? One villain or many? Is the first lush writing supposed to be natural to the author, or is it a novel within the novel? If you are someone who needs a single truth and perspective, this book is not for you.

Choi says she finished this book shortly before the #metoo movement got hot, although the story does deal with power dynamics between older men and teenagers, and a lot of my group's discussion was at that level. But in my opinion, the author plays with the idea of 'story' in our political as well as personal lives, which I think is a much more universal and philosophical topic.

I loved it.

I liked the first part of the book about Sarah and David's relationship and struggle with socio economic differences. I am not sure really why they broke up. I hated the second part of the book where Karen was the narrator and became more confused as it went along and then finally just wished for it to end. The third part and the end I was like "What the hell?" Glad it is over. Also glad that many people were also mystified about the ending. Basically story is about old men in positions of power (educators) who like to take advantage sexually, emotionally, and get off on their student's drama issues. One gets his balls blown up literally after decades of tormenting female students. The other is well-respected and gets a section of a school named after him and he dies a lonely and long overdue death after molesting a student's daughter that we are unsure if he might actually be his daughter, which reaches a level of grossness that I didn't need in my life. Cannot recommend this to anyone.

This books doesn't start getting interesting until after p. 131.

I don't know what to make of this. Often I thought the writing was overwrought but maybe that was the point, it did take place in a performing arts high school after all. Lately these award winning works just aren't working for me.

Challenging literary read. I'm so out of shape mentally I struggled to finish. Good for those with a great vocabulary, acuity, and focus.

I didn't like it, but am giving it 3 stars for a lot of admirable sentences, particularly descriptions of overgrown cities full of dismaying industrial parks.
Let this book be a caution to parents intending to send their children to a performing arts high school. Not just because of the abuse, but because most children will not have successful careers in the arts.

I had difficulty with the switching point of view and the convoluted composition.

so, so good

Misplaced Trust

Often times, things are not what they appear to be. Another: authority figures, like clergy or teachers, can manipulate and exploit the young; double that if you are a youth invested in your specialness. Finally, forget most of what the narrator tells you, because much of it might not be entirely true. All these ideas take the spotlight in Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise about students enrolled in a performing arts high school, and then their lives after high school. The narrator shifts three times in the novel, providing the twists referred to by some reviewers, and the volume is always high, the emotions always overwrought, the information particularly untrustworthy. If any of this sounds intriguing to you, well, you are going to love this novel.

Trust Exercise follows a group of students from their day at a performing arts high school called CAPA, Citywide Academy for the Performing Arts. In part one, we view events from Sarah’s perspective. She and David, another student, both 15, become attracted to each other, engage in all manner of sex, and catch the eye of their teacher, Mr. Kingsley. Mr. Kingsley employs a technique called Trust Exercise, essentially a way for students to get beyond their inhibitions and intuit each others feelings. Everyone adores and respects Mr. Kingsley because to them he represents real theatre, hailing as he does from New York and willing to toss around big names. However, he is a real emotional vampire who feeds on the students, particularly Sarah and David, when he catches wind of their on-off relationship. Add to the mix a troupe of British students on tour with their own Kingsley, Martin, and his young protege, Liam, and pretty soon all the windows of reason fog over.

Part two opens about 10 years later with Karen as the focus and the narrator. If you’ve forgotten about Karen by this time, understandable, as she was a mere bit player in the first part. She’s here to tell us that theatre dreams are just that, dreams, that more happened in part one than we could see, and she lobs a couple of bombshells the our way for good measure. Sarah’s an author and she’s written something of a semi-biographical novel about students in a performing arts high school. Karen’s on the scene of a book reading to surprise Sarah and lure her back to their hometown. There, David runs a theatre company, threadbare, avant-garde, and not a little bit bitter. Successful? He drives a beater with a garbage bag for a passenger side window. As for those bombshells, one involves Karen and Martin, who also returns to town for the big show, or is that showdown? Part two proves disillusioning, and very explosive, literally, in the end.

Then you enter part three, with yet another narrator and point of view. Not much can be said about this person here, for it would spoil not only the ending but also part two. What can be said is that this final part, short as it is, has you wondering if you can trust any of what you have read.

This novel has won considerable praise and it’s easy to see why, given its experimental heft. However, many will find it disjointed and at times confusing, with an ending that can be quite a head scratcher. Chalk it up to interesting, but not engaging, and often intellectually obvious.