Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

70 reviews

btothebooks's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

The only reason I finished this book was because it was the last one I needed to finish my reading challenge for the year. Otherwise I would have DNF’ed it around 30 pages in. 
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thisbookrox's review

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just not following very well. also too many sex scenes involving minors that make me uncomfy and a minor/adult relationship. 
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insoolee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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soj19's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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readwithkelly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The descriptions of scenes were excellent. Some of the writing confused me as it went from first person to third, and breaking the 4th wall. There were pages that were difficult to follow and I didn’t know where the plot was going. 
I found parallels between Sarah and “Karen” but wasn’t sure if they’re the same person. I couldn’t tell who were real characters and who were fake, especially Manuel.
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tragicdramatic23's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mandi_lea's review against another edition

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mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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laurensilva's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Trust Exercise is an interesting exploration into how there are always several sides to a story. We begin fully believing Sarah's narration, even though she is a teenager when everything seems outsized, only
to be told about halfway through the book that this has all been "fiction," or more accurately, "auto-fiction." We enter a new POV, "Karen's," which tells us that the Sarah we know is fake, a self-absorbed lie. It turns our preconceived notions around. But because of this switch, Choi also gets us questioning Karen's POV. Just like Karen says Sarah cannot speak to Karen's relationship with "Elli," neither can Karen truly know Sarah's relationship with her own mother; but still, Karen speaks with full authority on that topic. Karen is written from the self-righteous POV that she alone is right, she alone knows the truth and is a victim of Sarah's re-telling.

I do love how Choi switches between first and third person narration, especially with Karen, underscoring the difference between what a person remembers and what "actually" happened. For example, Karen's initial first-person telling of what happened between her and Sarah is that Karen went away to "Bible school" for the "fall and winter of [her] junior year" and Sarah struck out alone to London. Then about 70 pages later, we get a third-person telling of "the truth."

I do think we could have done without the final section with Claire. I feel like that story line cheapens the rest of the book, turning it more into a soap opera drama.











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sarahtokar's review against another edition

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Hated the characters. Very uncomfortable with the abusive teacher. Not interested in theater kid vibes. Totally unrealistic depiction of teenagers. 
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hollyglolightly's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

It’s metafiction. 🤯 The whole point is to hate the things people say they hate, which is why you have to trust the author long enough to keep going to parts 2 and 3 
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