Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - Trust

Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Trust by Hernán Díaz

7 reviews

dolores153's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Revelations about 2/3 of the way through the book completely changed meaning of earlier chapters. Started over again at the beginning, and enjoyed recognizing the interplay of the various parts. Unexpectedly delightful analogy with musical progressions.

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leahthebooklover's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

4.0

"Trust" asked me to consider what truth is, and who do I trust to tell me the truth, since truth is subjective based on the bias of the source. The book was nothing like the Gatsby-esque story I was expecting. I'm having a hard time even deciding how to rate this book. On the one hand, it addresses some very important themes; power, wealth, politics, monetization, truth, image, feminism, identity, responsibility and more. On the other hand, the structure of the book was unusual and unsettling. It didn't really make sense until the very end. It's the story of an embarrassingly wealthy financier in the early 20th century. He is well known for his "golden touch" when it comes to successfully investmenting in the stock market, but he and his wife live a very enigmatic and somewhat reclusive life. We hear about them in four separate stories, told from four different perspectives with distinctly different styles. Part one is a novel within the novel, "historical fiction", if you will. The names of the characters are changed, but the story contains enough details that the "real life" inspirations are easily identifiable, and there are enough insinuations and embellishments in the manuscript that the subject of the book, Andrew Bevel, sets out to "right the record". Part two is his rough draft autobiography, and was the least enjoyable and most confusing section of the book. Part three is a memoir by Ida Partenza (also known as Ida Prentice - a word play on apprentice). She is remembering her time as Andrew Bevel's personal secretary. Her sole responsibility is to write his biography, while he oversees, edits, and approves of everything she writes in order to shape the story to his liking. The longer Ida works with him, the more she comes to realize his version of the truth isn't any more real than the story he's trying to to refute (the part one "novel"). Part three was my favorite section of the book, but part four is where all of the dangling threads of the first three sections come together. It's the personal diary of Mildred Bevel - Andrew's wife. In her account, secrets are revealed and questions are answered. Diaz's complex and unusual style was an effective way to tell this story, but I can imagine readers abandoning the book in part two and missing out on the full experience, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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hmetwade's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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gracescanlon's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective fast-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

4.25

In Trust, Díaz used unique method of storytelling I'd not encountered but much enjoyed. I loved that the first two parts of the book were written by men, both with fond feelings toward the main female character, but flawed, and limited by their upbringing and the society around them all the same, while the second parts were told by female characters about their own experiences, using their own words.

The ordering of these parts created the effect of the women setting the record straight. One woman saw herself in the other and used her own experience as a woman to read between the lines of the previous narratives to learn the real story while placating men. Meanwhile, the other woman told the actual story, as it happened in her life, using her own words. I loved that it seemed that it was the combined efforts of the women that revealed the truth - the first, in analyzing the information she was given and pursuing the real story, and the second, in recording the facts as she knew them.

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travisppe's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Took me a while to figure out how the structure worked but once I did I was hooked.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Review:

I spent the first half to two-thirds of Trust by Hernan Diaz feeling vaguely confused. I could understand what was happening, but I struggled to find the why. I kept asking myself, is this going anywhere? Is there a point to what I am reading right now? The answer, thankfully, is “yes,” and my advice to anyone feeling a bit confused or doubtful while reading this book is to continue reading.

I ended up appreciating the narrative creativity, strong writing, and interesting thematic explorations in Trust, and I am certain that I would get more out of the novel if I were able to read it again. That said, since I spent significant portions of the book feeling rather disinterested or confused, I cannot give it a super high rating.

Additional Note: The cover of Trust is possibly the best book cover I have ever seen. The image of a Manhattan skyscraper in the glass dome of a stock ticker, with a green background reminiscent of American dollar bills? Magnificent.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Trust if:

· You appreciate creative narrative structures.

· You are interested in themes of money, power, and relationships.

You might not like Trust if:

· You get bored or impatient easily.

· You are expecting a dramatic, epic story detailing the glitz, glamour, boom, and bust of the Jazz Age: Trust is decidedly not this, and instead is an incredibly intimate story with only a handful of characters.

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notartgarfunkel's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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