Reviews

Trust by Hernán Díaz

flyawaybooks's review against another edition

informative mysterious 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

ericfreemantx's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

tscott907's review against another edition

4.25

Rushed to pick this up after Todd Haynes announced that he is adapting the book for HBO, and was right to do so because I enjoyed it immensely! I loved how each of the narratives in Trust was distinct yet layered together so nicely with the others.

lqueijo's review against another edition

3.0

Apesar de todo o burburinho em redor de “Confiança”, Hernán Diáz continua a não me convencer, na totalidade.
É certo que o autor joga (bastante bem, diga-se de passagem) com a definição de identidade colocando em confronto aquilo que somos e a imagem que criam de nós através das histórias que se contam. É certo, também, que a estrutura do romance é curiosa, permitindo “brincar” com as várias versões da mesma história. E é aqui, acho eu, que reside toda a suposta novidade que traz toda a crítica extasiada, como se nunca tivesse sido feito. De resto, nada mais banal. A história, enquanto tal, é pobre e a escrita não é nada de especial. Até a caracterização da época deixa muito a desejar, ao ser analisada apenas pelo lado do capital.
Não fosse a história ser passada num dos períodos históricos que me são queridos e nem às três estrelas chegaria, coadjuvado pelo facto de ter uma tradução tão fraca como pedante (com termos como “Rebuço”, “Estratego”, “Chance”, “muitos títulos” - many ways, “Proventos” - income, e a cereja no topo do bolo, “Passamento” para Passing away, entre outros que nem me dei ao trabalho de registar). Ou os tradutores automáticos andam a falhar redondamente, numa altura em que tanto se fala em AI ou algo grave se passa. Já nem vou falar na edição. Deixar passar isto…
Lê-se. Mas há por aí muito melhor.

kelseywort's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

I really loved this book. I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I loved the way that Diaz anticipated reader questions, the sections he decided to divide the book into, and the prose itself was amazing. I wish I could read this one for the first time all over again. 

wellreadred's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

I was listening to the audiobook without having ever read anything about the book. I had to stop and look up about it to follow. But aha! Once I did…really lovely. The daughter of an Italian anarchist becomes the typist for a 1920s financier writing his life story. Big theme = mansplaining; social expectations of women.

lillibooks's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

maura_kathleen's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.25

A great read, although I preferred its Pulitzer twin. Strong prose suited to its various modes. I liked it better as a work about the inadequacies and abuses of historicizing, commemorating, etc.... and of the power afforded to the narratives told the loudest. As someone who has worked in writing about finance, I thought it handled its depiction of the industry persuasively, especially insofar as it captured the enduring absurdity of credit-taking in a system with so many competing and fluid interests. But the scope was too intimate for me to find in it a ~comprehensive~ statement on how capitalistic power entrenches itself, and at whose expense... makes a striking statement on certain victims but was more glancing than I was expecting on some who drew worse lots. Overall, though, I was engaged and surprised and found this very worthwhile.

nikirubin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

novembrist's review against another edition

challenging funny 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

3.0