Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

24 reviews

bookishlittleme's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I hated this. 

That’s not true. But I didn’t like this book just because of personal preference but I will defend almost every choice in it. It’s truly one thousand books in one because of the multiple perspectives and contradictions throughout the story offered by multiple characters. It asks the question of what truth really is and who are we to decide what truth is? Can anyone objectively decipher truth?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Classism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Drug use, Body shaming, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Ableism

btothebooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit

omnipresent_photon's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape

Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, and Sexism

insoolee's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, and Gun violence

nwordsmith's review

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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

mandi_lea's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

laurensilva's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Vomit, and Car accident

travisppe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The format of this book is going to stick with me for a long time. Very cool. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Outing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Incest, Pregnancy, Rape, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual violence

levc's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Homophobia, Outing, Drug use, and Pregnancy

augustpeach_'s review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

2.75

I read this during a day of traveling through multiple airports, layovers and flights. 
I found the novel had enough tension for me to keep reading, wanting to solve the questions I had relating to the dynamics of the characters. However, I finished the novel with more questions - all was not as it seemed. Which, I believe ... may be the point. 

I felt like the last act was rushed, which was unfortunate because that featured plot was my favorite. 
I purchased the book and am planning on donating it. 

If you feel compelled, another read-through of the book could be helpful ... I don't plan on reading it again so I will be donating my copy ... If I feel compelled to read it again, I'll reach out to my local library. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual content and Gun violence