Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

12 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

erickaonpaper's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.5

you will be thinking. of this book, during this book, after this book. susan choi makes sure of that. i applaud all of the care, the thought, and the possibilities this book offers. i'm so excited to reread this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol and Death

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

readbycarina's review

challenging dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol, Death, and Pregnancy

mia_merrill's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Alcohol, Vomit, and Bullying

Minor: Pregnancy and Terminal illness

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

wikxoxo's review

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is so weird??? But not in a good way - it's vulgar, seemingly just for vulgarity's sake. I tried liking this, I really did, but I just couldn't empathise with any one of the characters. Nor were any of the (allegedly brilliant) themes made present at all. This book fell so flat. This literally took me weeks to read, I hated it so much that I chose to read a convoluted book on economics instead of this. Allas, my hatred for not finishing books shone through, and I unfortunately managed to read this. The only good thing about this book is the structure; it was innovative and intriguing. Books can (and should!) be weird, but not like this. Miranda July's 'No-one belongs here more than you' is much better than this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol