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beeeeonka's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jcgrenn_reads's review
Great writing about kind of gross events amongst whiny, needy characters. Overall, I was bored :(
I don’t consider my opinion to be worth much on this, very not my thing. Disregard on the whole, but I won’t be recommending it to friends personally.
I don’t consider my opinion to be worth much on this, very not my thing. Disregard on the whole, but I won’t be recommending it to friends personally.
alisonmostyn's review against another edition
1.0
I've given up on this book at about 40% through. Doesn't happen often. Just could not get into it or make a connection with any of the characters.
dancinrio's review
4.0
It took me a long time to get into this and I found it a bit of a struggle but then around the halfway mark it switched up what it was. And close to the end it did it again and I flew through the last third.
I’m left feeling very pleased I stuck with it and thinking that it’s likely this book will stick with me for some time.
I’m left feeling very pleased I stuck with it and thinking that it’s likely this book will stick with me for some time.
sosonny's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Pregnancy
cindypepper's review
2.0
1.5 stars, rounded to 2 stars:
Yeah, this didn't work for me.
I wanted to like it! I'm all about unreliable narration that is questioned and re-examined (see: Rashomon, Fates and Furies), but something about this didn't land for me.
The first part starts off languidly, as the narrator paints each scene, no matter how micro the action, with numerous layers of prose that serve to remind us of the possible dubiousness of the narration. The slow-cooked pacing didn't work for me; I felt like everything that happened was bogged down in the questioning.
By the time we got to the second part, the big reveals were, again, buried in a way that tested my patience rather than piqued my curiosity. I tired of the meta-questioning.
On its own, the final act should be satisfying as hell, but everything leading up to it obscured whatever satisfaction could have been had.
Yeah, this didn't work for me.
I wanted to like it! I'm all about unreliable narration that is questioned and re-examined (see: Rashomon, Fates and Furies), but something about this didn't land for me.
The first part starts off languidly, as the narrator paints each scene, no matter how micro the action, with numerous layers of prose that serve to remind us of the possible dubiousness of the narration. The slow-cooked pacing didn't work for me; I felt like everything that happened was bogged down in the questioning.
By the time we got to the second part, the big reveals were, again, buried in a way that tested my patience rather than piqued my curiosity. I tired of the meta-questioning.
On its own, the final act should be satisfying as hell, but everything leading up to it obscured whatever satisfaction could have been had.
saranies's review
5.0
The publisher describes this book as about high school students and interrupted first love. That is woefully inadequate. This book starts as being about first loves and obsessions but grows into so much more than that. It deals with how we see ourselves and others and how that egoism then affects the people around us, in addition to being an example of how to use the structure of the book to tell your story and challenge your readers.
The book is divided into three parts, each called Trust Exercise. It's hard to talk about what happens in them and how they fit together without spoiling it. A friend described it as the equivalent of the magic trick where you pull the tablecloth off the table but leave the plates on it. It's more like that happened and you realize the table was a hologram all along (but the plates are still somehow suspended in midair).
In the first Trust Exercise, we meet Sarah and David, two freshman in the theatre program at a performing arts high school who share some kind of passion. They have sex over the summer and then, when school starts again as sophomores, their different expectations of what that means causes them to, essentially, break up without talking about it. Meanwhile, their drama teacher, Mr. Kingsley, is preparing them for the visit from the English, while also being very interested in certain students' lives and trying to get high schoolers to expose their innermost feelings in class. During this time, Sarah feels like an outsider and loses her female friends while David stays the popular boy who is able to date around. Then the English come. They're another high school theatre group, led by a teacher named Martin and an alum named Liam, who are touring the United States and put on a fun new version of Candide. Things happen, including shifting popularity and parties, and it's all very good. I went to a school for the arts and knew a lot of theater kids (we had small classes) as well as spending 4:00 to 9 most nights doing ballet, and I thought the author did a really great job describing the awkward and almost artificial intimacy that comes when you spend all of your time being fairly vulnerable with the same people for so long, to the exclusion of "normal" high school activities.
Trust Exercise part two: SURPRISE. Time for some serious recontextualization. If you thought you knew something, you should reconsider. The author also manages to play with perspective here, flickering between first and third person, in a way that intensifies the distrust we learned for the narrator. The first part was generally a good portrayal of arts and dating in high school, but this was where the author's mastery of her craft really came through.
Trust Exercise part three: And yet a different context for you to consider.
The book is divided into three parts, each called Trust Exercise. It's hard to talk about what happens in them and how they fit together without spoiling it. A friend described it as the equivalent of the magic trick where you pull the tablecloth off the table but leave the plates on it. It's more like that happened and you realize the table was a hologram all along (but the plates are still somehow suspended in midair).
In the first Trust Exercise, we meet Sarah and David, two freshman in the theatre program at a performing arts high school who share some kind of passion. They have sex over the summer and then, when school starts again as sophomores, their different expectations of what that means causes them to, essentially, break up without talking about it. Meanwhile, their drama teacher, Mr. Kingsley, is preparing them for the visit from the English, while also being very interested in certain students' lives and trying to get high schoolers to expose their innermost feelings in class. During this time, Sarah feels like an outsider and loses her female friends while David stays the popular boy who is able to date around. Then the English come. They're another high school theatre group, led by a teacher named Martin and an alum named Liam, who are touring the United States and put on a fun new version of Candide. Things happen, including shifting popularity and parties, and it's all very good. I went to a school for the arts and knew a lot of theater kids (we had small classes) as well as spending 4:00 to 9 most nights doing ballet, and I thought the author did a really great job describing the awkward and almost artificial intimacy that comes when you spend all of your time being fairly vulnerable with the same people for so long, to the exclusion of "normal" high school activities.
Trust Exercise part two: SURPRISE. Time for some serious recontextualization. If you thought you knew something, you should reconsider. The author also manages to play with perspective here, flickering between first and third person, in a way that intensifies the distrust we learned for the narrator. The first part was generally a good portrayal of arts and dating in high school, but this was where the author's mastery of her craft really came through.
Trust Exercise part three: And yet a different context for you to consider.