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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.
Spoiler
Chekov's gun gets mentioned. And then shows up and gets shot! The ending of part two surprise what happens at the end of the second Trust Exercise because it is so heavily foreshadowed (although the way that it happens is fuzzy, in part because of that shifting perspective). What HAPPENED to "Karen"? And the ending... is Bob Lord the Kingsley or the Martin character? Were those characters actually just the splitting of one person, the way Karen is divided into Joelle and Karen? Does that mean he Me Too-ed his biological daughter? I don't expect answers (although part of my uncertainty might have come from having to read it on the subway and just moving very quickly through the end) because the lack of clarity is part of what makes me love this book.jessehersh's review
2.0
I couldn’t even tell you any of what happened. This book is chaotic and maybe people like it because of it but it did not work for me.
papelgren's review against another edition
3.0
This book works in three sections, with each section drastically revising the previous in surprising and thought provoking ways. But for the trope to work effectively, the first section needed to be stronger. As the narratives unravel, and characters become other characters, and the twists reveal themselves, it becomes more and more engaging. But for this piece to be a masterwork (which I was expecting it to be) the first high school romance section came across as petty, and this pettiness which is very much a theme, undermines the book's importance.
reidcarpenter's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
So fascinating but genuinely pretty terrible to stick with but I think worth it.
(If the prose and tone of the first section is driving you insane like it did me, it’ll make sense eventually, I promise!!)
(If the prose and tone of the first section is driving you insane like it did me, it’ll make sense eventually, I promise!!)
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?
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?
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
peytonsurp's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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? Yes
3.0
sash512's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0