Reviews

Trust by Hernán Díaz

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wearyoctopus's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

wanderlustaxa's review against another edition

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4.0

Took a few tries to get into this meta narrative but by the third section when the ties begin to form, the reasons it won the Pulitzer become more and more clear. The fourth part is the mic drop and surprises with its feminist undertones. The commentary on wealth and Marxist criticism is well done and not heavy handed. I also loved that each part truly felt like a different voice. Not usually my time period or jam but worth the brain fog for a bit. Stick with it!

seventhswan's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This book was the definition of "trust the process" for me. It's not that it didn't get going straight away - there was a clear plot and interesting characters from the start - but I had no idea at all where it was going until midway through the third section, so I spent a lot of time worried that I was trying to understand the intricacies of the stock market for nothing.

If I'm honest, the first two sections bored me a little and I found myself skim reading. They were clearly excellently crafted and I couldn't fault the characters or plotline at all, it just really wasn't a topic I was interested in. However, I raced through the third and fourth sections in a couple of hours. As the story shifted away from the stock market and focused on Ida and Mildred as characters, I was much more invested.

This was a book with an extremely long setup, but I think the payoff was just about worth it, even if there wasn't a huge twist in the end as I thought there might be. It was excellent as a work of literature, and I see why it was highly commended, I just personally struggled to get excited by the heavy focus on the economy.

Content Warnings

bsauls's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious reflective 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

3.75

rheachandran's review against another edition

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informative mysterious sad 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

4.25

This book was good but so weird. So many layers and I learned a lot. I understand why it won the Pulitzer it’s beautiful prose! Would read more of Diaz’s work