Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

By: Hernan Diaz

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, Orlagh Cassidy

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE

“Buzzy and enthralling . . . A glorious novel about empires and erasures, husbands and wives, staggering fortunes and unspeakable misery . . . Fun as hell to read.” —Oprah Daily

"A genre-bending, time-skipping story about New York City’s elite in the roaring ’20s and Great Depression." —Vanity Fair

“A riveting story of class, capitalism, and greed.” —Esquire

"Exhilarating.” —New York Times

Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
Hernan Diaz’s TRUST elegantly puts these competing narratives into conversation with one another—and in tension with the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction. The result is a novel that spans over a century and becomes more exhilarating with each new revelation.
At once an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle, TRUST engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.

Wanted to like it.

Although there were negative reviews of this book, the few good ones and the fact that it was long listed for the Booker prize encouraged me to buy it. What a strange book! It started out strong with an entertaining story of the rise and fall of financial giants in the early to mid 1900’s. Then another story eerily similar to the first was told in a much less entertaining fashion. More stories followed and, by the end, it was tortuous. I kept waiting for redemption but there was none. Maybe I missed something along the way.

Enticing and Satisfying End

Listening to this masterpiece was enticing until the end. Though without context it is confusing until you obtain enough clues to start to stitch together the pieces. I found myself wanting to turn back pages and compare stories- maybe I’ll get the book in print just so I can snoop between realities.

Power of perspectives

One that needs your attention to not miss the nuance of four perspectives that are thought provoking, cerebral, psychological. Masterfully woven and meshed with many more narratives about wealth creation, market manipulation, gender roles and love. Much to unpack - not a frivolous read but one that requires intent and attention in equal measures.

Writing about the plot will give it away and no review will do justice - the truth like the title is in its reading.

Layers of Storytelling

Caught myself laughing in admiration of the author about how I was lead through different perspectives of the same story without knowing it at first. I thought the final narrator’s voice and style was perfect near the end of the book. The story was a little hard to wade through at first but deeply compelling as the book moves on.

An engrossing literary accomplishment

Although some readers may be put off initially by the seeming banal narration of the first part, they should continue to the end, as each section unfolds a competing story. This is to a great degree the story of perhaps all accomplished women who flourish because of, and in spite of, the hubris of the men they must rely on for sustainability. I recommend reading it twice because like Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, each part challenges the reader to question which to trust as truth.