Trust Exercise
In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed—or untoyed with—by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls—until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true—though it’s not false, either. It takes until the book’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place—revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
2mentions
2people
2019years
100% recommend
What Hacker News says
- List plain text (from https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-...)
“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power,” by Shoshana Zuboff “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company,” by William Dalrymple “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,” by Casey Cep “Girl, Woman, Other,” by Bernardine Evaristo (Booker Prize winner) “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present,” by David Treuer “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy,” by Jenny Odell “Lost Children Archive,” by Valeria Luiselli “Lot: Stories,” by Bryan Washington “Normal People,” by Sally Rooney “The Orphan Master’s Son,” by Adam Johnson “The Yellow House,” by Sarah M. Broom (National Book Award winner, nonfiction) “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland,” by Patrick Radden Keefe “Solitary,” by Albert Woodfox “The Topeka School,” by Ben Lerner “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion,” by Jia Tolentino “Trust Exercise,” by Susan Choi (National Book Award winner, fiction) “We Live in Water: Stories,” by Jess Walter - 1. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff
https://www.worldcat.org/title/age-of-surveillance-capitalis...
2. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, by William Dalrymple
https://www.worldcat.org/title/anarchy-the-relentless-rise-o...
3. Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep
https://www.worldcat.org/title/furious-hours-murder-fraud-an...
4. Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo (Booker Prize winner)
https://www.worldcat.org/title/girl-woman-other/oclc/1127909...
5. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer
https://www.worldcat.org/title/heartbeat-of-wounded-knee-nat...
6. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, by Jenny Odell
https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-to-do-nothing-resisting-t...
7. Lost Children Archive, by Valeria Luiselli
https://www.worldcat.org/title/lost-children-archive/oclc/11...
8. Lot: Stories, by Bryan Washington
https://www.worldcat.org/title/lot-stories/oclc/1128099233
9. Normal People, by Sally Rooney
https://www.worldcat.org/title/normal-people/oclc/1119769689
10. The Orphan Master’s Son, by Adam Johnson
https://www.worldcat.org/title/orphan-masters-son-a-novel/oc...
11. The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom (National Book Award winner, nonfiction)
https://www.worldcat.org/title/yellow-house/oclc/1122461200
12. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe
https://www.worldcat.org/title/say-nothing-a-true-story-of-m...
13. Solitary, by Albert Woodfox
https://www.worldcat.org/title/solitary/oclc/1105720325
14. The Topeka School, by Ben Lerner
https://www.worldcat.org/title/topeka-school/oclc/1126252713
15. Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, by Jia Tolentino
https://www.worldcat.org/title/trick-mirror-reflections-on-s...
16. Trust Exercise, by Susan Choi (National Book Award winner, fiction)
https://www.worldcat.org/title/trust-exercise/oclc/111435376...
17. We Live in Water: Stories, by Jess Walter
https://www.worldcat.org/title/we-live-in-water-stories/oclc...
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