Trust Exercise by Susan Choi: A review

Trust Exercise has won the National Book Award for fiction for the year, and, in my opinion, it is a well-deserved recognition of a remarkable work. It is a book that engages both emotions and intellect and I found it easy to lose myself in it.

The story is set in a sprawling southern city that is never named but sounds an awful lot like Houston to me. Moreover, the narrative tells the stories of a group of students attending an acclaimed high school for the performing arts unlike any other in the region and that would be Houston's High School for the Performing Arts.

Choi's students attend high school in the '80s and her description of the social environment of the period seems spot-on. These are theater students who are continually evolving and learning who they are in relationship to others.

Part of their learning process takes place in the class of their charismatic teacher, Mr. Kingsley, during "trust exercises" in which two students sit knee to knee facing each other and repeat sentences while staring deeply into each other's eyes. At such times they can begin to feel as if they are the only two people in the world. But the trust exercise extends and expands into their lives.

The main focus of this part of the narrative is two students, Sarah and David, who become totally smitten and obsessed with each other. But in the way of teenage romances, this one unravels and completely upends Sarah's life. She loses not only her boyfriend but her best girlfriend and becomes something of an outcast in the unforgiving society of high school, making her vulnerable to be preyed upon by the unscrupulous.

And that is what happens when a troupe of young British actors comes to town to put on a production of Candide. She becomes an easy sexual target for one of the creepy older members of the group.

The narrative builds slowly, piece by piece, experience by experience, in exquisite detail, and, although I was well past high school by the '80s, I was right there with Sarah and the other students as they transitioned through the period.

But that's only the first half of the book.

Choi then upends her story entirely, moving it forward by a dozen or so years. We meet some of the students again as fully formed adults and find that maybe we totally misunderstood what was happening in that first half. Although it is a bit disorienting at first, we soon settle in with our enhanced understanding of the events of high school and of how they have influenced these characters' later lives.

I don't want to give too much away, but suffice to say that the author finds a way to address what has gone before, including the sexism and male privilege of certain adults and the duplicity of certain "friends". Revenge may be best served cold, but it can be very sweet indeed.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

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