"Most of us prefer to believe we are the active subjects of our victories but only the passive objects of our defeats. We triumph, but it is not really we who fail - we are ruined by forces beyond our control."
A novel with several versions of the same story- left up to the reader to disentangle which is the truth. Trust starts off with the telling of how a well-to-do 1920s Wall Street man (Benjamin) and an intelligent, quiet girl (Helen), bond over their introverted personalities and willingness to let each other thrive alone, unique in a time when women were otherwise restricted in much of what they could accomplish when married. The two marry and rise together- Benjamin by making a killing on short selling, and in the eyes of many, causing the Great Depression, and Helen, as a philanthropist and supporter of the arts. When Helen's health declines, their relationship and their social standing decline in turn; gossip abounds, and the outside world becomes even more hostile to their perceived role in the financial devastation of the country. But the most compelling part of this book, and why we recommend, is the layering that occurs after the first part of the novel, with a different retelling of the same story. We loved the way this book confronts how power can manipulate the narrative. We were left wanting with the third section that closes out the book, but we still recommend for the onion-peeling event that it is. It will take you some time to work through it, but we found it so well written and compelling that you keep on turning the pages to dive deeper and deeper into the minds of these characters.
Yorumlar