TRUST EXERCISES by SUSAN CHOI (2019)

This is a very aptly named novel. On the surface level, the title refers to one of the teaching methods of a charismatic, and perhaps corrupt, teacher at a high school for the performing arts. On another level, it can be applied to the accounts provided by its three unreliable protagonists, none of which can be trusted to be entirely true. For me, at least, the title also describes the interaction between the novelist and the reader. One normally trusts that an author will supply the truth of his or her created situation, or at least strong hints that lead the reader to the truth. In this novel, that truth is not forthcoming. My trust was betrayed.

The first section of the novel is an account, later revealed to be part of a semi-autobiographical novel, of the failed high school romance of David and Sarah. Sarah's trauma is exacerbated by the classroom trust exercises of her drama teacher, who seems to be deriving his own satisfaction from her obvious discomfort. This section is very well done as it successfully mirrors the stormy and chaotic emotions of teenagers and their sexuality.

The next section centers on Karen, one of the secondary characters portrayed in the first account. Her response after reading the above-mentioned novel tells a markedly different version of the events. Choi skillfully changes her tone and word choices in this section to reflect Karen's mental and emotional state, which seems to be verging on the unhinged.

Then comes the surprising third section, which cannot be discussed without including spoilers. Suffice it to say, it provides doubts about the veracity of the previous two accounts.

This is a clever, clever book. It won this year's National Book Award. Nevertheless, I felt cheated when I finished. Perhaps my mind is too literal, but I prefer to feel that I know what really happened when I complete a book. With this one, I didn't know.

THE NICKEL BOYS by COLSON WHITEHEAD (2019)

Those who read Colson Whitehead's 2016 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning novel The Underground Railroad may expect, as I did, that this newest book would have a similar style and tone. Wrong. The Underground Railroad is a journey into the realm of magic realism, with a narrative rooted in metaphor. The Nickel Boys is ultra realistic, and is, in fact, based on a real situation and place, a juvenile reform school in Florida on which were discovered numerous bodies of young boys who had evidently been murdered and then listed in the records as run-aways. This is a fictionalized version of events which might have taken place at the school.

Elwood Curtis is a black high school student during the time of the beginning of the civil rights movement. He is inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to consider himself "as good as anyone." Determined to make something of himself, he excels in school and follows a personal code of working hard and behaving right. But then he runs afoul of the law by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time and is sent to the Nickel Academy. What follows is a litany of abuses at the hands of the guards and teacher, including savage beatings, rapes, and even murders. Through it all Elwood tries to keep his positive attitude that the right will eventually prevail, while his new best friend and fellow inmate Turner maintains that the world is crooked and the only way to get ahead is to scheme to outsmart the other guy.

Books that feature a plot twist quite often seem too-clever and manipulative, but Whitehead's surprising ending resolves the philosophical conflict epitomized by the two boys and provides a satisfying ending to the story.

I highly recommend this novel.

















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THE DUTCH HOUSE by ANN PATCHETT (2019)

Thanks to Christmas gift certificates, I am able to buy newly published books rather than thriftily re-reading books from my shelves. This is from one of my favorite living authors; her previous novel Bel Canto is perfect, and this one is almost as good.

Patchett is a gifted storyteller who manages to make the characters central even over the dramatic plot developments. The drama in this novel comes when a stepmother evicts a brother and sister from their luxurious family home, the Dutch House, and deprives them of the riches to which they have long been accustomed. Danny and Maeve have thus lost their mother, who left them years ago to do good works in India, and their father, who failed to provide for them in his will, and have only each other left to depend upon. The narrative follows them through five decades, during which they attempt to deal with loss and find forgiveness and peace.

When so many of the currently published noteworthy novels deal with racial issues and other politically-charged subjects, it is refreshing to read a well-told narrative about problems common to all. We don't all have wicked stepmothers, certainly, but we all have family issues that tend to fester if unresolved. Patchett's writing is elegant and straightforward, giving her absorbing story great readability.

Highly recommended.