Trust by Hernan Diaz, which has been longlasting for the Booker Prize, is one of those difficult novels to review without giving much of the game away. At its most basic it is the story of financier Benjamin Rask, his wire Helen, and how they survived the Wall Street Crash and what happened to then after. Only Diaz does not present the story straight: there are four elements at play here: a novel within a novel, an autobiography, a journal and a memoir. These four elements provide a prism through which we learn of the life of Bennjamin Rask.

It is an interesting way in which to present your 'hero', and much of your enjoyment will come down to how much you appreciate meta-narratives, pastiche and authorial trickery. If you submit to Diaz's construction, this is quite the treat. If you don't enjoy the construction and prefer a more linear narrative then this one might frustrate you. I enjoyed my time in this world - and though not all of it worked all of the time for me - this is still a very fine novel with a lot to recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Love the structure, complexity and setting of this book. A beautifully written puzzle of a book . Turn of the century New York and the story of money and power and who is really calling the shots. From a disorientating start it becomes clearer who is telling the tale and who is pulling the strings. Such wide scope and an enjoyable exploration of the themes, it is revelatory and entertaining.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize this is a book that blew me away. It’s also a book that’s hard to review without giving the book away to you.

If you loved Sucession then meet it’s literary companion piece. Money, power, relationships & how we view the lives we live & the reliability of memory - it’s all here.

Trust is four books. Four retellings of the same story. In this narrative form the retellings shine more light on “the truth” each time. This both adds to the readers understanding & challenges our views of the story.

Trust is set in the 1920’s / 30’s Wall Street years leading up to the Great Depression. A financial moghul, a strange character, a gifted moneymaker, a Gatsby like character is at this novel’s heart. But so is the question of capitalism & what part finance plays in dehumanising human endeavour. New York also stars. A portrait of a dazzling city that moves but clings to the past.

I loved Diaz’s writing style. It’s beautiful, literary but so pacy that you will dance through this one.

No review written by me could do this novel justice. I urge you to get hold of this one.

Reading Trust when you have no idea of the premise of the book is quite a ride. I was curious of the book because it promised a glimpse into lives of wealthy in 1920s New York. This much information is enough for me to be sold on a book. Trust gives so much more.
The first part seemed like an never ending prologue, I had this strange feeling like what I'm reading is just a set up for the main story. But this set up is so lush, so engaging, I was deep into the story. And then it just ended. With so much book left! Only after that I realized what the book is all about, how mind bending it is! Brilliant! The first part is a book within a book. We later learn who written it and we peel down on the layers of stories that made the book. As a readers, we have a unique chance to read what the inspirations for the book think about it. I never read anything like that! It is a fascinating glimpse into how history is made - it is not always truth that becomes the history we all learn about.

An absolutely fantastic piece of historical fiction that may have just redefined the concept of an unreliable narrator! I loved the setting of 1930s New York and the themes of greed and superficiality, and it unfolded like a beautiful flower. Clever and enjoyable, I couldn't put it down.

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I find Hernan Diaz' writing utterly compelling. I loved In the Distance and this new novel compounds my adoration. I can understand the Booker nomination completely.

In Trust we are given 4 separate parts of the same story. Essentially it's a story within a story within a story within a story but that makes it sound complicated and it's not.

The first part is a novel about a man who is a Wall St tycoon and his wife. The second part is an unfinished biography about the same man who is incensed about the lies told by the first novelist. The third part is the story of the woman who wrote/transcribed the biography. The fourth part is the truth behind it all

Thankfully you don't need to know anything but the basics of stocks and shares.

What I got in this book was pure magic. I've seen some less than complimentary reviews. I have to say I disagree with them totally. I thought this continued the beautiful, lyrical writing we got from In the Distance. Both books describe an America that is long gone, both books (whilst not of great length) are epic in quality.

Highly recommended. I hope it wins the Booker. It certainly deserves to.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I went into Trust knowing next to nothing about the structure of the book. I knew that a key theme was wealth, that it was somewhat historical fiction and that it was largely set in New York City. But really other than that I didn’t know what to expect.

This is a really hard book to review because of its very nature. Everytime I try to talk about it, it sounds so complicated but it isn’t. We have one story, the story of Andrew and Mildred Bevel, but it’s been split into four and in each of these four parts we explore their life through a different lens. It sounds repetitive but give me a moment to explain.

Part 1 is a novel written by a fictional author called Harold Vanner. Whilst he has changed their names, it is very clearly about Andrew and Mildred. We as the reader of Trust do not know this as we have yet to meet Andrew and Mildred. Harold Vanners novel is our first encounter with the couple and their story. Whilst it is not the most riveting of plots, the character exploration within it was enough to keep me hooked throughout.

In part 2 we are supposedly reading a draft version of an autobiography by Andrew Bevel. As we read we start to notice the similarities in the stories and it becomes clear that this is the autobiography of the man portrayed in Harold Vanner’s novel. From other people’s reviews I understand that this is the section of Trust that most people dislike. I can understand why, it is the most jarring section as it contains footnotes where Andrew wants to add in more detail or explain something. Personally I thought it was incredibly clever because it enabled Hernan Diaz to leave out what is essentially the more boring aspects of this autobiography whilst still getting across how self-centered the author is - how amazing he believes he is and how much he feels his story is interesting and needs to be told. The tone of voice is both a very clever plot device and insufferable to read. One of the main things that it does though is put us in the frame of mind that there is another story to be told about this couple even if this one cannot be trusted.

Part 3 is a memoir written by the woman who went to work for Andrew Bevel and who is in fact the author behind his autobiography. Essentially he wanted to dictate facts to her and have her spruce it up into something publishable. He knew the tone he wanted to convey and she created it. I loved the section where she discusses the idea of creating her own Frankenstein’s monster out of the voices of late “great men”, shedding light on the tone of voice that comes across in the second section of Trust. In the memoir we really start to see how Mildred’s life and story are being changed and rewritten by money, power and men. We’re really coming to see that we don’t know her at all.

Part 4 is a diary written by Mildred herself at the end of her life as she was dying of cancer. It’s both a relief to hear Mildred’s voice but also beautifully unsatisfying. Her diaries are not there to explicitly tell us as the reader who she really was as they are written before the 3 sections that precede hers but through them we get a glimpse not only of the ways in which each of the previous sections were correct about her but also the ways in which she was different. It is interspersed with her musings and details of her illness and treatment which do make it jarring to read.

I personally thought this was brilliant. I loved the way the mystery unfolded, I loved the themes woven through it all and I just thought it was masterful.

I need to own a physical copy of this!

WOW! What can I say that hasn't been said yet about this amazing book? Now longlisted for the Booker prize, you're missing out if you don't pick it up.
The pages flew with this one. Everyone knows at this point that it's a book-within-a-book sort of novel, in this case 4 books within a book, each with very different voices. At first I thought it would be a bit jarring to change from one to the next, but no: Hernan Diaz makes it almost seamless. You can clearly tell the difference between the voices (which you can't always do, and I always appreciate when it's done properly).
A 5-star read for me, and a refreshing read. I already got Diaz's previous book on my TBR as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

With the assistance of ghost writer, Ida Partenza, Wall Street financier, Andrew Revel, sets out to re-write his life story in rebuttal of a bestselling novel modelled on him. Set in the lead up to – and fall out from – the Great Depression.

Trust explores unreliable narration and the mythologisation of formative moments in history.

The novel is composed of four parts, told in distinct writing styles. Part I, Bonds, is the bestseller long since fallen from popularity, that so irks Revel. Part II forms Revel’s autobiographical notes. Parts III and IV focus on Ida.

Highly ambitious, skilfully executed, but shoots itself in the foot in the first half. Diaz is a little too successful in styling the writing as unfashionable/poorly written. The characters are flat and lack emotional depth. Ida’s story brings a welcome change of energy, and truly engages the reader, but doesn’t come soon enough to rescue the whole.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

"His fortune bent reality around it. this reality included people- and their perception of the world, like mine, was also caught in the gravitational pull of Bevel's wealth and warped by it"

A captivating story of wealth, power and greed, rightfully set in New York City during the roaring 20s and delivered through four parts which slowly unravel the story, questioning what is reality and what is fiction.

The first part, set as a novel, immediately hooked me, with its F Scott Fitzgerald style writing and its setting. I love books about rich people in the 1920s and the American Dream, and this was no exception.

However, the second part, set as an autobiography, brought my rating down to a 4 star. It read like a financial and history textbook, and the unfinished format really annoyed me. Whilst you understand in the third part why the format and tone is the way it is, I think the second part could have easily just been left out and instead merged with the third part. I found the third part also sometimes had some unfinished questions, although I preferred it much more to the second part.

Overall however, it was a really enjoyable read and I loved the idea of the four parts slowly revealing the true story. Whilst I don't think the ultimate truth was much of a shock, I still loved the themes explored. Also I think the author was really able to distinguish between the four voices, which really helped to build the story.

This is an impressive book mainly set in the world of 1920s Wall Street and New York society at that time, and with - for this reader at least - a brilliant exploration of how women are side-lined in life, or written out of history. It is a metafiction comprising four very accessible (and different) tellings of a wealthy financier's life and times leaving it up to the reader to decide which is the most trustworthy narrative.

I was half way through reading the novel when the longlist for the 2022 Booker Prize was announced, and I'm not at all surprised that "Trust" is one of the 13 books listed.

A novel, two memoirs, and a diary, each telling the same story of 1920s New York wealth from not just different perspectives, but with completely different concepts of the truth of what happened. Trust is a complicated novel that unfolds, and the reader needs to trust that it will get interesting because the initial section didn’t grab me. But it just gets more and more intriguing as you learn more about the couple at the centre of the story. The last section reveals an aha moment, but it’s hard to trust even that to be the truth once you know how many times you’ve been lied to. Trust isn’t a perfect novel, but it’s dazzling and memorable.

I think I was expecting more from this book than I originally got.

I was intrigued to see that this book is technically 4 novellas as it consists of a novel, autobiography, memoir, and journal, and yet I think I only really connected to the memoir and the novel. I was not aware of it going in, but that is just my lack of research on the book. Though I was pleasantly surprised with the dramatics that the first section of the book entailed and confused with what I thought was only the beginning but was instead the ending to the novel's first part.

Despite this, I carried on reading, intrigued by how the rest of the book would play out, but until about 1/4 of the way through the memoir, I was really dragging my feet trying to get through it. The idea is that the complete truth of the story of this couple must be discovered by the reader as they read each section. Despite this, I felt that the only truth needed was the journal at the end, and I ended up taking that as the complete truth. I do think it was interesting how each part did reveal different aspects to paint a complete picture.

With each different perspective, the characters changed and thus it was hard to get a good read on what they truly were like, but I think that was the point. By seeing these characters from a range of different perspectives, they become more human.

Overall, this just wasn't what I was expecting and my interest was waning a lot during this read, but I appreciated what it was trying to achieve. While I would not recommend it, I recognise that I did find it interesting enough to finish.

'Trust' is a great example of literary fiction and is a patchwork of narratives that fit together in an intelligent way. It's a novel that, because of the switching of narrative voices and style, grows as the novel goes on. The historic 'truth' and nature of the theme of capitalism is dealt with (by the end) in a compelling way. A word or two, though, about this 'growing': the first part sets the scene, rather galloping through the family history of the protagonists and I must admit I zoned out a bit at the trail of information thinking 'who cares?' but imagining there surely MUST be a reason for this. The second part, the memoir, I nearly gave up completely, but because the parts fit together, and are all part of a complete narrative 'scheme', my advice would be to keep going because it begins to make sense after that. The final section offers a satisfying ending, but because by that point, the reader is in the flow of the themes of exploitation and patriarchy, and is aware of the skill of the writer, it's easy to be pedantic and suggest that there is, in places, a less secure and therefore less successful use of the narrative technique of 'telling'. What is good about this novel is the way in which it leaves the reader with questions about patriarchy and misogyny, which underpin the bones of what this novel conveys.

Trust is a book for people who love to read for the writing and value good prose. It is very well written however, very finance heavy, so if that’s part of your interests - great. Additionally the term “chronicler” should be taken seriously when it comes to Hernan Diaz.

I found the format somewhat confusing (while compelling in theory), particularly the repetitiveness about the financial markets and economy. The historic backdrop on the other hand being so detailed does set a nice scene, it’s a fascinating time period, especially set in NYC. The characters were interesting, though I found the parallels between past and present protagonists unnecessary.

Overall - unfortunately - it felt noticeably lengthy and at points like a chore to read. I must admit that I’ve come away from this book not really understanding its purpose.

A clever book. A mystery but not a murder mystery.
It starts with a trite novel, which although this sets the scene, to me only has only a little relevance.
The three parts that come afterwards, My Life, Memoir and Futures are essential to the book as a whole which only makes sense when all four parts have been read.
I have to admit that there were a lot of loose threads that I didn't understand their meaning, although these were to me irrelevant to the full meaning.
It could be that these were put in as red herrings, or it could be that their meaning would become clearer on re-reading.
The author has found an unusual way of making this book different, almost impossible nowadays, and should be applauded for doing so.
On the whole I enjoyed the book and would recommend discerning readers to dive in.
My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for honest review.

Trust
By Hernan Diaz

This is the story of the "wealthiest man in America", set in early 20th century New York when
financiers had surpassed industrialists as the Gods of society. It has a very unusual construction in that it is told in four novels.
The first novel entitled Bonds, is written by Harold Vanner about the life and marriage of Benjamin Rask, an oddball of a character who masters the intricacies of finance and orchestrates much of the economic rise and fall of the stock market during the 20s and 30s. It is clear that this is a fictional account based on Andrew Bevel, but did he take liberties with the truth?
The second novel is by Andrew Bevel, who writes his autobiography to dispel the narrative that Vanner has created.
The third is by Ida Partenza, Bevel's private secretary and ghost writer.
The fourth is from the journal of Mildred Bevel, who writes in her own code and is not quite lucid owing to treatment for cancer, or is she?
Each novel has it's own unique voice, it's own point of view. Where are the similarities? Which version is the truth? Who stands to gain what by manipulating your TRUST?

I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters here, because there are so many versions of each. It is hard to describe it as either a plot driven or character driven story, but rather as a puzzle box.

You could become overwhelmed by the workings of the economy, it made my head hurt a little, but I found it also very interesting to have a peek into the lifestyle of the ultra rich. I got vibes of The Gilded Age and Trading Places from this. It also makes me sad to think of the gulf between the haves and the have nots in any age.

Thanks to #netgalley and #panmacmillan for the opportunity to review this highly unique title.

An impressive novel on so many levels. Diaz sets out to re-examine myths of American exceptionalism through the novel’s central figure of Andrew Bevel, financier and one of the richest men in the world during the interwar period. He does so via four distinct narratives: Bonds, a novel about “Mr and Mrs Rusk”, thinly disguised Bevel and his wife Mildred; Bevel’s own unpublished memoirs; a narrative set several decades later by Ida Partenza, hired by Bevel to ghost write his memoirs and finally, snippets from Mildred Bevel’s diaries.

Trust is also very much a novel about capitalism and money. The first part, the-novel-within-the-novel is written in realist style reminiscent of Henry James and Edith Wharton. Both influenced Diaz but rather than the luxury and the excess associated with wealth, he wanted to focus on the process of accumulation of wealth. This is taken even further in the second part, Bevel’s memoirs, where Bevel rages against any and all regulations to control the markets. He is very much a free market capitalist.

I’ve deliberately left Mildred Bevel out so far, as Diaz notes in an excellent interview with The Book Review podcast from NY Times, women have often been deleted out of historical narratives dealing with American myths. The second half of Trust addresses this, firstly through a young Italian-American woman hired by Bevel to type his memoirs and secondly, through Mildred’s diaries. Bevel aims his memoirs to do justice to his wife’s memory (he hated the novel Bonds) but as he dictates his many financial triumphs, it becomes clear that he doesn’t have much to say about Mildred. And through tantalising snippets from her diaries, it becomes clear that there was much more to her than all the previous narratives suggested.

So, Trust is also about storytelling, who gets to tell the story and, as the different narratives unfold, there is some ambiguity as to which – if any to believe. I loved the concept and very much enjoyed reading Trust. One of the best books I’ve read all year.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan, Picador and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Trust.

Fact, fiction unreliable narrators, "Trust" has it all. This is a multi layered book within a book within a memoir, within a diary where the reader is brought through this winding literary maze to finally discover the truth.
Set in the gilded ear of 1920s New York, part one is a novella about fictional couple Benjamin and Helen Rask, he is a Wall St tycoon, she a cultural philanthropist. There is more than a shade of comparison with Jay Gatsby at times with questions over the source of the famously reclusive Rask's wealth and how he not only survived the financial crash of 1929 but prospered throughout this turbulent period.

Part Two is a pompous, bombastic narrative by Andrew bevel, upon whom the character Rask is allegedly based. But its meant to be annoying, Bevel is meant to be unlikable. This is the most challenging part of the book for the reader so just stick with it as the final two parts slowly reveal the truth. .The third part is a wonderful memoir by Ida Partenza whom Bevel employs to write his biography and debunk the lies contained in the novel. Ida becomes intrigued by Bevels wife, Miriam, and it is Miriam's diary which forms the final part of this literary jigsaw, connecting all four narratives.

This is such a clever book. As the story unfolds you find yourself constantly referring back to the first 100 pages and questioning everything you have read. Diaz explores the patriarchal world of stocks and finance, who the voices of women are rarely heard and the allure of money. Its also a story about how wealthy men create myths about themselves. This is a challenging and elegant story where I never felt manipulated but captivated by the truth being slowly revealed.. At times it reminded me of the labyrinthine quality of Emily St John Mandel's writing. A highly recommended thought provoking 5 star read.