Trust by Hernan Diaz

Title: Trust
Author: Hernan Diaz
Publication: Riverhead, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: New York and Europe

Description: Benjamin and Helen Rask are a prominent Manhattan couple in the 1920s. He is an eccentric but successful Wall Street investor whose family made its money from tobacco. Helen is from a well-born Albany family and is interested in philanthropy. Neither is very comfortable with people, including each other. They feature in a bestselling 1937 novel written by Harold Vanner, so everyone feels knowledgeable about them but, in fact, there are several versions of this unusual couple’s story and it becomes hard to tell what is true, what is imagined, whether the imagined can become truth, and whether anyone can be trusted.

My Impression: We chose Trust for our January Book Group because it was one of the New York Times’ top ten books of 2022 and we were intrigued by this description:

Diaz uncovers the secrets of an American fortune in the early 20th century, detailing the dizzying rise of a New York financier and the enigmatic talents of his wife. Each of the novel’s four parts, which are told from different perspectives, redirects the narrative (and upends readers’ expectations) while paying tribute to literary titans from Henry James to Jorge Luis Borges. Whose version of events can we trust? Diaz’s spotlight on stories behind stories seeks out the dark workings behind capitalism, as well as the uncredited figures behind the so-called Great Men of history. It’s an exhilarating pursuit.

Well, by the time I got the book, I had forgotten what it was about and plunged right in. I do advise a little preparation in order to fully enjoy it. While the book was very readable (except for the Wall Street speculation which I found tedious), when I had about 60 pages left I texted a friend and said I couldn’t figure out the point of the book. She agreed. However, I spoke too soon and the last section of the book was illuminating.  The book consists of four sections: a roman à clef, a memoir commissioned by one of the characters in the roman, a segment told from the perspective of the memoir’s ghostwriter, and a secret diary.  I found each section more compelling than the one before (each one was also shorter than the one before).  Knowing the title of the book was Trust should have prepared me for unreliable narrators but the author did surprise me several times. When not puzzling over the book, I enjoyed its Gilded Age setting more than the characters did! 

Ghostwriters have been in the news this week because of the sales success of Prince Harry’s venomous book, Spare. The best ghostwriters must understand the alleged writer’s style in order to write in his voice or in a voice that seems authentic. In my favorite part of this book, the ghostwriter realizes that the alleged author found a snippet she had invented/included in the manuscript and appropriated it, consciously or unconsciously, with the result that he believed it had happened. Perhaps this is a variation of the childhood memory that has been related to you so many times you think you remember it but it causes some disquiet to the writer. We did not all like Trust but it was unusual, very readable, and mostly interesting.  Furthermore, as I explained to my branch librarian tonight, often we have the best discussions on books we did not necessarily like – there’s more to discuss!

This is my first historical fiction of the year for The Intrepid Reader’s 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Source: Library