#25 [2023/CBR15] Trust by Hernan Diaz

I found Trust (2022) by Hernan Diaz on Barack Obama's Recommended Reading List. I tend to follow many of Obama's recommendations, and Trust also won a Pultizer Prize. Trust is the story of Benjamin and Helen Rask: a rather eccentric power couple in New York City. What makes this book more memorable and thought provoking, though, is how we learn about the couple. I think this book is best when you don't know what you're getting into. Therefore, if you're interested in reading the book, I would recommend skipping the rest of the review.

Part 1 of this novel is a fictional account of Rask and his wife. We learn about how they grew up, how they met, and their life together. Rask took over his father's successful tobacco business, but switched almost immediately to finance. His wife grew up with an esteemed name but very little money. The two seemed like a good fit for each other. Rask was immensely successful in finance--even making money during the Great Depression. But at some point, his wife deteriorates mentally. After aggressive treatment in Switzerland, she dies. It was a fascinating story and because it was my first exposure to the couple, I took it as true. 

But that was only until I started reading Part 2 of this novel. Part 2 is written in the form of notes written by Bevel (he is called Rask in the fictional novel from Part 1, but his real name is Bevel). Bevel is incensed that some upstart author would write lies about his wife and him, tarnishing their reputations. The notes for his book are a carefully considered public relations response to the book from Part 1. I found this little twist fascinating. It took me a minute to wrap my head around the fact that the story I'd just read wasn't true. But my opinion of Bevel's take was still colored by my reading of the first section of the novel. In addition, Bevel clearly had an agenda when writing his story. It was hard to know what the truth was. 

Part 3 shifts to an account written by the secretary Bevel hires to complete the task of writing the book about him and his wife. Again, this took the novel in a different direction. The secretary had her own perspective and was probably the most sympathetic character in the story. She recounts the unique hiring process she had to go through as well as the specific demands from Bevel as she wrote the story. The secretary finds Mrs. Bevel to be an interesting mystery, primarily because Mr. Bevel doesn't seem to want to talk about her in any real way. Even snooping around a little, she's unable to discover anything. It's only years after Mr. Bevel is dead that she is able to access an old, unreadable journal of Mrs. Bevel's.

Finally, Part 4 is the very brief journal that Mrs. Bevel kept in the final days of her life. She was described as a fictional character by an acquaintance in Part 1 and someone completely different--and as her husband wanted her to be--in Part 2. Part 4 finally gave the readers a glimpse of the real woman. There's a bit of a revealing twist at the end, but what I enjoyed most about this book was how differently we see someone based on who and what we hear about them. 

I found this book very well written and interesting. It left me wondering about everyone of significance in my own life and how many points of view from which their stories might be told and manipulated. Recommended.

cbr15bingo - "South America" because the author, Hernan Diaz was born in Argentina and received his first degree from the University of Buenos Aires.