Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

By: Hernan Diaz

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, Orlagh Cassidy

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE

“Buzzy and enthralling . . . A glorious novel about empires and erasures, husbands and wives, staggering fortunes and unspeakable misery . . . Fun as hell to read.” —Oprah Daily

"A genre-bending, time-skipping story about New York City’s elite in the roaring ’20s and Great Depression." —Vanity Fair

“A riveting story of class, capitalism, and greed.” —Esquire

"Exhilarating.” —New York Times

Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
Hernan Diaz’s TRUST elegantly puts these competing narratives into conversation with one another—and in tension with the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction. The result is a novel that spans over a century and becomes more exhilarating with each new revelation.
At once an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle, TRUST engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.

So glad I stuck with this book beyond Part I

I almost gave up. Only having seen that this this book was on a lot of top book lists, and not having read any reviews nor looked at the table of contents, I had no idea what to expect. The performance in Part I is perfect, knowing what I know now, but it definitely had me questioning collective literary judgment as a standalone performance of a modern novel, and had me second guessing all those top book lists. All of this to say that if you're considering hitting pause and never returning before you reach Part II, don't do it. Continue listening. It's worth it. You'll see.

Disappointed

I had high expectations based on the Pulitzer Prize but was very disappointed in it ultimately. I continued to listen hoping that it would become more interesting but remain baffled that it won such a prestigious award.

Absorbing

You get to hear a fictional account, and 2 memoirs before hearing the real story. I really enjoyed the different voices in this novel as well as the various points of view. The narrators are excellent. Well done.

Wonderful

I’ve rarely had an author draw me so completely into a book. The readers were also perfect.

Very clever, but not moving

Very clever, very lucid, very well written book, but left me indifferent emotionally. Admirative of the effort, but unmoved by the central story.