"Trust" by Hernan Diaz is a study in the unreliable narrator: a couple's life story is told from four view points. Don't worry, the story never feels repetitive and each successive narrator introduces new details and is interesting in their own right. I really enjoyed the pacing of how details were revealed and how new information would force you to re-evaluate what you thought to be "true" in a previous section.

It's hard to delve too far without spoiling anything, so you'll just have to take my word that this book is worth your time.

In the most minor of spoilers: the first section is fictionalized account of the couple. I didn't realize this at first, so was immediately confused when I reached the second section, an incomplete biography that was earily simiar to the first section except told in a very different style and (most obviously) different names. I enjoyed this moment of confustion: it set the precedent of not trusting the narrators and focused me to the intent of each section's writer.

Confusion on the reader's part is typically avoided, but when used well, as "Trust" does, it can jolt the reader in paying attention. Then again, as I read the back jacket now for the first time, maybe this is more of an arguement for going into books blind: the jacket makes the book's setup clear.

I'm certain I would have enjoyed the book going in with this extra information, but I would have missed that disoriented, spinning feeling I had starting the second section as I flipped back and forth to double check names and details.

Damn it, does this review really just boil down to "don't read reviews of books"?