When I think about Trust by Hernan Diaz, other works come to mind. From Hamilton: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?" Pontius Pilate's words in John 18:38, "What is truth?" Mystery novels with multiple unrelaible narrators, like An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears and Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie. But Trust is wholly original, as well as very smart.

The novel is about Benjamin and Helen Rask, New Yorkers in the 1920s, and it explores their life stories--how they came to be so wealthy and powerful. We get a sensationalistic version, a rather staid draft autobiography, a ghostwriter's memoir, and finally, a private diary. With each narration, the reader's perceptions change, the ultimate truth getting clearer but still likely elusive, as we wonder what else we don't know, and what other stories we aren't privy to.

There's a lot to chew on here: women being silenced, how capitalism influences received truth, the deliberate creation of flattering images, perception vs. reality, the failure to communicate in intimate relationships, intellectual theft. It's not an easy read, but it's a valuable one.

NOVEL: Trust

AUTHOR: Hernan Diaz

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2022

IMAGE: book cover, Riverhead Books