Trust Exercise (2019), a literary fiction novel by Susan Choi, centers on two high school students who fall in love. As the plot develops, it becomes obvious that the relationship is not at all that it seems. Although Trust Exercise received mixed reviews from readers, critics praise the novel for challenging preconceived ideas of what a novel should be. It won the 2019 National Book Award for fiction. Choi is a best-selling, award-winning novelist who typically writes literary fiction novels with diverse characters. After graduating from Yale, Choi spent several years working as a fact-checker for The New Yorker. She now writes fiction full time.

Plot Summary

The first part of Trust Exercise begins in the 1980s and focuses on the relationship between Sarah and David, 15-year-old sophomores studying theater at the prestigious Citywide Academy for the Performing Arts (CAPA). Sarah and David date for their entire freshman year, and Sarah thinks they will be together forever. However, when school starts for sophomore year, David dumps Sarah. Sarah can’t hide that she is devastated and doesn’t know how she will face him at school.

To make matters worse, Sarah takes the same theater class as David. She prays that their tutor, Mr. Kingsley, doesn’t pair them together. Unfortunately for Sarah, Mr. Kingsley knows about the breakup and plans to use it as ammunition for Sarah and David’s theatrical development. Mr. Kingsley chooses assignments that force Sarah and David to face each other. Sarah takes the opportunity to confront David over why he dumped her for her ex-friend, Joelle. David denies this, but everyone knows that he is lying. Sarah takes some satisfaction from knowing that she makes David uncomfortable. Meanwhile, a group of British exchange students visits the school with their teacher, Martin, and a 24-year-old former student, Liam. Sarah goes on a few dates with Liam to make David jealous. It doesn’t work, and Sarah leaves Liam at a party because she can’t be bothered pretending anymore. Her friend, Karen, consoles her.

In the second part of the novel, the narrative jumps forward to 1997, and the story’s main premise is revealed: Nothing in the first part of the story is accurate; it is all part of a novel that the adult Sarah is writing. While they all did attend CAPA, there is no telling what is fact or fiction. It is unclear whether Sarah ever dated David or not; all readers know is that David now runs a theater company and Karen works as a therapist.

The narrative shifts to David. Still friendly with Karen, he feels comfortable confiding in her. He heard that a teacher, Martin (who might only be a facet of Mr. Kingsley’s persona), lost his job because he allegedly sexually assaulted students. Karen tells David that the story is true. Although Karen doesn’t know who else Martin assaulted, Martin encouraged Karen to sleep with him before she was ready, and she got pregnant. Martin disappeared once he found out about the baby, and Karen gave the baby up for adoption. David feels bad about bringing Karen his other news: He is staging a play by Martin and hopes that Karen will audition for it. Karen doesn’t blame David for what happened to her, and she is happy to audition for the part. However, David doesn’t tell Karen that he cast Martin as the male lead.

Meanwhile, the narrative jumps back to Sarah. Karen contacts her and demands to meet for dinner. She heard about Sarah’s book, and she doesn’t approve of it. She claims that Sarah based her story on real events that she didn’t have any right to use without permission. Sarah, however, denies this, convincing Karen that she is innocent. In a peace offering, she says she will come to watch the play on opening night. However, once Karen finds out that she is starring alongside Martin, she shoots him in the genitals for making her life miserable. The play is canceled; David doesn’t know how he will survive the reputation damage to his theater. Sarah finds the whole thing amusing because she can use it in another book.

The final time jump takes readers to the present day. We meet Claire, who is perhaps Karen’s biological daughter. Claire knows that her mother attended CAPA, and she wonders if it will be possible to trace her from school records. She asks the dean (Robert Lord, or “Mr. Kingsley” from the first part of the novel) for help contacting her mother, but he tells her he will only help her for a price. Realizing he wants sex in exchange for information, Claire flees. She doesn’t know that her mother experienced the same thing.