Susan Choi Takes Her Teenagers Seriously
The author's new novel Trust Exercise is set among theater kids in a performing arts high school — until it jumps ahead a few decades and looks back at what really happened back then.
The new novel Trust Exercise opens with teenagers attending an elite performing arts high school in the 1980s.
There, the theater kids form heartfelt friendships and relationships, and then sabotage them. Their semi-tyrannical drama teacher both inspires and manipulates them — with his "trust exercises."
Midway through, the book leaps forward in time and perspective. One of the students, Karen, is now an adult, re-thinking her past.
is Susan Choi's fifth novel. She wanted to explore what happens when you look back on decisions that you made as an adolescent — when you felt like a grown-up, but may not
