#susanchoi

La mulți ani!

Admittedly, this one eluded me. Enjoyed, and the writing was superb. The theatre school parallels were haunting. #trustexercise #susanchoi #womenauthors #theatreschool @bklynlibrary https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca2erz2uiRHLEV0Wd2HDFXQ1-MGqdluKzcX_fQ0/?utm_medium=tumblr

#susanchoi #quotes https://www.instagram.com/p/CKkFutxhBWy/?igshid=1rqu6p1kftii6

Trust Exercise: A Novel Susan Choi Audiobooks by audible. Visit the profile link. #audiobooks #audible#audiobook #SusanChoi #novel #trust #exercise https://www.instagram.com/p/CHpw_FTA5-q/?igshid=1ar5brlzq52p

#TrustExercise #SusanChoi I never got into her writing even by the end but the novel did complete what it set out to tell. https://www.instagram.com/p/CACA0eTg4nH/?igshid=1rpoui5n9iqn6

I can’t remember where I got the recommendation to read this one.  I know it wasn’t from a friend or family member, I always remember real-life sources because I want to talk to them about the book when I finish.  So this must have been a Book of the Month, New York Times or Pulitzer Prize hopeful.  It doesn’t matter where I heard about it now because I read it.  And I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it.  The writing was excellent throughout, Choi has a way with words that puts you right in the story with the characters.  It is both realistic and grand at the same time. However, I found the characters severely unlikeable – though I guess anyone who got into an elite school for the arts only to be constantly beaten down by their professor (or professors, we hardly explored any outside of Mr. Kingsley) would turn out less than palatable in real life.  And perhaps that is what made me so uncomfortable – I’ve known theatre people and they can be excruciatingly annoying. My sophomore year of college, I lived in a suite of dorms and one of the rooms consisted of three theater majors. Between putting on “plays” whenever they had a captive audience – i.e. me and my roommate eating dinner in the shared kitchen – and the nonstop singing that got so out of control I had to feign migraines on multiple occasions to get peace and quiet (I do get them, just not at those times), they were an insufferable lot.  Another part of the story that was steeped in realism was the relationship between the vaunted Mr. Kingsley and his students.  Several years after I graduated from high school, a scandal was uncovered wherein the theater teacher was caught having inappropriate relations with his students and creating a cult-like atmosphere for the kids enrolled in drama.  What I didn’t like about the book though, was the mechanism she used to explore the ways writers base their works of fiction in reality.  I found the introduction of the real ‘Karen’ in the second act of the book to be interesting at first but then found it a bit clumsy and overworked. By the time her daughter was introduced at the end, I had completely lost interest.   While I wouldn’t recommend the entire book, the first part was worth reading for me.

Susan Choi, My Education

(My Education, 127)