Darlings, You Have GOT To Be Kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      No sooner, last night, had I finished reading Susan Choi's "Trust Exercise," than I discovered it had been nominated for the 2019 National Book Award!!!!!!!!!  This morning, I wake up, and the first thing I found out was that it won!

                                       Neither should have happened.  The novel is a plodding, tedious study of a group of students at a performing arts school, under the leadership of Mr. Kingsley, who turns out to be someone else entirely, both in identity and personality.  Three students--Karen, David and Sarah are focused upon in a long installment involving their years at the school, and afterwards.

                                         Choi gets all the dynamics of such a school environment right, but she spends too much time with Sarah and David's on again, off again, romance, and not enough on the cut throat competition such schools breed.  The most touching moment came from a surprise auditioner, Manuel, with a gorgeous voice, who gets cast as Sky Masterson in the school's "Guys And Dolls."

                                            The author lays out all the plot points, telling the reader who made it, and who did not.  Karen, and David and Sarah are still the most prominent, and you have to read this section carefully to understand the Epilogue.

                                               Tediously written, not exploring its subject enough in depth, "Trust Exercise" is interesting for the time read, but nothing memorable.

                                                 If this is what gets the National Book Award this year, I cannot wait to see those New York Time Book Lists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!