Trust - Domenico Starnone

Genre: Literary Fiction | Adult Fiction

Release Date: Expected 19th October 2021

Publisher: Europa Editions

Translated from Italian by Jhumpa Lahiri

Pietro doesn't fully understand love - but when he falls for a former student of his, Teresa, they begin a love affair as intense as fire and just as volatile. After too many arguements and desperate to save their torrid relationship - they decide to tell each other their darkest secret, something nobody else will ever know, to unite them together forever. But then they parted ways, still clinging onto the others secret.

But now, as Pietro falls in love once more and moves forward in his life with Nadia, Teresa is always there casting a shadow from afar. It feels like every time he makes a move, she's there somehow. Is it possible they really were destined to stay united forever as they intended, or is just guilt playing tricks on their minds?

Starnone is hailed as a superstar in the world of literary fiction; this is the first time I've read any of his work and I'll have to agree to an extent. He has crafted each character in this tale to perfection and definitely has masterful control of keeping a reader in a permanent state of tension. Spanning possibly five decades and three different points of view during the course of this story, it managed to stay cohesive and grasp the attention of the reader to force them to question themselves about the intricacies of love and betrayal.

Unfortunately, despite appreciating a flawed narrator, Pietro's attitude towards women in general made me dislike him and not be able to get as invested in his progression as I'd have liked. The writing style in general was not what I'd expected - there was a lot of telling rather than showing which left me having the information about these characters but not feeling anything about it.

This was more about the characters as they progress through life than the relationships or the dark secrets they've had, watching them go on to have sucessful careers and families with the knowledge that this nameless secret still exists somewhere, always just a few words away from being revealed.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Domenico Starnone and Europa Editions for this ARC in return for an honest review.

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