Trust

Trust by Hernan Diaz

At the outset, I wasn't sure if this was a biography or a work of fiction. It is cleanly set in the real world of the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of the supporting cast is recognizable. However, I had never heard of the main characters. After a while, it became clear that it was not just a work of fiction, but a work of fiction within a work of fiction.

The first part of the book is a fictional story based on the life of business leader. He had started life as a precocious child. He was born into the family that had made a multi-generational fortune in tobacco. However, he did not smoke. He was intrigued by numbers and business. After the passing of his parents, he eventually sold of the family business and focussed on his own business. He was married to a woman that also had a precocious childhood. He made a great fortune and managed to get rich when everyone was failing. He even had great short positions at the outset of the 1929 stock market crash and made even more money there. He would later help prop up the economy and aid others. Eventually, his wife slid into insanity. He tried to bankroll therapies, but she was not cured, and escaped from the asylum.

The novel then pivots to the "real world". A young family is struggling during the depression. The dad is a printer and an anarchist. The daughter has skill typing and writing. She seeks employment and makes it through a few rounds of interviews at a Wall Street firm. She then discovers that her task will be to help write the autobiography of the "real" man that felt he was slandered in the fictionalized life. He especially is concerned with the way his wife was portrayed. She had died of a tumor, not insanity. He desired her to be portrayed as a faithful companion.

There are a few conflicts in the writing process. Then the businessman dies suddenly, meaning his account is never published. The girl later returns to the primary sources and discovers a secret diary that the businessman's wife wrote in during her final days. There she discusses her pain in the treatment as well reminiscences of her past. We learn that she had significant musical talents and experience. Her husband had taught her about finance and by looking at it from her music background, she was able to gain new insights in the market that would become immensely profitable. The couple were a great combination, making huge amounts of money. She also observed the arbitrage opportunity with the inputting of transactions by clerks. She proposed they pay one off to get this data and thus make huge gains.

The book leaves us with multiple accounts of the life of the businessman. What is the truth? All accounts are considered truthful in the eyes of the teller. The wife's account appears the most reliable. (Though you would think the paid off clerk would eventually squeal.) This would provide a good example of using "other sources" and going against traditions to gain advantage. It would also put the "honesty" to question. However, these were also reminiscences by somebody on their deathbed. Can we even have a fixed truth?