Unraveling Truth and Power in Hernan Diaz’s Trust: A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Exploration of Wealth-Podcast

Hernan Diaz’s Trust, co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is a masterful metafictional novel that probes the intertwined themes of wealth, power, and the elusive nature of truth. Set against the backdrop of the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression, the story unfolds through four distinct and contrasting narratives, each reshaping the reader’s understanding of the central financier and his wife. This innovative structure challenges perceptions of reliability and invites deep reflection on who controls stories—and why. While praised for its literary ambition and thematic complexity, Trust has also sparked debate over its portrayal of female characters and its dense, sometimes perplexing style. This discussion synthesizes diverse critical perspectives to illuminate the novel’s profound questions about history, memory, and trust itself.