Review: Testimony by Anita Shreve

Last word first: An excellent book if you’re looking for something with a lot of “meat” for discussion.

Would Joe like this book? Yes.

Recommended by? I won this over at Popin's Lair.

Description: A sex scandal breaks at an expensive private school in Vermont. Three older teens have been filmed having sex with a fourteen year old girl. In Testimony, each of the people involved in the incident, from the headmaster to the man who sold alcohol to the teens to the kids' parents, has their say as they explain their side of the story and how their lives have been changed.

My thoughts: Testimony opens with Mike, the headmaster of the school in question, watching the sex tape. “And it was then that the word containment entered his mind. And with that word, moral, ethical and political choices were made, though Mike would realize the implications of these only later, when it occurred to him that he might have chosen at that moment another word, such as revelation, say, or help.” - Testimony, page 12.

And so the tone for the story is set. Attempts are made at damage control, but the damage from the incident spins out of control. My reactions to this story ran the gamut from outrage to sympathy (not always with the person you’d expect) to sorrow back to outrage. Early in the story I was appalled with the behaviour of the boys in the video, and ready to start screaming for their heads. But as each character gets a chance to tell their side of the story, it’s hard to know who to blame, and I found myself wondering if it was really THAT big of a deal, anyway. As one character asks, is his behaviour for one hour out of one day in his entire life justification for the destruction of his entire future?

I found the book a bit confusing at times, because the various characters are speaking from different times and places and perspectives. Some characters are represented by their writings, others as they speak to a researcher who is looking into the incident. What I loved is how every character truly had a unique voice, which is no small feat when there are over a dozen characters speaking in the first person as the point of view jumps from chapter to chapter. Some of the voices made me a little crazy (the fourteen year old victim (?) is really not a sympathetic character), but that just goes to show how evocative the writing is.

Testimony is well written and compelling. The material is heavy, but, I think, ultimately hopeful. The story ticks along at a good pace, never boring. At the end of the day, I don’t know if I could say I ENJOYED this book, but I definitely recommend it. I think it will make great discussion reading.

Content warning: There is obviously a significant amount of sexual content in the book, but other than the initial description of the taped incident, most of it is not graphic.

About Anita Shreve: Joking that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejections from magazines for her short stories ("I really could have," she says), she published her early work in literary journals. One of these stories, "Past the Island, Drifting," won an O. Henry prize. Despite this accolade, she quickly learned that one couldn't make a living writing short fiction. Switching to journalism, Shreve traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where she lived for three years, working as a journalist for an African magazine. One of her novels, The Last Time They Met, contains bits and pieces from her time in Africa. - from the bio on her website.

Second opinions: She Reads and Reads (didn't like it)