Testimony: A Novel (edition 2009)

This is, ultimately, a love story. Not a love story of the traditional sense of the word – or phrase – but rather, a story about the different forms of love, and how they react when confronted with a catastrophe of unimaginable scales.

It is a story about repentance.
‘I understand you have to pay. I get that part. My question is this: For how long?’

Regret.
‘If I could go back, I would erase that day, that night.’
‘If only I had left. If only I hadn’t been so drunk. If only I hadn’t been so angry.’

Incredulity.
‘No mother believed it possible of her own child.’
‘Where is Silas? Where is my beautiful boy?’

Anger.
‘“Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have thrown away?”’

Self-doubt.
‘Should I have been more strict? Should I have been less strict? It’s hard to know in retrospect.’

Greed.
‘The real reason I’m salivating is because I know I’m about to tap into the best possible source a reporter on this kind of a story could ever want. Students.’

It is the story of a multitude of people, all connected by the scandal.
‘It was a small cassette, not much bigger than the palm of his hand,’

It is a story trying to convey the message: no one is perfect.
It is a story showing how people exploit hurtful things to get a place on the front page.
It is a story about how some love will prevail and flourish even when faced with crises, and how other love with wither and die given the slightest excuse.

I agree with the message this book was trying to put forth, to make us understand. It disappointed me, though. The story was progressing with the pace of a snail. And not just any snail – a half-asleep snail without much motivation to move.

Probably, if I read this book in, say, five years, I will raise the rating. Right now, though, too little is happening and the things that are happening are too predictable. That, and the fact that I have a serious issue with Sienna.

I know that one should not judge a book by the characters in it – there has to be the ‘bad guy’ in the plot for the story to be successful, after all – but, so sue me, it happens every time. Usually, I’m fine with almost everything the ‘bad guy’ does – you locked the heroine up? Fine, go ahead – she deserved it. You killed the main character? He was bound to die anyway the way he was carrying on. But to make up rape accusations as a way to save your own skin? No. Just no. ( )

It's a wonderful written story about a tragic occurrence at a privat school in Vermont. The incident is written on the point of view from participants which are different in age as well in the involvement of their part. As a reader I've got an insight without any estimation for one or the other. Even though what had gone on was something anybody wouldn't wish for someone else and could change life of many people it is also a situation where anybody can drop in. As parents we are obliged to protect our children from such circumstances by explain them how to conduct themselves in those situations but we'll get never the security if it'll work out in a good way. ( )

I enjoyed this title, especially the multiple perspectives told in varying persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd). It jumped around in time, but it was an interesting way to tell what unfolded. Each person's perspective was unique and helped to show the theme that one incident can affect many, many people, institutions, and communities - much more than just the people immediately involved in the incident. ( )

The first paragraph foreshadows a tragedy in which three marriages are destroyed, the lives of three students at a private school in Vermont are ruined, and death claims an innocent victim. The precipitating event is a sex tape involving three members of the boys' basketball team and a freshman girl. Beginning with an account of the debacle by the Avery School's then headmaster, and segueing to the voices of the participants in the orgy, plus their parents and others touched by the scandal, the narrative explores the widening consequences of a single event. Shreve's character delineation is astute, and the novel's moral questions—ranging from the boys' behavior to the headmaster's breach of legal ethics to the guilt of those involved in the death—are salient if heavy-handed, while the female characters are wicked in the way women have always been stereotypically portrayed.

Very graphic sex scene at the start involving a 14 year old girl and three older students ( )

I was wrong about Anita Shreve. Before picking up this novel, I assumed she was an Oprah lightweight, cranking out weepy family dramas sure to make the best seller list. On the contrary, however, I found "Testimony" well written and more intense then I expected. The story centers around a sex tape involving three male seniors and a very young freshman girl. Shreve has chosen to tell the story from a variety of angles and voices and I really liked this style. She plays around with perspective and, even though it's a little creaky at times, I liked it. I was completely hooked from start to finish. A great summer read for it's juiciness, but all in all, rather dark. ( )