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Testimony

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 14,588 ratings · 2,333 reviews

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed...more

Hardcover, 305 pages

Published October 21st 2008 by Little, Brown and Company (first published January 1st 2008)

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Nov 24, 2008 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary

I had trouble rating this book; it is definetly a page-turner, so why only two stars? I found the storyline riveting, but the writing style took me many pages to get used to - overly simplistic at times. I also felt that it had too many frivolous descriptions; I found myself skimming to find actions, feelings, and more dialogue. During the first half of the book, I was saying, "I do not like this book at all," but as I read further, I discovered the value of it as a lesson to be learned about ho...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Definitely just an ok read. It was quick. Margins were wide and lots of space between the lines. Some reviewer of a different book saw this as a sign that a book of little substance was somehow being made to appear larger. Surely applies to this book. The chapter format was annoying; too many changes from first person to narrator to whatever. The entire premise was bogus: two years after a some kids at a private school are caught up in a sex scandal, a researcher contacts various individuals who...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Ronni rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was lucky enough to get a galley of this book, and I zipped right through it. It's likely inspired by the Duke Lacrosse scandal, as it revolves around a similar scandal at an upscale New Hampshire prep school. The chapters are told from the various points of view of the people involved, from the basketball players, parents, alleged victim, friends, and school administrators. The story moves very quickly and definitely makes the point that every story has multiple interpretations and how the ac...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Daniel Parsons rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"...I discover that it is possible to be angry with someone who has died. It is possible to believe that you will die from grief, that somehow your breathing will catch itself up and simply stop. It is possible to believe that you could have stopped the terrible thing that happened at any time, if only you had known. It is possible to wonder how [they]... could have done this to you, could have left you and not said good-bye. It is possible to know... that your life will never be the same again....more

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May 25, 2008 Miriam rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am a sucker for a boarding school book. And this one has it all. Scandal, scandal, scandal. Great for a plane or a beach or anyone who can't resist snowy high school drama.

6 likes · like · see review

Jan 17, 2009 Kimberly rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

16 likes · like · see review

Jan 01, 2009 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wasn't at all sure I was going to finish reading this book when I first started it. The idea of a graphic sex scandal involving a very young teen did not appeal to me. I hate reading about that stuff. I ordered it just because it was a new Anita Shreve, not even really paying attention or caring about the premise. This author always manages to draw me in with her writing, however, and this book was no exception. Within the first few chapters I was hooked and stayed that way. The graphic stuff...more

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Oct 24, 2008 Darlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've read a few of Anita Shreve's novels and liked them. Testimony was no different. It's a very powerful story that grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps you hooked to the end.

The beginning of the novel introduces us to a devastating videotape that involves two boys 18 years old, one boy 19 years old and a very young girl, aged 14. The tape shows them involved in very explicit sexual acts. They are all very clearly drunk. This tape ends up falling into the headmaster's hands and he...more I've read a few of Anita Shreve's novels and liked them. Testimony was no different. It's a very powerful story that grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps you hooked to the end.

The beginning of the novel introduces us to a devastating videotape that involves two boys 18 years old, one boy 19 years old and a very young girl, aged 14. The tape shows them involved in very explicit sexual acts. They are all very clearly drunk. This tape ends up falling into the headmaster's hands and he scrambles to keep it contained within the Academy's walls. However, this doesn't happen and from that point on everything spirals out of control.

The story is told in the form of testimony, hence the title of the book. This testimony comes from several different people from the man who sold alcohol to teens to the cafeteria staff and to those more intimately involved and finally on to those who committed the offense.

The boys involved all played on the school basketball team and were all very talented. They were to go on to college. They all came from decent enough homes. So this brings us to the question of how does this kind of thing happen? Is it something inherently wrong with the boys? Is it their upbringing? Or, was it instigated by the young girl as there will always be people who question this?

I felt of all the characters Silas truly felt disgusted with himself over what had happened. He couldn't come to terms with it. His mother Anna and something she does is really a catalyst for all that happens. Not that anything could justify these horrendous acts but it really goes to show us how one act in a person's life can have devastating effects on others and spiral into one disaster after another for so many others including themselves.

I found one section in the book that has stayed with me so I'd like to share it...
"A single action can cause a life to veer off in a direction it was never meant to go. Falling in love can do that, you think. And so can a wild party. You marvel at the way each has the power to forever alter an individual's compass. And it is the knowing that such a thing can so easily happen, as you did not know before, not really, that has fundamentally changed you..." ---page 277
The only complaint I would have with this novel is the way it was written in testimony. I didn't feel as if I really got to connect with anyone enough. That being said it is a gripping story and I read it quickly. Again, the story does contain sexual content and difficult subject matter so for some that may not be appealing.

http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspo...(less)

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Mar 01, 2009 Cathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sometimes timing is everything. I really liked this book. It held my interest and was a definite page-turner. I wanted to know what happened and why. The skanky headmaster....wanted to slap him silly! I was glad to see that Rob is going to be OK in the end. I can see this as a Lifetime movie, like The Pilot's Wife.
Added to my review on Booktopia:

I checked out Testimony three times and had to take it back unread twice before I finally had time to sit and read it. It is, however, a quick read. I...more Sometimes timing is everything. I really liked this book. It held my interest and was a definite page-turner. I wanted to know what happened and why. The skanky headmaster....wanted to slap him silly! I was glad to see that Rob is going to be OK in the end. I can see this as a Lifetime movie, like The Pilot's Wife.
Added to my review on Booktopia:

I checked out Testimony three times and had to take it back unread twice before I finally had time to sit and read it. It is, however, a quick read. I read it in one evening. The approach was pretty unique and, for me, it worked. I know it hasn't for some folks, however.
At a boarding school in Vermont, a sex "party" is taped. The story unfolds with first or third person perspective from various folks, some directly involved and some not as much. The frame is that a researcher is doing a study two years after the incident, although the researcher isn't actually part of the story. In some of the chapters, it's first person with the person speaking directly to the researcher in one-on-one interviews. In others, it's third person.
I rated the book pretty highly, five stars on Goodreads. It was definitely a page turner. I did have trouble sometimes remembering who people were and the role they played in the story.
Also, I disagree with her perspective that this would be as big news as Shreve seems to think it would be. Sure, regionally. It would get a blip nationally but not in the terms she said in the book. 10 days running nationally? Nah. Not the incident itself, although I can see the death might elevate it to that. But not a town under siege as she described, imo. And I am a former reporter.
She downplays how elite the school is, as if it's struggling. So, no, not that much media attention, imo, except regionally.
I didn't like the headmaster and I suppose we weren't meant to. His weakness is what led to much of what happened - Silas' involvement and his attempted coverup. I think part of the message of the book is how our missteps affect others and have unintended consequences. I fully expected the headmaster to kill himself, but that didn't happen.
Also, it has been noted in some forums that Shreve frequently makes adultery a theme in her writing and I have wondered about her personal life, if there is a reason for that. I think she oftens portrays adultery in a more sympathetic light than she did in this one. For which I'm glad.
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Dec 01, 2008 Charise rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for such a compelling plot, but I was ultimately disappointed. The structure was appealing: chapters are the voices of alternating characters and members of the community touched by this prestigious high school sex scandal. This structure also created a building momentum, and I was waiting and waiting for bigger revelations, but the twists and turns were obvious, and in the places where the author had room to startle the reader, she just seemed to fall flat.

6 likes · like · see review

Nov 26, 2008 Lanette rated it 2 of 5 stars

I made it to page 83 and in the middle of a random paragraph asked myself "Why am I reading this?"

The writing style... flipping between characters and times... is a tad confusing. There are too many people involved, which meant I didn't give a flying leap about any of them. I suppose we're meant to feel sorry for some, but I didn't...

There are too many GREAT books out there waiting for me to read them, so I'm not going to force myself to finish this one.

11 likes · like · see review

Dec 02, 2008 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Provocative topic, excellent reminder of why teenage acts can have such devastating consequences - they have no sense of perspective yet - they haven't lived long enough to understand they can move past something. Quick read and interesting development of story through the eyes of many players. However, characters and relationships are a little too good and a little too bad to not be a little annoying / unbelievable.

One annoying criticism is that a central piece of suspense throughout the book...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 02, 2009 Danielle Smecker Hillis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first chapter sure got my attention! I didn't want to get out of my car this morning when I got to school,I wanted to keep listening!!

The book was very interesting with a twist I never saw coming toward the end. The author uses different narrators for the many characters in the book. I am not sure how the book is written, but the audio format breaks up the characters into chapters with each chapter a different character telling their version of the story. Some characters you initially fall i...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 16, 2008 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: four-star-fiction, all-fiction, cultural-and-social-commentary

This one's a definite sleep stealer. I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. to finish it, then couldn't get to sleep for thinking about it! It's quite a departure from Shreve's usual style and content, so give it a try even if you think you don't care for her work.
The story revolves around some drunken sexual antics in a boarding school dorm room that are caught on video tape.
Shreve uses a large number of voices or points of view, which has the potential to be cumbersome. I thought she handled it very def...more

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Nov 10, 2008 Laurel-Rain rated it 5 of 5 stars

In a small Vermont village, most-known for its private boarding school for the privileged children of the wealthy, and some who are there on scholarships, a scandal is brewing.

We see the story unveiled, piece by piece, in the voices of the participants. First we learn of a tape, discovered by Mike Bordwin, the headmaster of Avery Academy. It is a sex tape and it reveals the activities of some of the best and brightest – along with the unfortunate appearance on the tape of a fourteen-year-old gir...more

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Oct 19, 2008 Serena rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone that loves Shreve or wants to give her a try

Testimony by Anita Shreve, which will be released on Oct. 21, was such a surprise in my mailbox from Hatchette Group's Miriam Parker. Thanks, Miriam! I met Anita Shreve at the 2002 National Book Festival signing in Washington, D.C. I've been in love with her writing since I first read The Pilot's Wife many years before that, and I will admit here that I've tried to emulate her style in my own writing, though my writing has not met muster.

Testimony is one of those novels that slowly draws you int...more Testimony by Anita Shreve, which will be released on Oct. 21, was such a surprise in my mailbox from Hatchette Group's Miriam Parker. Thanks, Miriam! I met Anita Shreve at the 2002 National Book Festival signing in Washington, D.C. I've been in love with her writing since I first read The Pilot's Wife many years before that, and I will admit here that I've tried to emulate her style in my own writing, though my writing has not met muster.

Testimony is one of those novels that slowly draws you into a prep school known as Avery Academy in Vermont where four boys and one girl make a decision that will change their lives and the lives of other students, teachers, administrators, families, and neighbors for years to come. Testimony is given throughout the novel from a number of characters--minor and major characters--illustrating the depth to which decisions of one or several people can impact others who are seemingly unconnected to the decision-makers. Jacqueline Barnard, a researcher from the University of Vermont, receives the interviews either in written form or through personal encounters with several of the characters.

The videotape that surfaces in Avery Academy Headmaster Mike Bordwin's office is central to the story that unfolds in the novel, but another decision among a pair of adults also impacts the students and others in the town. Shreve is a master of character development and setting. I was drawn into the bitter cold winter snow of Vermont and the coziness of the town and the school, as well as the dark undercurrents in each of these characters' lives. Shreve is adept at highlighting the nuances of how underage sex and drinking affects the students, the faculty, and others, while not preaching to the reader.

Silas and Noelle, two of the main adolescents in the novel, share a deep connection to one another at a tender age. It was tough to watch how this connection was tested and ultimately severed. Silas and his mother, Anna, also have a tight bond and naturally this connection is tested. Another adolescent boy, J. Dot and his bravado, serves as a foil to Silas' hard-working, compassionate, and dutiful persona. Noelle is the naive and romantic girl-next-door, while Sienna is the wild girl looking for trouble even if it is on a subconscious level.

As always, Shreve has outdone herself in this novel, weaving a series of disjointed testimonies into a coherent and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, responsibility, and adolescence. I've often wondered if Shreve has ever tried her hand at poetry because the language she creates on the page paints a vivid image, and those images often conjure deeper meanings and emotions for the reader.(less)

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Nov 05, 2008 Jacki Potratz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

Testimony is told after-the-fact through the eyes of multiple people. A parent confiscates a videotape of several older male students engaging in sex acts with a 14 year old girl and gives it to the headmaster of Avery Academy. Avery is a prestigious boarding school located in Vermont. In an attempt to keep the scandal from the public, Mike Bordwin, headmaster, takes the situation into his own hands. He asks the boys for written confessions, but without the presence of either parents or legal co...more

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Mar 01, 2009 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book yesterday morning and finished this morning. It is the best Shreve has written since Sea Glass - the first book I read by her - and is still my favorite.

This book deals with teenage use of sex and alcohol in a private school in Vermont and how this incident changes everyone involved - even if just by attending the school or living in the town.

Shreve put in a few twists that did surprise.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Picoult -

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Sep 14, 2008 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-favorite-read

I have been an Anita Shreve fan for a long time, and have read all of her books. Yesterday I sat down with an ARC of Testimony, which is scheduled to be released on October 21st, and I was totally blown away. I was not able to go to bed without finishing it. The ARC was only 305 pages, written in short chapters with lots of white space left on the pages. I loved this book, and found it to be well written as well as a very quick read.

I am not going to give anything away other than to say that the...more

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Sep 14, 2008 Kathy (Bermudaonion) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Testimony by Anita Shreve is a gripping tale that explores the way that so many lives can be changed by one simple action. The University of Vermont is doing research on adolescent males and alcohol, so they investigate a sex scandal that rocked a prep school and it’s surrounding community two years previous. The University conducts interviews with as many of the involved people as possible, so the story is told from many different perspectives. The deeper they delve, the more the reader learns...more

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Nov 28, 2010 ☮Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to ☮Karen by: Cindy A

The first chapter is pretty graphic but you have to get through it to understand the rest of the book. The chapters are told from the perspective of different people involved in a sex scandal at a prep school in Vermont. You learn how this scandal affects people in different ways, and in the end you wonder how it could have been prevented. I think this would make parents think twice about shipping off their teenagers to a high school many miles away from home -- who's really watching them and ar...more

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Feb 04, 2009 Lori Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

I normally like Anita Shreve's books, but this one was just not up to par. The subject matter bothered me on various levels, the TREATMENT of that subject matter bothered me, and I got confused and disjointed with her way of making each chapter in a different person's voice. I was left feeling sad, disgusted, and badly wanting to smack "Sienna" very, very hard. It made me think about why bad things happen to good people and the dregs just go on happily oblivious. And I'm currently not in the moo...more

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Mar 31, 2009 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about how a poor decision some high school students made affected their lives longer than anyone would have thought, with dire consequences to some. I enjoyed the time this author took to uncover each character's perspectives.

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Aug 28, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great page-turner. Shreve was obviously inspired by the 2006 Duke Lacrosse scandal but her story is not just a rehashing. She brilliantly sets her story in a boarding school in rural Vermont. This is genius because of the insular, sometimes claustrophobic nature of boarding school communities. There's an interesting town/gown element which is far from black and white (the way the Duke lacrosse scandal was painted in the media). Shreve tells the story from multiple perspectives (over a...more

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Feb 10, 2009 Jodie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book. Suspenseful in an emotional way (not scary-suspenseful, I mean), it was very thought provoking.

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Nov 24, 2008 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-books

Well-executed, multi-voice narration about the aftermath of a sex tape scandal in a small New England boarding school. Quiet and character driven, this Anita Shreve weeper isn't exactly uplifting to read, but nevertheless is an excellent literary examination of choices, consequences, personal ethics and group mentality.

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Feb 18, 2009 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book profoundly unsettling, as a mom, and a past wild child/boarding school attendee. There is a passage where a mother ponders "The Phone Call" and as a mother how every day you wait for the phone call, and you worry, and you wonder, what is it going to be, and am I going to be the lucky one that never receives the phone call, that never meets the police at her door in the dead of night. It reduced me to tears and cost me some sleep.

That said I think that this book also touches on...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Katie Pesznecker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Each chapter is told from a different point of view -- someone whose life was indirectly or profoundly impacted by an event that had three teen boys caught on tape in a sex act with a 14-year-old girl. I get a little tired of the "rotating voice" plot device. And Shreve chose to also bounce between first- and third-person narration. This worked at times. Other times, I felt it was a bit much. She sometimes brought in incidental characters to offer just one brief chapter's worth of narration. All...more

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Feb 08, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the story of a scandal at an exclusive boarding school and how one moment or decision can have a wide-ranging and long-lasting effect.
This book was an easy and compelling read. I finished it in a quick couple of days and always looked forward to it.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that this book could have used some re-structuring. First of all, I had trouble believing the fact that this scandal was big enough to attract the kind of attention that it did (Brian Williams appears in the...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Ali rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having read almost all Anita Shreve's other books (there is 2 of the earlier ones I haven't managed to get arounfd to) I was a little surprised that a writer of such standing and with such a huge following had chosen to write in such a way. I did enjoy this book, but I also have a few issues with it. I have to say first of all it is hugely readable, I had a job to put it down at times. The story of the "sex scandal" is narrated by numerous voices - each of them fairly unique - and this was quite...more

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About Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). A...more Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). After graduating from Tufts University, she taught high school for a number of years in and around Boston. In the middle of her last year, she quit (something that, as a parent, she finds appalling now) to start writing. "I had this panicky sensation that it was now or never."

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.

Returning to the United States, Shreve was a writer and editor for a number of magazines in New York. Later, when she began her family, she turned to freelancing, publishing in the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine and dozens of others. In 1989, she published her first novel, Eden Close. Since then she has written 12 other novels, among them The Weight of Water, The Pilot's Wife, The Last Time They Met, A Wedding in December, and Body Surfing.

In 1998, Shreve received the PEN/L. L. Winship Award and the New England Book Award for fiction. In 1999, she received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey, and The Pilot's Wife became the 25th selection of Oprah's Book Club and an international bestseller. In April 2002, CBS aired the film version of The Pilot's Wife, starring Christine Lahti, and in fall 2002, The Weight of Water, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Sean Penn, was released in movie theaters.

Still in love with the novel form, Shreve writes only in that genre. "The best analogy I can give to describe writing for me is daydreaming," she says. "A certain amount of craft is brought to bear, but the experience feels very dreamlike."

Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13. She has two children and three stepchildren, and in the last eight years has made tuition payments to seven colleges and universities.(less)

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Quotes from Testimony

“And so a person can never promise to love someone forever because you never know what might come up, what terrible thing the person you love might do.” — 21 people liked it

“A single action can cause a life to veer off in a direction it was never meant to go. Falling in love can do that, you think. And so can a wild party. You marvel at the way each has the power to forever alter an individual's compass. And it is the knowing that such a thing can so easily happen, as you did not know before, not really, that has fundamentally changed you and your son.” — 16 people liked it

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