Monday, December 22, 2008

Review: Testimony by Anita Shreve

Testimony by Anita Shreve was interesting. The book starts out with a graphic description of a video made by teens at a private school. The video is of three boys and a girl having various forms of sex. It is being viewed by the headmaster of the school.

The rest of the book then takes us through the what happened, the why and what happens after. It was hard on everyone involved, as you can imagine.

The story is written from many points of view - the various participants in the video, the headmaster, parents of the kids along with other kids affected. It is written by some in present time and some as it occurs. This sounds like it might be confusing, but it really isn't. Ms. Shreve does a great job with the writing to allow an easy transition between characters and time.

This book made me uncomfortable. And it made me think. Both of which were the intent, I believe.

I am giving it a four star rating - I am definitely glad I stuck through the difficult beginning and read it all the way through.

A big thanks to Miriam of Hachette Books for sending me this book. And check out other books by Anita Shreve. She has written many books that I've enjoyed and more that are on my tbr list.

Other reviewers: J.Kaye, The Book Lady, and The Sleepy Reader.
If you'd like your review linked here, just let me know!

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree - this book will make you think!

Jo-Jo said...

I have heard that this is an unsettling book. I have this one and hope to be reading it in the next month or so.