#“A single action can cause a life to veer off in direction it was never meant to go. Falling in love can do that, you think. And so can a wild party.#” With those words, author Anita Shreve#'s newest novel, #“Testimony,”#sends a shiver down the spine of any parent of a teen.
Shreve has written several popular novels, among them #“The Pilot's Wife#,” an Oprah#'s Book Club selection years ago. I read that book and found it good, but not great. #“Testimony#” features a mystery, like #“The Pilot#'s Wife#,” but it is a complete page-turner, and once you start reading, you can#'t put it down.
The novel opens with Mike Bordwin, headmaster of Vermont prep school Avery Academy, viewing a videotape that had been dropped off at his school office. The tape is a home movie of three senior Avery Academy basketball players having sex with what appears to be a very young teenage girl.
Bordwin is shocked and disgusted. He knows these boys, and thinks highly of them. One of them is Silas Quinney, the son of a farmer who lives in town. Mike was personally responsible for Silas attending Avery Academy, and he can#'t believe Silas would do this.
Mike is torn on how he should handle this. He does not want the story to go public, although in the day of YouTube and viral videos, this is an unrealistic expectation. He discovers the name of the girl, a freshman at Avery, and brings her to his office.
She claims to not remember anything about the incident, and although in the video she does appear drunk, she does not appear to be so intoxicated that she would not recall the incident. He senses that she is not telling the entire truth.
Two of the boys are called into his office - Rob, a senior who has a basketball scholarship to Brown University, and J. Dot, a post-graduate student who is trying to get his grades up so that he can attend Gonzaga University to play basketball. Silas cannot be found.
Rob is remorseful, and can#'t look Mike in the eye. J. Dot's attitude is totally different; he is antagonistic and defiant. Mike tells the boys that if they sign a confession right there, he will present it to the school board of directors, and they will be expelled, but he won't refer this to the local police.
The young girl panics after leaving Mike's office, and she calls a friend, fearing she will be in trouble if her parents find out what happened. She and her friend decide she should call her parents and tell them that she was raped at a party on campus. The girl#'s roommate is stunned to hear this conversation. Her roommate has not acted like anything was wrong, and the discussion she overheard with her roommate's# friend is disturbing.
Mike handles the situation poorly, and when J. Dot's family finds out that the boys were forced to sign a confession without their parents or legal counsel being present, they sue the school.
The scandal becomes local, then national news. Reporters from all of the TV news networks set up shop right outside the school gates. Avery Academy fires Mike, and his wife leaves him.
Shreve tells the story from many different characters point of view. A researcher from the University of Vermont is studying the relationship between young men's sexual behavior and alcohol, and contacts people involved in the incident. The story as written are tapes of remembrances of several people, including all of the boys and the girl, Mike, Rob's mom Ellen, Silas#, girlfriend Noelle and his dad.
Using this storytelling device allows the reader to be privy to many different characters#, thoughts, creating empathy for the characters. Having many different narrators can create confusion in the mind of the reader, but in the author's masterful hands, this is not the case.
Seeing the incident and its awful aftermath through the eyes of many different people, the reader is able to discern what really happened. The story is told two years after the incident, so the narrators have the clarity that hindsight brings.
It also allows most of the characters and their actions to be seen through the eyes of others. Mike says of his marriage to Meg, #“It seemed to him that she had consented to marriage, and in that verb lay the very heart of the union, with its innate imbalance.” That one sentence succinctly describes their relationship.
On the other hand, narrating the story in this manner can lead to the reader not understanding the motivation of some characters who do not narrate, most notably Silas's mother. Why she made the decision that led to Silas's spiral downward is slightly puzzling. Again, one action led to many lives that veered off in a bad direction.
The relationships between the characters seemed very realistic. I liked the sweetness between budding sweethearts Noelle and Silas, and related to Ellen and her son Rob.
The author, much like Jodi Picoult does in her books, takes on a topic that brings about a visceral reaction in the reader.
The problem of alcohol use among youth, and the reckless behavior it encourages them to participate in, is one that many parents of teens have discussed and dealt with for years.
Shreve does not give any pat or easy answers to this complicated problem, and the reader may feel #- there but for the grace of God goes I#, when reading this novel. Shreve tugs at the reader#'s heartstrings with her story. The reader is able to see how one bad decision can devastate so many lives. #“Testimony#” brought me to tears more than once, and kept me turning the pages. I give it four and a half stars.
I read this novel on Amazon.com#'s Kindle reader. It is a terrific way for people who like to bring books with them to read while they are waiting in a doctor#'s office, on an airplane, or while dining out alone.
It is the size of a paperback, but much thinner. It wirelessly connects to Amazon.com, enabling the reader to purchase and download a book in seconds to read anywhere. You can read a sample chapter of a book to decide whether or not to purchase it.
Most books cost $9.99, a big savings over the cost of a new hardcover book.
The Kindle is priced at $359, which is a significant cost. It does enable the reader to keep her library on the device, making it a space saver for those who live in a small residence.
It is easy to read, using actual black ink electronically displayed, and the font size can be enlarged. The reader can keep notes (it has a keyboard) and bookmark pages as well. For those who like their electronic gadgets, I recommend it.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at
laruediane2000@yahoo.com
The novel opens with Mike Bordwin, headmaster of Vermont prep school Avery Academy, viewing a videotape that had been dropped off at his school office. The tape is a home movie of three senior Avery Academy basketball players having sex with what appears to be a very young teenage girl.
Bordwin is shocked and disgusted. He knows these boys, and thinks highly of them. One of them is Silas Quinney, the son of a farmer who lives in town. Mike was personally responsible for Silas attending Avery Academy, and he can#'t believe Silas would do this.
Mike is torn on how he should handle this. He does not want the story to go public, although in the day of YouTube and viral videos, this is an unrealistic expectation. He discovers the name of the girl, a freshman at Avery, and brings her to his office.
She claims to not remember anything about the incident, and although in the video she does appear drunk, she does not appear to be so intoxicated that she would not recall the incident. He senses that she is not telling the entire truth.
Two of the boys are called into his office - Rob, a senior who has a basketball scholarship to Brown University, and J. Dot, a post-graduate student who is trying to get his grades up so that he can attend Gonzaga University to play basketball. Silas cannot be found.
Rob is remorseful, and can#'t look Mike in the eye. J. Dot's attitude is totally different; he is antagonistic and defiant. Mike tells the boys that if they sign a confession right there, he will present it to the school board of directors, and they will be expelled, but he won't refer this to the local police.
The young girl panics after leaving Mike's office, and she calls a friend, fearing she will be in trouble if her parents find out what happened. She and her friend decide she should call her parents and tell them that she was raped at a party on campus. The girl#'s roommate is stunned to hear this conversation. Her roommate has not acted like anything was wrong, and the discussion she overheard with her roommate's# friend is disturbing.
Mike handles the situation poorly, and when J. Dot's family finds out that the boys were forced to sign a confession without their parents or legal counsel being present, they sue the school.
The scandal becomes local, then national news. Reporters from all of the TV news networks set up shop right outside the school gates. Avery Academy fires Mike, and his wife leaves him.
Shreve tells the story from many different characters point of view. A researcher from the University of Vermont is studying the relationship between young men's sexual behavior and alcohol, and contacts people involved in the incident. The story as written are tapes of remembrances of several people, including all of the boys and the girl, Mike, Rob's mom Ellen, Silas#, girlfriend Noelle and his dad.
Using this storytelling device allows the reader to be privy to many different characters#, thoughts, creating empathy for the characters. Having many different narrators can create confusion in the mind of the reader, but in the author's masterful hands, this is not the case.
Seeing the incident and its awful aftermath through the eyes of many different people, the reader is able to discern what really happened. The story is told two years after the incident, so the narrators have the clarity that hindsight brings.
It also allows most of the characters and their actions to be seen through the eyes of others. Mike says of his marriage to Meg, #“It seemed to him that she had consented to marriage, and in that verb lay the very heart of the union, with its innate imbalance.” That one sentence succinctly describes their relationship.
On the other hand, narrating the story in this manner can lead to the reader not understanding the motivation of some characters who do not narrate, most notably Silas's mother. Why she made the decision that led to Silas's spiral downward is slightly puzzling. Again, one action led to many lives that veered off in a bad direction.
The relationships between the characters seemed very realistic. I liked the sweetness between budding sweethearts Noelle and Silas, and related to Ellen and her son Rob.
The author, much like Jodi Picoult does in her books, takes on a topic that brings about a visceral reaction in the reader.
The problem of alcohol use among youth, and the reckless behavior it encourages them to participate in, is one that many parents of teens have discussed and dealt with for years.
Shreve does not give any pat or easy answers to this complicated problem, and the reader may feel #- there but for the grace of God goes I#, when reading this novel. Shreve tugs at the reader#'s heartstrings with her story. The reader is able to see how one bad decision can devastate so many lives. #“Testimony#” brought me to tears more than once, and kept me turning the pages. I give it four and a half stars.
I read this novel on Amazon.com#'s Kindle reader. It is a terrific way for people who like to bring books with them to read while they are waiting in a doctor#'s office, on an airplane, or while dining out alone.
It is the size of a paperback, but much thinner. It wirelessly connects to Amazon.com, enabling the reader to purchase and download a book in seconds to read anywhere. You can read a sample chapter of a book to decide whether or not to purchase it.
Most books cost $9.99, a big savings over the cost of a new hardcover book.
The Kindle is priced at $359, which is a significant cost. It does enable the reader to keep her library on the device, making it a space saver for those who live in a small residence.
It is easy to read, using actual black ink electronically displayed, and the font size can be enlarged. The reader can keep notes (it has a keyboard) and bookmark pages as well. For those who like their electronic gadgets, I recommend it.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at
laruediane2000@yahoo.com
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