Testimony: A Novel
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.60 (786 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B001BADH8U |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 167 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-10-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
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. All rights reserved. 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. . 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
No one more compellinglyexplores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.. 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 in one foolish moment.Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break
Read this and Weep Like all of Anita Shreve's books, this one sneaks up on you. A tragic situation -- young people engaged in exploitative sexual behavior caught on camera -- is explored from the points of view of teachers, parents, and the youths themselves. Shreve explores the self-serving accounts of many of the adults and the bewilderment of the teens involved or adjacent. Each one "testifies," and nobody knows the whole truth. And further tragedies ensue. The book is fascinating, at times even fun. Leonie H said A very confronting story of youth.. Very well written and easy to read. An insightful and yet tragic story of the lives and loves of students at a private school in America. The author managed to put you into the thoughts of all the characters, easily and with great care, so that you could live the story through their eyes. Although not a book I would have thought to read, it was truly amazing and flowed so well, I would recommend it to any parent to read.. "Engaging, but I would have preferred more tawdry" according to Avid Reader. Although this book was a quick read, I didn't care for it. For one thing, the non-linear narrative, told from a variety of perspectives, only works some of the time and quite often fails. (Anytime Shreve is attempting the voice of a lower class townsperson, it comes off as condescending.) Oddly, her male narrators are much stronger than her female narrators, and the voice of the "victim" is so cliche as to be painful. Also, the incident at the center of this book is not as interestin