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Book Summary and Reviews of Testimony by Anita Shreve

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Testimony

A Novel

by Anita Shreve

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  • Published:
  • Oct 2008, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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 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. No one more compellingly explores 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.

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Here are some of the books I read this year and loved: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating - Elisabeth Tova Bailey Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin Banyan Moon - Thao Thai A Walk in the Park - Kevin Fedarko Testimony - Anita Shreve The House is on Fire - Rachel Beanland Frozen Ri...
-Roberta_Winchester

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The novel is clever, but the revolving cast of narrators often feels predictable and forced, keeping the novel on the near side of credible." - Publishers Weekly.

"[M]esmerizing, hypnotic, and compulsive. No one walks away unscathed, and that includes the reader." - Library Journal.

"Slick but lacking depth." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about Testimony was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Roberta

Thought-provoking read
I read a number of Anita Shrive books years ago, but hadn't read anything of hers recently. A friend lent me this book and now I want to read more of Shreve's work.

I thought this book was brilliant. The story takes place at a private school in New England and begins with the school master being given a videotape of some boys having sex with an underage girl. Alcohol was involved on the part of everyone involved.

After that the story is told by a chorus of characters, each of whom was affected by the event. It is an absolutely gripping read. As the story unfolds we learn more about how the event occurred and how lapses in judgment, on the part of the adults and the teenagers creates a ripple effect of tragedy and unforeseen results. What was especially thought-provoking for me was thinking about what was the actual cause of the events that took place.

I know some readers find the multiple characters' stories a bit confusing but I didn't find it that hard to follow.

Highly recommend!

Ercie Berwick

Testimony by Anita Shreve
I am immediately turned off by a novel that has each chapter dealing with an individual in the story and refuse to read such a book. However, since Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors, I decided to make an exception. Big mistake! This novel was boring beyond belief, not only because of the story line but because of the way Anita Shreve chose to present it.

My daughter understood that I was not enjoying it and reminded me that there is no law that would compel me to finish the book. However, I plunged on and on and on until I could no longer stand it. I had about twenty pages left to go when I finally slammed the book shut. YAWN!

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Author Information

Anita Shreve Author Biography

Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts. Her approimately 20 novels include The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of Water, Eden Close, Strange Fits of Passion, Where or When, and Resistance.

Anita Shreve began writing fiction while working as a high school teacher after graduating from Tufts University. Although one of her first published stories, "Past the Island, Drifting," was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1975, Shreve felt she couldn't make a living as a fiction writer so she became a journalist. She traveled to Africa and spent three years in Kenya, writing articles that appeared in magazines such as Quest, US, and Newsweek. Back in the United States, she turned to raising her children and writing freelance articles for magazines. Shreve later expanded two of these ...

... Full Biography
Link to Anita Shreve's Website

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