Testimony--A Novel

A shocking video of amateur porn plunges a prep school into turmoil, leaving faculty, families, and the tape's student stars struggling to come to grips with its creation and aftermath. A full cast presents each chapter from the point of view of one person involved in the events of that night, either directly or by association. Every voice actor turns in a stellar performance, with exactly the right vocal tones for his or her age and perspective. A hotshot ball player betrays the barest hint of vulnerability, while his socialite mother struggles to balance remorse and resourcefulness. A local farmer fights crushing grief, while his wife gives in to guilt. A headmaster with his head in the clouds weaves all the points of view together into a story haunted by hindsight, insight, and sadness. R.L.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

August 11, 2008
Shreve’s novels (Body Surfing
; The Weight of Water
) benefit from propulsive plots, and her mixed latest, with its timely theme of debauchery among children of privilege, does not lack in this regard. 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. 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. 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 in the death—are salient if heavy-handed, while the female characters are “wicked” in the way women have always been stereotypically portrayed. The novel is clever, but the revolving cast of narrators often feels predictable and forced, keeping the novel on the near side of credible.

This full-cast production tells the spellbinding story of a sex scandal caught on videotape at a prestigious New England boarding school. The drug and alcohol-compromised participants, particularly the 14-year-old victim, portray the tension of sexual curiosity and the reality of next-day regret, making the event especially believable. Harsh but compelling scenarios of the rape are presented through the voices of multiple participants. The account is also told from several viewpoints--the parents, privileged underage students, school administrators, and a reporter. Although the novel's beginning is graphic, the surprising truths, healing, and life transformations make the story worth continuing to the end. The choice of multiple narrators adds to the intensity of the production. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2009
Shreve, author of the 1999 Oprah's Book Club® selection The Pilot's Wife and Resistance, which was adapted into a 2003 movie of the same name, begins her latest novel with a sex scandal at an elite New England boarding school. While a few of the characters are flat, listeners will enjoy the performances of the 14 talented readers, among them Ellen Archer, Kevin T. Collins, and Stephanie Wolfe. A fine example of how audio can transcend print; for public libraries. [Audio clip available through library.booksontape.comLJ 8/08.Ed.]Carly Wiggins, Allen Cty. P.L., Fort Wayne, IN

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2008
Shreve, consummate crafstman and frequent provocateur, ison fire in her latest novel, a mesmerizing read centering on a sex scandal at a prestigious Vermontprep school.The story is laid out in short, dramatic chapters narrated by a chorus of participants and bystanders, from the beleagured headmaster to theheartbroken parents tothe vacuous girl at the center of the scandal. Three star basketball players were videotaped having sex with a freshman, and the tape was then postedon the Internet. Thereaction is immediate and the results devastating, destroying marriages, ruining futures, and, most horrifying of all, resulting in a death. Part of what makes the novel so riveting is itsgraphic rehashing of a scandal familiar from newspaper headlines, but most of this affecting novels appeal lies in the way it so carefully fills in the nuances often missing from the headlines. One of the boys, the son of local farmers who was attending the elite school on scholarship, had learned a shocking secret about his mother just prior to the incident and, uncharacteristically, hadtoo much to drink. Conversely, the girlultimately calls the cops, thereby alerting the media, and accuses the boys of rape because its easier than having to face the wrath of her father.Shreveviews all of the characters, even the most flawed, with a good deal of compassion, revealingthe heartbreaking consequences of a single reckless act.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)