TESTIMONY

TITLE: TESTIMONY
AUTHOR: ANITA SHREVE
Pages: 305
Date: 31/12/2008
Grade: 5
Details: Ryan Tubridy book club selection for January 2009
Library

In a private school in Vermont a sex scandal breaks when 3 boys are caught on tape with a 14 year old girl. During the time that follows, a lot of lives are changed for ever, while a few are utterly destroyed.
In this book, most of the people involved in the events leading up to that night, a well as those involved in the scandal itself, give their sides of the story.
This was an interesting book. For a while I wasn't sure if I'd end up liking it or not. What makes this book so different is that no verdict is given about the rights or wrongs of the actions taken by any of the characters. The narrator, in a way, is absent from the story, in so far that only the voices of those involved are heard. And while they may or may not say something about their own actions and motivations, or about their own responsibility or lack there off, it's left to the reader to make up their own mind about how to apportion guilt.
In another book, with another story this could be viewed as laziness or cowardice on the part of the author, but I don't think that's the case here. I'd be hard pressed to point the finger at any one person or action in this book and pronounce a guilty verdict. As in real life, the answer isn't that clear cut. And exactly that is what makes his book so good and thought provoking.