Testimony

Rating NR Genre fiction Author Anita Shreve Publisher Little, Brown and Company

Anita Shreve’s Testimony is an entertaining eclectic mix of perspectives, characters, and events surrounding the scandal of a sex tape that involves four teens at a private New England boarding school.  The story begins with Mike Bordwin, the school’s headmaster, reviewing the confiscated tape.  Caught on video are three boys engaging in various sexual acts with a girl.  The person maneuvering the camera, however, is a mystery (until the end of the story).  With revulsion, Mike recognizes the three boys, who are star athletes with promising academic futures and are all over seventeen. He does not know the girl’s name, but he does know that she is much younger than the boys. 

Mike’s initial decision to conceal the video as long as he can causes the first gust in the storm that follows for the predominantly close-knit, farming community in which the school is located.  The video somehow ends up on the Internet, the boys are soon arrested for sexual assault, and the girl goes into hiding.  Journalists from all over turn up in town, and for a while the scandal is part of the daily national news.

Out of that single, reckless act emerges accusations, guilt, confessions, hurt, anger, and not just from the kids.  Many people who are connected to the teens--whether they are the mothers and fathers, friends, schoolmates, police, townspeople, or even the reporter hounding for the juiciest bits of the story--candidly give their opinions on what occurred that night and who is to blame.  The school’s reputation and financial state are damaged, postsecondary prospects are quashed, and relationships, marriages, and careers are ruined. 

That a small tape can hold enough power to destroy lives burns in Mike’s thoughts, and thereafter he is forever haunted by it, partly because of the students’ indiscretions and partly because of the part he played in the entire mess.

The revealing of a sex tape is not a new story, but the way in which Anita Shreve builds it is an interesting departure.  Each chapter is a different perspective, or testimony, regarding the incident.  How the incident affected each person’s life in different ways makes this an absorbing read.  The story pulls the reader back and forth between the time before and the period after the scandal.  Shreve also switches between present and past tense, and points of view vary as well, from first-person to second-person to third-person.  These shifts, as well as the brief chapters, brilliantly highlight the chaos that shakes up the town and create a suspenseful story.  Using the various viewpoints, Shreve stitches the sad tales together into a realistic “big picture” of how any selfish act can have detrimental effects on others.  Her ability to create this frenetic story without confusing the reader makes her one of the most talented writers today.

The most interesting testimonies are those of Mike Bordwin and Anna and Owen Quinney, the parents of one of the accused boys.  Shreve took great care with their stories, describing nuances in these characters’ physical gestures and dialogue that seem inconsequential but add to the emotional waves as the story progresses.

What makes Shreve’s story brave is that she doesn’t stick to the schoolgirl victim portrayal.  Too many stories paint teenage girls as gullible, ignorant of their sexuality, and utterly averse to exploring their desires.  This girl, though very young, was a willing participant, and to have depicted her as a helpless casualty would’ve made the story contrived and pandering.

Anita Shreve’s works, which include The Pilot’s Wife and The Last Time They Met, often deftly explore the power of a sole person’s influences on others, and she once again proves her skill.  The intensity in this story makes Testimony her most provocative novel to date.