Summer Reading: Testimony by Anita Shreve

With school soon ending, I think my blogging material will be making a slight shift. My fashion choices are going to be more casual as I am not working so there may not be many exciting outfit of the day pictures. It will just be me in that day's tee and shorts or skirt. I 've decided to mix it up and start adding some other topics to my blog to make it more personal. I have a pile of books I am planning on reading this summer and plan to post about the notable selections. The first book in my pile is Testimony by Anita Shreve.

I'm a big fan of Anita Shreve's novels so when I saw her new book in Costco last week, I snatched it up. This book is quite different than her other novels. The Amazon description reads:

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.

It opens by describing a sex video that four teens have made. It is a bit graphic. The scene takes place is a school and the video was discovered by a teacher. As a teacher myself, it kind of creeped me out. I hope my students are not doing the type of things that were going on in this novel!

The story not told from one point of view, but instead is told from many different character's perspectives in an interview format two years after the novel's events. That made it difficult to get into. Usually when I start a novel, I get really into it and sometimes end up reading all night. It took me a couple of days to finish this one. By the end, the novel did get better. It has a twist and a somewhat shocking ending.

For those looking for some summer fluff reading, this book may be a good beach read. But it is not a happy-go-lucky novel. It's hard to get into at first, but it does get better so stick with it.