Testimony by Anita Shreve

Testimony charters the accounts of several individuals following a sexual assault at a private school in the small town of Avery, New England. 

Not only does it cover the views of the four people directly involved in the assault, but people who are indirectly impacted on the incident which rocks the small town, bringing national attention.

The views of fellow students, parents, teachers, the police and media are all included, after the assault is filmed and uploaded to the internet. A key character is that of Mike, the headmaster of the school. His testimony is by far the most regular and detailed than the other characters.

Mike attempts to handle the incident himself with disastrous consequences, for him, the school and many individuals.

The accounts are a mixture of first, second and third person. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency with why some are in one style and another person in a different one. There are also accounts from people which don’t have any relevance to the story, for example the dinner lady.

Meanwhile, there are characters which views are not covered, with others hardly featured, even though they are more closely involved and would be an interesting view to read.

What keeps the reader turning the pages is the desire to discover what led to the assault and what the outcome was for everyone involved.

Shreve cleverly looks at how an incident of this nature can create more than one victim and how the knock-on effect can create hundreds, if not thousands of victims. Educational aspirations, careers, marriages, relationships, businesses and ultimately lives can all be ruined because of one incident.

The mismatch writing style in Testimony is too off-putting and prevents the reader to get into a flow, making it difficult to feel empathy or interest for any of the characters.

The Review of Books score: 2/5