Testimony

For my very first audiobook review post, I'm going to talk about Testimony by Anita Shreve. More firsts - this is the only Anita Shreve book I've ever read (or listened to) AND it was my first multi-cast performance audiobook.

I don't want to give too much away about the story, with the hope that you'll decide to listen to it to, but it centers around a shocking videotape that's discovered at a prestigious New England Boarding school. It is of a sexual nature and the people in the video are minors. The repercussions surrounding the surfacing of the tape affects the lives of many, not just those directly in the tape. 

Well, from the moment the story began, I was hooked. Since the story is broken down into short sections narrated by 14 different actors (some playing more than one part), it was easy to pay attention to. Having a different voice for every character really created a multi-layered performance that lent itself to elevating the dramatic tension of the story even more - but I never felt like the delivery was overly done. The perfect amount of tension was created. Since there are so many characters to keep track of, what’s great is that there’s a PDF included on CD #8 that contains a detailed character listing. (I never needed it, but it was nice to know it was there if I ever did.)

Of course, I can’t give away the ending, but it definitely did not disappoint. I can’t say from this one book that I’m an Anita Shreve fan, but I’d be willing to give her other books a try since I did enjoy this one so much. Hopefully, you will too!