For book club, we read Testimony by Anita Shreve. Generally, I find something valuable about every book we read, but this one was a real stretch. It was so disturbing that I decided not finish it. It's the story of the rape of a fourteen year old girl in a Vermont boarding school by three older boys. The girl was complicit and probably a sociopath, but still a minor. Shreve related the story from the point of view of all the people involved in or touched by the events. The girl, the boys and their parents, roommates, the headmaster and his wife. Each chapter had a different voice and the speakers shared their perspectives on the event. As the story unfolded, we could see how the events impacted each person's life.
Even though I couldn't read all of it, we had a fascinating discussion, first on the book and then on unrelated topics. I love when we spend the whole night laughing!
Instead of the assigned book, I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It's a post-apocalyptic novel set in the present and near future. A terrible pandemic caused by the Georgian flu spreads across the earth and kills millions leaving only isolated settlements. Civilization as we know it, ends. No transportation system, no communications. It was very reminiscent of the middle ages when waves of the plague wiped out a third of the population.
Traveling between the settlements is a group of survivors who call themselves "The Symphony." They've forgotten or abandoned their names and instead are called by the instrument they play, like the flute or the conductor. The troupe also contains Shakespearean actors. Their motto is taken from Star Trek: "To survive is not enough." They meant that life without art and music is not worth living.
I picked up the book in the Atlanta airport and didn't put it down till I finished it. Suspenseful, thought-provoking, and poetic, the characters drew me in and held on tight.
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