Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Washington Square Press (2008), Edition: Later Printing, 455 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML:Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and Small Great Things pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy. Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens�??until the day its complacency is shattered by a school shooting. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened before her very own eyes�??or can she? As the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show�??destroying the closest of friendships and families. Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they se… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member riofriotex
Once again Picoult tackles an issue in the news, this time school shootings. The nineteen minutes of the title is the amount of time it takes bullied Peter Houghton to kill ten at his high school. This is the story of that event, what led up to it, and the aftermath.
Picoult creates memorable
Picoult’s writing made me really care about and feel empathy for Peter, a loner who is bullied to extremes by everyone, including the older brother his parents idolized, who was killed by a drunken driver a year earlier. Although I could not excuse what Peter did, I could understand how he was driven to it. I was also able to sympathize with Josie, the girl on the fringe of the “in” crowd, bullied herself by her popular jock boyfriend, being cruel to her old friend Peter in order to fit in, feeling guilty about it, but worried that if she doesn’t, her so-called friends will turn on her.
The character who most touched me was Lacy, Peter’s mom, wondering what it was she did “wrong.” I saw a mother like me who did the best she could, making some mistakes along the way, whose only real error was blindness towards the cruelty of her oldest son. I loved this passage near the end of the book:
"Everyone would remember Peter for nineteen minutes of his life, but what about the other nine million? Lacy would have to be the keeper of those, because it was the only way for that part of Peter to stay alive. For every recollection of him that involved a bullet or a scream, she would have a hundred others: of a little boy splashing in a pond, or riding a bicycle for the first time, or waving from the top of a jungle gym. Of a kiss good night, or a crayoned Mother’s Day card, or a voice off-key in the shower. She would string them together—the moments when her child had been just like any other people’s. She would wear them, precious pearls, every day of her life; because if she lost them, then the boy she had loved and raised and known would really be gone."
Like the other Picoult novel I read, My Sister’s Keeper, this story has a twist near the end, unlike that other book, this twist is believable. The book makes the reader consider the issues of bullying, high school peer pressure, the quest to be popular, and violent video games. Recommended.
Picoult creates memorable
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characters: Peter, his midwife mother Lacy and professor father Lewis, his former best friend Josie Cormier, and her mother Alex, a judge who used to be friends with Lacy. Characters from some of Picoult’s previous books reappear: defense lawyer Jordan McAfee and investigating cop Patrick Ducharme.Picoult’s writing made me really care about and feel empathy for Peter, a loner who is bullied to extremes by everyone, including the older brother his parents idolized, who was killed by a drunken driver a year earlier. Although I could not excuse what Peter did, I could understand how he was driven to it. I was also able to sympathize with Josie, the girl on the fringe of the “in” crowd, bullied herself by her popular jock boyfriend, being cruel to her old friend Peter in order to fit in, feeling guilty about it, but worried that if she doesn’t, her so-called friends will turn on her.
The character who most touched me was Lacy, Peter’s mom, wondering what it was she did “wrong.” I saw a mother like me who did the best she could, making some mistakes along the way, whose only real error was blindness towards the cruelty of her oldest son. I loved this passage near the end of the book:
"Everyone would remember Peter for nineteen minutes of his life, but what about the other nine million? Lacy would have to be the keeper of those, because it was the only way for that part of Peter to stay alive. For every recollection of him that involved a bullet or a scream, she would have a hundred others: of a little boy splashing in a pond, or riding a bicycle for the first time, or waving from the top of a jungle gym. Of a kiss good night, or a crayoned Mother’s Day card, or a voice off-key in the shower. She would string them together—the moments when her child had been just like any other people’s. She would wear them, precious pearls, every day of her life; because if she lost them, then the boy she had loved and raised and known would really be gone."
Like the other Picoult novel I read, My Sister’s Keeper, this story has a twist near the end, unlike that other book, this twist is believable. The book makes the reader consider the issues of bullying, high school peer pressure, the quest to be popular, and violent video games. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member mrstreme
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is one of the most provocative books I have read in a long time. While her story is centered on one event, a high school shooting in a small New Hampshire town, Picoult weaves a tale of many threads: bullying, abuse, parenting and guilt. Her story blankets you, but
Peter Houghton is a kid who is picked on all his life. Since the day he stepped on the bus in kindergarten to walking the halls in high school, he was the favorite butt end of jokes played by the popular kids in school. He was stuffed into lockers, “pantsed” in the cafeteria, and called “homo and “fag.” His one friend from childhood, Josie, abandoned him for the popular crowd in middle school and acted like her old friend does not exist. Peter is lonely and tormented, and makes the lethal decision to do the unthinkable: He walks into his high school and shoots 10 classmates and a teacher, stopping just once to eat some Rice Krispies in the cafeteria.
Facing life in prison or the death penalty, Peter’s attorney, Jordan McAfee, creates a new defense – a possible way to get Peter not convicted of the crime. Like how battered women kill their abusive husbands, something in Peter’s brain snapped – a reaction to years of humiliation and fear that overrules his better judgment. It’s a type of post-traumatic stress disorder that affects people like Peter, who have been bullied all of their life. Does this defense work? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Picoult is a courageous writer. As a reader, she dares you to find sympathy for Peter. She provokes you into hating the bullies who made his life a living hell. She makes you think about Peter’s parents and leaves you with decisions only you can make: Was Peter “not himself” when he shot his classmates? Did the bullies deserve it, even in some small way? Are Peter’s parents at fault for how he turned out?
I couldn’t help but think about my sons as I read this book. As a parent, I really don’t know what I am doing half of the time. I guess and fumble as I go – just like Peter’s parents. This book articulated one of my biggest parental fears –when your kids became a mystery to you. When the little kid who cried for you when he scrapes his knee may repulse at your touch. Who, when hurting so much inside, may not say a word to you. Or worse, when he does reach out, you miss it. That disconnect could be the first domino of many to fall. I thought a lot about this disconnect while reading Nineteen Minutes because the parents of the victims and Peter’s parents all felt it too. What if they connected instead?
I didn’t walk away with the answers after finishing this book. Perhaps there are none. But I won’t ever forget these words, this story and these characters. I highly recommend Nineteen Minutes to those who have the guts to read it. It will leave a fingerprint on your heart.
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not like a soft, down comforter. It’s more like a quilt of thorns, plucking at you, making you think and wonder: What if? Why?Peter Houghton is a kid who is picked on all his life. Since the day he stepped on the bus in kindergarten to walking the halls in high school, he was the favorite butt end of jokes played by the popular kids in school. He was stuffed into lockers, “pantsed” in the cafeteria, and called “homo and “fag.” His one friend from childhood, Josie, abandoned him for the popular crowd in middle school and acted like her old friend does not exist. Peter is lonely and tormented, and makes the lethal decision to do the unthinkable: He walks into his high school and shoots 10 classmates and a teacher, stopping just once to eat some Rice Krispies in the cafeteria.
Facing life in prison or the death penalty, Peter’s attorney, Jordan McAfee, creates a new defense – a possible way to get Peter not convicted of the crime. Like how battered women kill their abusive husbands, something in Peter’s brain snapped – a reaction to years of humiliation and fear that overrules his better judgment. It’s a type of post-traumatic stress disorder that affects people like Peter, who have been bullied all of their life. Does this defense work? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Picoult is a courageous writer. As a reader, she dares you to find sympathy for Peter. She provokes you into hating the bullies who made his life a living hell. She makes you think about Peter’s parents and leaves you with decisions only you can make: Was Peter “not himself” when he shot his classmates? Did the bullies deserve it, even in some small way? Are Peter’s parents at fault for how he turned out?
I couldn’t help but think about my sons as I read this book. As a parent, I really don’t know what I am doing half of the time. I guess and fumble as I go – just like Peter’s parents. This book articulated one of my biggest parental fears –when your kids became a mystery to you. When the little kid who cried for you when he scrapes his knee may repulse at your touch. Who, when hurting so much inside, may not say a word to you. Or worse, when he does reach out, you miss it. That disconnect could be the first domino of many to fall. I thought a lot about this disconnect while reading Nineteen Minutes because the parents of the victims and Peter’s parents all felt it too. What if they connected instead?
I didn’t walk away with the answers after finishing this book. Perhaps there are none. But I won’t ever forget these words, this story and these characters. I highly recommend Nineteen Minutes to those who have the guts to read it. It will leave a fingerprint on your heart.
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LibraryThing member vfranklyn
Warning: Spoilers ahead. The main reason I'm giving this book 4 stars is that I feel compelled to read it a second time, which I rarely do with books. This story is very disturbing and complicated as the author tackles the causes and consequences of a school shooting in a small town. The book is
The biggest problem I had with this book was the ending when Josie admitted to shooting her boyfriend. I just found that hard to accept, so I've decided to re-read the book to see if I can get a better grasp of her character.
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dense and sad and Picoult deftly sneaks sympathy for the shooter into the development of the plot. She doesn't shy away from the cold hard truth that all people make mistakes, and from the shooter's parents' perspective, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.The biggest problem I had with this book was the ending when Josie admitted to shooting her boyfriend. I just found that hard to accept, so I've decided to re-read the book to see if I can get a better grasp of her character.
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LibraryThing member ccavalli
Picoult always takes the headline stories and develops a compelling story behind them. Her characters are well-developed and the story has plenty of ideas. But, as in My Sister's Keeper, I felt that the ending was a bit of a let-down. It seems that all the effort and good ideas weren't able to
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continue to the end in either story and at some point it turns into something more "popular" and less believeable. It disappoints me because up to that point the story is really so good.... Show Less
LibraryThing member murphh
As Josie is getting older, her realtionship with her mom, the judge of the county court, gets tested. She's involved in a serious relationship and attending a school where many kids are bullied. Reading this book makes you reconceder how you treat your fellow classmates. There is many mysterious
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parts of this novel, so if you enjoy mystery and murder this is a great book. Nineteen Minutes does contain foul language.. Show Less
LibraryThing member phillyexpat
When it came down to reading the final words of the book, I realized that I really didn't like Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes. Not at all. The writing was smug and self-righteous. None of the characters had distinct voices. A pivotal character was so two dimensionally awful that his fate is no
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shock. Why make a character so uniformly unlikeable unless you want to justify the events that transpire? I admit that I also, as a firm believer in Social Darwinism, tend not to take as much pity on "outcasts" as the book would have liked me to, but there was nothing new here. No revelations, no excitement. I felt nothing for the characters. I'm mad that I even read it. And there was one point where I swear one character that was dead mysteriously came back to life for about 10 pages (it stuck out because he had the same name as one of my relatives). The more I think about it, the more I want to haul the book, down to its sappy cover, across the room and stomp on it until it's obliterated. That's it. No more Jodi Picoult. She peaked with My Sister's Keeper. Show Less
LibraryThing member kellyoliva
In Sterling, New Hampshire, we meet Peter Houghton, a senior in high school who went on a shooting rampage at his high school. He killed 10 and injured many, yet did not take his own life. As the entire country tries to understand what led Peter to murder his peers, the people who know Peter
This novel has many layers and incredibly real, flawed characters. After reading Dave Cullen's non-fiction book Columbine, I can see that Picoult pulled many of the details of her story straight from the real story of the Columbine School shooting. Picoult's novel is gripping, and it will appeal to teenagers and adults, regardless of their high school experience.
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question their role in the shooting. Peter's mother, Lacy Houghton, a midwife, wonders how her once sweet little boy could plot out his murderous plan under the family's roof. Peter's childhood friend, Josie Cormier, is especially disturbed by the shooting though she has no memory of it. She was in the locker room when her boyfriend Matt was killed, yet she tells detectives and her mother that she can't remember any of the details of the shooting. Josie's mother, Alex Cormier, is assigned to preside over Peter's murder trial. She is forced to decide if she is obligated to do her job or care for her daughter who is incredibly fragile as a result of the murders. This novel has many layers and incredibly real, flawed characters. After reading Dave Cullen's non-fiction book Columbine, I can see that Picoult pulled many of the details of her story straight from the real story of the Columbine School shooting. Picoult's novel is gripping, and it will appeal to teenagers and adults, regardless of their high school experience.
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LibraryThing member melydia
Not one of her better books. There are a few things you can count on in your average Picoult novel: a family or two with teenage children, police and/or lawyers, at least one romance, and a heaping helping of dysfunction. I get the impression that Picoult reads a headline and decides to write a
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story about it. Which is fine, but this book's Weighty Topic is school shootings, which reads a lot like a cross between We Need to Talk About Kevin and a Law & Order episode, with a generous sprinkling of high school stereotypes. The main characters were the shooter and his mother, the shooter's crush and her mother (a judge) and boyfriend (a bully/jock), and the detective. The whole story was just so tragic that I stopped caring how things turned out. It didn't help that I called the twist ending around halfway through the book. I've read some excellent books by Picoult; this just didn't happen to be one of them. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwormygirl
In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In
Nineteen Minutes is set in Sterling, New Hampshire - a town where nothing ever happens – that is until the day that Peter Houghton walks into his high school and in 19 minutes kills and injures several of his classmates and teachers. The story is told through several perspectives and ranges anywhere from when before Peter is born until about one year after the deadly shooting. We hear from Peter’s parents, his old best friend Josie Cormier, who eventually became part of the popular crowd and abandoned her friendship with Peter, Josie’s mom, Alex - also the judge sitting on the case, Patrick the detective who was able to apprehend Peter after the shooting and, of course, Peter himself.
I was so caught up in this book while reading it - there were just so many emotions that I went through (anger, despair, heartbreak, sadness, etc.) The story is written in a way that helps you relate and even sympathize with all of the main characters. I thought it gave good insight into bullying, and the torture that some kids are put through while in school. The peer pressure, the complicated tumultuous life of teens - was perfectly captured.
This book will stick with me for a while, I think.
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nineteen minutes, you can get revenge. Nineteen Minutes is set in Sterling, New Hampshire - a town where nothing ever happens – that is until the day that Peter Houghton walks into his high school and in 19 minutes kills and injures several of his classmates and teachers. The story is told through several perspectives and ranges anywhere from when before Peter is born until about one year after the deadly shooting. We hear from Peter’s parents, his old best friend Josie Cormier, who eventually became part of the popular crowd and abandoned her friendship with Peter, Josie’s mom, Alex - also the judge sitting on the case, Patrick the detective who was able to apprehend Peter after the shooting and, of course, Peter himself.
I was so caught up in this book while reading it - there were just so many emotions that I went through (anger, despair, heartbreak, sadness, etc.) The story is written in a way that helps you relate and even sympathize with all of the main characters. I thought it gave good insight into bullying, and the torture that some kids are put through while in school. The peer pressure, the complicated tumultuous life of teens - was perfectly captured.
This book will stick with me for a while, I think.
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LibraryThing member wirtley
Superb characterization. Very long chapters. Fictional tale of high school shooting by high school boy. Reveals all sides of the issue and tells every characters point of view. Excellent. Makes you think about how this could happen.
LibraryThing member dihiba
I was very disappointed in this book. After reading We Have to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, it just didn't compare.
Culturally I found the popularity issue in US high schools hard to grasp - it seems to be a much bigger deal than here in Canada (and I teach HS). I also thought Picoult's
The book was too long and less than half way through I hard to force myself to read on and just get through it.
The product placement drives me crazy too. She has a whole conversation between Peter and Josie where they must mention 10 products. Shameless! It is possible to write about contemporary society without using brand names!
In general, I would not recommend this one. I still think "My Sister's Keeper" was very good, though.
Culturally I found the popularity issue in US high schools hard to grasp - it seems to be a much bigger deal than here in Canada (and I teach HS). I also thought Picoult's
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characters were not terribly well developed. It was pretty hard to have any sympathy for any of them. The book was too long and less than half way through I hard to force myself to read on and just get through it.
The product placement drives me crazy too. She has a whole conversation between Peter and Josie where they must mention 10 products. Shameless! It is possible to write about contemporary society without using brand names!
In general, I would not recommend this one. I still think "My Sister's Keeper" was very good, though.
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LibraryThing member Natlise11
Dear Reader,
This is actually my reflection on the book Nineteen Minutes by Jody Picoult. I felt like writing my reflection and reaction to the book in a letter because this book was really deep and personal and in my mind a letter can mirror that. The story is of a boy who is bullied although
Sincerely,
Natalie Ducharme-Barth
This is actually my reflection on the book Nineteen Minutes by Jody Picoult. I felt like writing my reflection and reaction to the book in a letter because this book was really deep and personal and in my mind a letter can mirror that. The story is of a boy who is bullied although
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childhood and finally one day, releases his pent up feelings and shoots a bunch of people at his school. Just the idea of danger being at school from one of my peers gives me goose bumps and sends me on a spiral of thoughts on the corrupted minds and actions of teenagers and young adults. In my opinion when adults try to psycho-analyze us and place us in categories according to who we hang out with and how we dress, they’ve forgotten about what it’s like to be a kid. And I think that Jodi Picoult brings it back into focus and shows all the sides of the story. She shows how completely crazy and mind-numbing emotions can be sometimes that they lead you to an action which is the beginning of the end of your life, like it did for Patrick. Or that sometimes no matter how hard you try to be the perfect parents, every human being is in their own mind and can make an independent decision that you yourself would not agree with. I think back in my own life of things my parents do and I say to myself, “Oh, I’ll never do that to my kids.” But now I try to remember what they did that I so very badly did not want to repeat, and I can’t. I think that eventually that happens to a lot of parents which is why parents make the same mistakes with teen’s generation after generation. There are always those teenagers who are so insecure with themselves that they have to hurt and put down everyone else just to make themselves feel better. Then there are the teenagers who spent their whole lives fitting into the mold that other people created for them but for which they don’t truly belong. Call this just a jumble of thoughts and ideas on a page, but it is my reaction to this book. I didn’t format it any special way to represent that there shouldn’t have to be a specific way to express feelings. I’m afraid to have disappointed the reader, but in the end I was only trying write the truth of how I felt on the subject of teenagers today. After reading a book like Nineteen minutes my mind became a tornado of different emotions and thoughts. I’ll try to sort them out better, but till then I’m just a teenager… Still trying to figure out who I am.Sincerely,
Natalie Ducharme-Barth
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LibraryThing member sarams
I chose to read this book because it was about a shooting incident in a school, and there was an incident like that in a school not very far from where I live. It was very realistically described, and I loved the fact that no-one was described as "good" or "bad". And there are no easy answers,
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neither in life nor in this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member 4sarad
Technically this was a pretty good book, but for me it just dragged on and on. I was bored through most of it and found none of it very surprising or interesting.
LibraryThing member billmcn
Picoult's drama about the aftermath of a Columbine-style massacre and the life of the killer, particularly his relationship with a childhood friend who eased his outcast status until she was lured away by high school popularity, isn't great. Some characters are stiff, Picoult's metaphors are
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invariably ham-fisted, and you can make a game out of seeing how early you figure out the surprise ending (for me it was on page 87), but this is all beside the point. Nineteen Minutes depicts the fundamentals of human experience–families, life and death–in a straight-on way, and its specifics about the cruel politics of high-school cliques are compelling. A few chapters in you'll be hooked and want to see how it turns out, so the book does its job. Show Less
LibraryThing member patmb
This was my first Jodi Picoult book which I listened to while doing some inside painting this summer. She is definitely on my list to try again. I always find it interesting when someone can show a bit of both sides of the story. And there was a surprise I did not see coming.
LibraryThing member writestuff
Jodi Picoult writes intelligently, exposing hot-button issues in her many best selling novels. I have read several of her books, and am rarely disappointed. Nineteen Minutes was no exception.
This is a novel which takes on the shocking and horrifying issue of school shootings. Sterling High School,
The characters who people the pages of Nineteen Minutes include Josie Cormier (a teenager who straddles the social strata between the “cool” kids and the “outcasts”), Alex Cormier (Josie’s mother, the newly appointed superior court judge of Grafton County), Lacy Hougton (a mid-wife who is devastated to discover it is her son who has committed such a terrible crime), Lewis Houghton (Peter’s father who hides behind math equations in his attempt to discover the formula for happiness), Patrick Ducharme (the detective who is the first to enter the school as the shootings take place), Jordan McAfee (the young, idealistic defense attorney), and the popular kids who become targets for the rage of a bullied teen. Picoult writes from these multiple points of view while developing characters with depth and complexity.
Nineteen Minutes is not just about a school shooting. Picoult explores other themes…such as the idea of identity. Do we ever really know the people closest to us? How do we know what is authentic and who wears a mask hiding their motivations?
'If you spent you life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask…with nothing beneath it?' -From Nineteen Minutes, page 83-
The gun control debate is handled fairly - showing both sides of a controversial and unsettled issue in our society.
'A gun was nothing, really, without a person behind it.' -From Nineteen Minutes, page 89-
But, the theme which resonates the strongest in Nineteen Minutes is that of expectations - those for ourselves as well as those entertained by parents for children and children for parents - and how those expectations shape our lives. Is it fair to judge someone? Should we expect the world to accept us as we are, and if not, is it ever okay to strike back?
Picoult has written a book which is chilling, yet tender…it is a book hard to put down and yet difficult to read.
Highly recommended
This is a novel which takes on the shocking and horrifying issue of school shootings. Sterling High School,
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located in rural New Hampshire, becomes the focus of the network news when Peter Houghton opens fire on his fellow students, killing 10 and injuring 19. The central question is: Why? Written in a non-linear style …starting with the day of the shootings, then jumping backwards in time to when the main characters were only children or young mothers…Picoult attempts to explain the unexplainable by gradually uncovering the past.The characters who people the pages of Nineteen Minutes include Josie Cormier (a teenager who straddles the social strata between the “cool” kids and the “outcasts”), Alex Cormier (Josie’s mother, the newly appointed superior court judge of Grafton County), Lacy Hougton (a mid-wife who is devastated to discover it is her son who has committed such a terrible crime), Lewis Houghton (Peter’s father who hides behind math equations in his attempt to discover the formula for happiness), Patrick Ducharme (the detective who is the first to enter the school as the shootings take place), Jordan McAfee (the young, idealistic defense attorney), and the popular kids who become targets for the rage of a bullied teen. Picoult writes from these multiple points of view while developing characters with depth and complexity.
Nineteen Minutes is not just about a school shooting. Picoult explores other themes…such as the idea of identity. Do we ever really know the people closest to us? How do we know what is authentic and who wears a mask hiding their motivations?
'If you spent you life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask…with nothing beneath it?' -From Nineteen Minutes, page 83-
The gun control debate is handled fairly - showing both sides of a controversial and unsettled issue in our society.
'A gun was nothing, really, without a person behind it.' -From Nineteen Minutes, page 89-
But, the theme which resonates the strongest in Nineteen Minutes is that of expectations - those for ourselves as well as those entertained by parents for children and children for parents - and how those expectations shape our lives. Is it fair to judge someone? Should we expect the world to accept us as we are, and if not, is it ever okay to strike back?
Picoult has written a book which is chilling, yet tender…it is a book hard to put down and yet difficult to read.
Highly recommended
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LibraryThing member Enamoredsoul
Jodi Picoult is known to tackle controversial issues in her novels, as evidenced by her novel "My Sister's Keeper", and she does it in a superb manner. "Nineteen Minutes" is a rare specimen of a book that allows you to take one controversial subject, a high school shooting in the small town of
Peter Houghton, a 17-year old who'd been bullied since his first day of kindergarten, wakes up one day and decides that he could no longer bear being a victim. He carries four guns, two pistols and two shotguns, into his high school and within the span of Nineteen Minutes, he lines the school halls with ten dead bodies and several injured victims. His story is intertwined with that of Josie Cormier, a former friend of Peter, now a popular girl who is part of the "in-crowd" and in a relationship with Matthew Royston,her controlling boyfriend - a girl who finds herself feeling alienated even by those who she is closest to, her popularity coming at the price of never knowing who her true friends are. Also, tied to their stories are that of Peter's parents, who find themselves tearing down and examining every act of theirs as parents to see if it was their fault that their son is now, what most would call, a monster. And the story of Josie's mother, Alex, who feels like she has failed as a parent for a totally different reason.
"Nineteen Minutes" will surprise you, make you cry, and sympathize with each of its characters. It will not provide you with answers, and is never "black or white" - but it will also not prevaricate, and will force you to make your own judgments on who you think stands to be punished - the bully or the bullied? The murderer or the victim? The child or the parent? Personally, I feel that Nineteen Minutes should be mandatory reading for teenagers, so that they can understand what impact their actions could possibly have - be it pulling someone's pants down in a crowded cafeteria, or shooting out in a public high school. This book rattled me a little (at times, a lot), thinking of what my children would have to go through once they would reach high school, but it also made me want to try that much harder to make this world a safer haven for my future children - to understand them, regardless of how different they might be. I highly recommend this book to ANY and EVERY one!
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Sterling, and provides you an insight on how it affects all of the people surrounding it - be it the victims, the shooter, the parents of either, and even the law-enforcement involved. Picoult manages to take a subject filled with horror and violence, and infuse it with character, strength and courage in the most sensitive and humane manner possible.Peter Houghton, a 17-year old who'd been bullied since his first day of kindergarten, wakes up one day and decides that he could no longer bear being a victim. He carries four guns, two pistols and two shotguns, into his high school and within the span of Nineteen Minutes, he lines the school halls with ten dead bodies and several injured victims. His story is intertwined with that of Josie Cormier, a former friend of Peter, now a popular girl who is part of the "in-crowd" and in a relationship with Matthew Royston,her controlling boyfriend - a girl who finds herself feeling alienated even by those who she is closest to, her popularity coming at the price of never knowing who her true friends are. Also, tied to their stories are that of Peter's parents, who find themselves tearing down and examining every act of theirs as parents to see if it was their fault that their son is now, what most would call, a monster. And the story of Josie's mother, Alex, who feels like she has failed as a parent for a totally different reason.
"Nineteen Minutes" will surprise you, make you cry, and sympathize with each of its characters. It will not provide you with answers, and is never "black or white" - but it will also not prevaricate, and will force you to make your own judgments on who you think stands to be punished - the bully or the bullied? The murderer or the victim? The child or the parent? Personally, I feel that Nineteen Minutes should be mandatory reading for teenagers, so that they can understand what impact their actions could possibly have - be it pulling someone's pants down in a crowded cafeteria, or shooting out in a public high school. This book rattled me a little (at times, a lot), thinking of what my children would have to go through once they would reach high school, but it also made me want to try that much harder to make this world a safer haven for my future children - to understand them, regardless of how different they might be. I highly recommend this book to ANY and EVERY one!
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LibraryThing member eesti23
I had gone off Jodi Picoult books as they start with what is a great and fairly unique concept, but then follow a very similar storyline each time. So it was with a bit of hesitation that I accepted this from a friend. In the end I really enjoyed this story about a bullied teenager who gets his
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revenge by shooting up his school. At the first the chapters going back and fourth in time irritated me as I was eager to know what had happened, but in the end that ended up being a real plus to the story. What did disappoint me, however, was the ending. There were a few things a bit unclear, everything came to a fairly predictable and "tidy" ending (new baby anyone?), and other elements were more or less just brushed under the carpet. A decent book but let down by the ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member mschwander
What I liked most about this book are the obvious differences of how the characters see themselves, versus how they are interpreted by others. Peter's mother, as loving and devoted as she was, never clearly saw the darkness of Peter's personality. Lacy felt that she was a devoted mother and saw her
This was a real eye-opener to how detrimental bullying can be. I recently saw a news clip about Ryan Halligan, a boy who committed suicide as a result of bullying. His experiences paralleled Nineteen Minutes so extensively that it makes me wonder whether Picoult was influenced by that story.
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relationship with her daughter, Josie, as a strong and positive one: Josie felt as if her mother was distant and that she didn't really understand her, (Josie) needs.This was a real eye-opener to how detrimental bullying can be. I recently saw a news clip about Ryan Halligan, a boy who committed suicide as a result of bullying. His experiences paralleled Nineteen Minutes so extensively that it makes me wonder whether Picoult was influenced by that story.
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LibraryThing member lenoreva
A bullied teen and his former best friend, now one of the popular kids, are at the center of a school shooting. A complex issue that makes a very readable novel. This was my first JP novel, so I really wasn't expecting the surprise ending.
LibraryThing member bookaholicgirl
Another amazing, thought-provoking novel by one of my favorite authors. I had great difficulty with this subject matter - I have four kids, two boys and two girls, the oldest of which will be entering high school in September. It would be entirely for any child to be on either side of this story
I did find the romance sidestory a little distracting and was not sure exactly what purpose the author had with it - until the end, I guess. I was not entirely happy with the ending - I think I felt that Alex was replacing Josie with a new child even though it said that she wasn't - but perhaps that was just me. A definite page turner.
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and for the parents to have no knowledge of this. Possible spoilers belowI did find the romance sidestory a little distracting and was not sure exactly what purpose the author had with it - until the end, I guess. I was not entirely happy with the ending - I think I felt that Alex was replacing Josie with a new child even though it said that she wasn't - but perhaps that was just me. A definite page turner.
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LibraryThing member jennstarr12
My major complaint about this book is the ending. I simply felt that it ended abruptly and needed more explanation in many matters.
LibraryThing member michelle_bcf
The starting point is a school shooting, which I expected to be either very gory, or over-emotional. Jodi, However, manages to avoid both.. she informs you what happened, without dwelling on it, which is just what the story needs.
After this, we are taken to various points both before, and after,
As always, the various issues are laid out in front of the reader, and you are left to make up your own mind.. the author never tells you what to think, but rather encourages you to explore all the areas and angles.
This is a book that's hard to put to down, with a story and characters that you get involved in. Although I actually guessed the ending, it is well handled.
I think that fans of Jodi's books will love this one, and if you've only read one or two, this is a great one to try. It's just crying out to be made into a film, so read it first!
After this, we are taken to various points both before, and after,
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the incident, and we find out more about the various people involved. There are various relationships explored, and I'm sure readers will be able to identify with one or more to a certain extent. Some characters are likable, other's aren't.. but they are believable, and well written.As always, the various issues are laid out in front of the reader, and you are left to make up your own mind.. the author never tells you what to think, but rather encourages you to explore all the areas and angles.
This is a book that's hard to put to down, with a story and characters that you get involved in. Although I actually guessed the ending, it is well handled.
I think that fans of Jodi's books will love this one, and if you've only read one or two, this is a great one to try. It's just crying out to be made into a film, so read it first!
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LibraryThing member atia
Peter Houghton is constantly being bullied at school. One day he builds a bomb, grabs four guns and kills ten people. This book deals with the aftermath and the reasons for his act.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. I have to admit that my expectations were rather low, and when it comes
I liked how the book doesn't take sides - it's made clear that the behaviour of the bullies was almost as appaling as Peter's actions, but at the same time it doesn't condone them in the slightest. There were a few things I found way too contrived, like what happened with the missing bullett, and well, the love story was far too predictable for my taste, and not very interesting.
But it was a good read, and even somewhat thought provoking.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. I have to admit that my expectations were rather low, and when it comes
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to Picoult's style of writing, well, it was easy to read and not exactly subtle, but I didn't expect subtle.I liked how the book doesn't take sides - it's made clear that the behaviour of the bullies was almost as appaling as Peter's actions, but at the same time it doesn't condone them in the slightest. There were a few things I found way too contrived, like what happened with the missing bullett, and well, the love story was far too predictable for my taste, and not very interesting.
But it was a good read, and even somewhat thought provoking.
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Subjects
Awards
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 9-12 — 2008)
Great Lakes Great Books Award (Honor Book — 2009)
Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award (Nominee — 2010)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee — 2011)
The Flume: NH Teen Reader's Choice Award (Winner — 2009)
Iowa High School Book Award (Winner — 2010)
Whitcoulls Top 100 Books (19 — 2008)
ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Social Sciences — 2009)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007-03-06
Physical description
455 p.; 6 inches
ISBN
9780743496735