Nineteen Minutes

This post originally published June 14, 2010.

Author: Jodi Picoult
Published: 2007
Publisher: Washington Square Press
455 pages (hardcover)
 
Summary: Josie Cormier and Peter Houghton were best friends when they were very young. Peter was frequently teased and bullied but Josie was always there to defend him. However, as the pair grew up, Josie becomes more aware of how she and Peter appear to other people and in the interest of not becoming a “loser” like Peter, Josie cuts off ties with Peter and wiggles her way into the popular crowd, leaving Peter alone to suffer more bullying and teasing. The humiliation grows worse when, in high school, Peter confesses he has a crush on Josie; the whole school finds out and ridicules him for it. On this seemingly ordinary day, Peter decides the only way to defend himself is by making an attack first. In nineteen minutes, Peter performs a school shooting, killing ten and wounding many.

My Thoughts: I’ve always been fascinated with school shootings (not in a twisted way; the same way some people are fascinated by past wars in history), so I really enjoyed reading this book. Although Peter obviously did something horrible and unforgivable, I like how this book has so many shades of gray — at some points, I thought Peter was a terrible person and at other points, I felt pity for him. It is really quite upsetting at how his life had been so mistreated by his fellow students that he felt this was the only option for escape for him. Then there was Josie, and same thing with her: it is easy to think she’s shallow and mean, but at the same time, you feel bad for her because she has to work so hard at maintaining her ‘status’ in school and as a result, she has severe self esteem issues. The third character I felt quite a bit of sympathy for was Peter’s mother, Lacy. People start thinking she’s a monster because Peter was her son, or a terrible parent, but you read about how shocked she is that this happened too, and how she had tried so hard to prevent her son from being bullied but failed, it’s really quite saddening.

The teasing and bullying was quite upsetting, and at certain times, almost unbelievable. Maybe it was just the schools I went to as a kid, but the classic getting-shoved-into-lockers thing or getting your lunch money stolen or head dunked in toilet … never happened at my school. Of course, bullying and teasing existed (it exists everywhere, sadly) but some of the experiences Peter went through felt like to me an adult’s view of what kind of bullying happens in school, and not the realistic type of bully that does occur. Again, maybe that was just the schools I went to, who knows? Or maybe because I’ve never heard of or witnessed such things happening in my school that I feel shocked that it could happen elsewhere.

Regardless, this book is really engrossing. I wasn’t quite as addicted to it as some of Jodi Picoult’s other books, but nonetheless, I had a hard time putting it down once I dove in. And for once, it’s an ending that isn’t out of nowhere! I actually liked the ending in this book and thought it ended pretty well; no magical “Oh hey! We’re going to acquit you!” (cough cough). Really great book that I suggest everyone read through at least once. It puts you in many different perspectives about a horrible event that is seemingly at the fault of only one person, but in truth, everyone is at fault here … some more than others.

My Rating: 4/5