Nineteen Minutes (Pat Larrow) (Rachel Leary)

Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult, Washington Square Press, 455 Pages.

-I got this book after Ms Hamilton suggested it to me. Nineteen Minutes is about a boy, Peter, who brings four guns to school one day. He shoots nineteen people in his school in nineteen minutes, and kills ten of them. The book follows peter and his parents as his trial occurs. It also follows Josie, who was once Peter’s only friend, and whose mother is a judge, and who’s boyfriend was killed by her former best friend. In the book, we find many views on what happened the day of the shooting. But there is only one story that’s the truth. The book has many twists, all the way up until the last pages that contain the biggest twist of all.
- Though Jodi Picoult is generally considered a more feminine author, I think Nineteen Minutes is a book that anyone could enjoy, whether it be males or females, teenagers or adults.
- Jodi Picoult has a very distinct writing style. Everything she writes about is always very visual. She uses very descriptive language. For example;
“Motherhood had painted the colors of Lacy’s world a bit brighter; had swelled her to the seams with the belief that her life could not possibly become more complete. What she hadn’t realized, was that sometimes when your vision was that sharp and true, it could cut you. That only if you’d felt such fullness could you really understand the ache of being empty.”

Passages that really struck me were;

“I have something for you,” Drew said, and he reached behind his seat and held out a baseball cap- one Josie recognized. Whatever embroidery had once been on it had long since unraveled; the brim was frayed and curled tight as a fiddlehead. He handed it to Josie, who ran a finger gently along the inside seam.
“He left it in my car,” Drew explained. “I was going to give it to his parents… after. But then I kind of thought you might want it instead.”
Josie nodded, as a tear rose along the watermark of her throat.
Drew bent his head against the wheel. It took Josie a moment to realize that he was crying too.”
-I really liked this passage because it was very emotional. I could see everything that was happening in my head, and I could almost feel the pain that they were feeling.

"In Peter's case, I saw an extreme emotional vulnerability, which in fact was the reason he was teased. Peter didn't play by the codes of boys. He wasn't a big athlete. He wasn't tough. He was sensitive. And difference is not always respected - particularly when you're a teenager. Adolescence is about fitting in not standing out."
-I chose this passage because I can relate to it. I am very much like peter in this sense.

"Because if there isn't a them there can't be an us."
-I liked this quote. It’s Matt explaining to Josie why he feels he has to bully people. By “them” he means the ones he bullies, and by “us” he means the popular crowd.
How I interacted with the book;
I really feel like I could relate to almost every part of this book. I could relate to all the characters in some way. I really enjoyed reading the book because it was very visual, but Jodi Picoult didn’t over- describe anything. I also learned a lot from this book. For example, some people are only mean because they feel like they have to be. Not that that’s an excuse, but I learned that people are afraid of losing their position in “power” and will do anything to keep it.

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Nineteen Minuets
Jodi Picoult
464 pages.
I found this book in the library.
Summary:
In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton had been picked on his entire life. from first grade to when his lunch box got thrown off the bus, up until high school when his pants got pulled down in front of the entire school. After his best friend, Josie Cormier, got taken in by peer pressure and now is hanging out with the popular group Peter faces even more harassment. After holding in all his anger, Peter caused some violence. from being picked on he went into his school and shot it up. Harming a lot of people might not be what he intended but it happened anyways, even people that shouldn’t have been involved. He even ended up killing some and wounding some and eventually he was taken into custody. He had many trials every time seeing the ones he changed for forever. They claimed he had a serious disorder but it didn't work out in his favor. Peter got charged with murder of several people and put behind bars for many years.

The audience for this book would be teenagers. She also tries to express that you shouldn't be afraid to stick up for yourself so something like this happened to you.
Nineteen Minutes is not just about a school shooting. Picoult shows other themes such as the idea of identity but the theme she shows the most in the book is expectations and how they shape our lives.
The authors writing style is easy to understand. She uses flashbacks a lot throughout the whole book. The story deals with school violence, what could happen. But it also deals with the events leading up to the violence and how lives can become involved in ways we never imagined..

Passages:

"In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge." This struck me too because it's explaining that there's so much that you can do in the matter of nineteen minuets and Peter chose to shoot up the school. He thought people would think differently of him and in order for the bullying to stop, he decided he was going to take charge and show everyone he was sick of it. He chose to spend nineteen minutes destroying his life and the lives of others rather than doing something to positively change the situation.

“I've always sort of wondered, though; if everyone else's opinion is what matters, then do you really have one of your own?" This quote questions the importance of our own thoughts. If someone believes in something that I don't then who is right?


“If we don’t change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we're going." This passage strikes me in regards to the way the world works. We’re all afraid to show each other who we really are, so we go around pretending we’re what everyone else wants us to be or the exact opposite.


My Relationship:
I really liked the novel because it related to situations that happen everyday in our society. It showed what could really happen to someone that’s being harassed and no one even knows how they feel. It shows that people should really express their emotions when something serious like this is happening instead of taking it to such extremes that could harm people that should have even been involved.