Book Review | Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Rating

5 stars – Picoult at her best

Description – from jodipicoult.com

In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents.

Why did you choose to read this book?

I’ve been a fan of Picout’s ever since reading My Sister’s Keeper – and have been waiting in avid anticipation for this latest book to be released in paperback for what seems like forever!

The book review

It’s been a while since I read one of Picoult’s books – and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy her writing style. This one is a series of flash backs through different period’s of Peter’s life, revealing different events in the run up to the day he fought back against the bullies who had made his life such a misery. Within each chapter we see events through the eyes of the different characters, Peter and Josie, the children’s parents, the lawyer and the police detective. Sometimes Picoult switches between two or three characters over a matter of one or two pages, but it is never confusing as each character has such a strong voice that you identify with from the outset.

Readers of The Pact, Salem Falls and Perfect Match will recognise two of the characters, Jordan McAfee and Patrick Ducharme as they make a reappearance here.

This book covers some hard-hitting issues, but I think Picoult covers them in a very sensitive and thought provoking way. This latest offering is a joy to read and I would certainly recommend it to anyone, regardless of whether it would be your first Picoult novel, or you are a fan like me.

Book exploration – CAUTION SPOILER ALERT

Did you like the way the book ended?

I enjoyed this book from the very first page, I liked the way Picoult led us back and forth through periods of time to learn about Peter and Josie’s relationship, and to help us identify key events in their lives that could have led up to the fateful day that Peter entered the school with a bag full of weapons. I could sense there was a twist, and guessed early on what it could be, but I had to wait almost until the end to be proved right.

I’m not sure I liked the outcome of the book though; once Josie confessed it seemed to be a done deal that Peter would be convicted – if it had been Matt holding the gun as Josie first suggested would McAfee’s beaten wife syndrome have stood up as a defence? We don’t get to see anything of Josie’s trial – but surely that would have been her defence too? After all she’d found herself trapped in a violent relationship; trapped because she wanted everyone to think she was popular, but more worryingly, because Matt had a violent streak. Did she find herself with a gun in her hand and escape on the horizon?

The events of this novel are certainly food for thought – though the main focus is on Peter and how the constant taunting and bullying by the popular kids drove him to react in the worst possible way – I was also interested in Josie’s *plight*, being in the popular crowd, but not fitting in. I wonder how events would have turned out if Alex hadn’t caught the children with a shotgun in hand and they had been allowed to remain friends…

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Introducing thisbookforfree.com

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