Nineteen Minutes

So far this book has really been hitting home for me since I was involved in a school shooting in junior high. Picoult is a master at telling a very compelling story that gets you thinking about what is happening behind the scenes and showing that everything isn't how it seems. This is the 4th book of hers I have read.

Must read!! Couldn't put it down!

Finished the book..I highly suggest it be read. A great book for a book club as well. My book club is reading it this month at my suggestion. It is a bit slow getting into but get through the first chapter and you can't lay it down. On to more books by Jodi Picoult. omg...I can't lay this book down...it was suggested to me and I highly suggest it to anyone else out there. What normally...more

Finished the book..I highly suggest it be read. A great book for a book club as well. My book club is reading it this month at my suggestion. It is a bit slow getting into but get through the first chapter and you can't lay it down. On to more books by Jodi Picoult. omg...I can't lay this book down...it was suggested to me and I highly suggest it to anyone else out there. What normally takes me about a month & 1/2 to read, I am reading in just 2 weeks. This author keeps you interested and wanting to continue to flip the pages. The kids are in court right now in the book, and anxious to find out how it ends. will comment more later.   hide

And that is what this book is about: a bullied teen goes on a rampage at school and shoots 10 classmates dead, wounding 19 others. It goes through time, back and forth, where we meet the killer, his best friend, and their parents - when he is born, in Kindergarten, the days before the shooting, and the time after it. Jodi Picoult does something very controversial, IMO: she has the reader (or...more

And that is what this book is about: a bullied teen goes on a rampage at school and shoots 10 classmates dead, wounding 19 others. It goes through time, back and forth, where we meet the killer, his best friend, and their parents - when he is born, in Kindergarten, the days before the shooting, and the time after it. Jodi Picoult does something very controversial, IMO: she has the reader (or just me) sympathizing with the killer. In at least one case, there is no love lost for one of the dead. http://blog.yourpointismoot.com/2010/09/nineteen-minutes-by-jodi-picoult.html   hide

I don't typically wake up in the morning and think, "Hey, I'd like to read a novel about a school shooting!" But during the two weeks I listened to the audio book of Nineteen Minutes in the car, I would do just that. Just as in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult writes about complicated issues. I suspect different people reading this novel will disagree about Peter, Matt and...more

I don't typically wake up in the morning and think, "Hey, I'd like to read a novel about a school shooting!" But during the two weeks I listened to the audio book of Nineteen Minutes in the car, I would do just that. Just as in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult writes about complicated issues. I suspect different people reading this novel will disagree about Peter, Matt and Josee. But things are presently fairly and you can decide for yourself. Picoult again tells the story in the present with flashbacks to the past. It is very effective storytelling. While the characters are well drawn, the story itself is enough to keep you reading. Above all, this is a story about the relationship of parents and their kids, and kids and their classmates. This makes it sound really lame. But it doesn't feel that way as you read the story. You won't want to stop until the end. P.S. This is not a chick book or an Oprah book.   hide

a good book. this is the second of hers i have read (after being put off for years by the chicklit drippy covers) and her publishers are doing her down by marketing her as a 'female' novelist rather than just a writer. this book actually quite disturbed me and gave me disturbed dreams, so it definitely got under my skin! i liked the small twist at the end aswell. i always presumed that the...more

a good book. this is the second of hers i have read (after being put off for years by the chicklit drippy covers) and her publishers are doing her down by marketing her as a 'female' novelist rather than just a writer. this book actually quite disturbed me and gave me disturbed dreams, so it definitely got under my skin! i liked the small twist at the end aswell. i always presumed that the presentation of bullying in american schools - particularly amongst the older students - wasn't true. i do find it hard to believe that teenagers who are basically adults (17/18) could still be bullying in that childish fashion though   hide

Whose fault is it when a teenager goes on a shooting rampage at his high school? Is he a monster or the result of bad parenting? Should we blame the bullies who tormented him? In this difficult and moving story of the nineteen minutes that changed countless lives forever, Picoult forces us to think, not only about the crime, but the forces that lead up to it. What I liked most about the book...more

Whose fault is it when a teenager goes on a shooting rampage at his high school? Is he a monster or the result of bad parenting? Should we blame the bullies who tormented him? In this difficult and moving story of the nineteen minutes that changed countless lives forever, Picoult forces us to think, not only about the crime, but the forces that lead up to it. What I liked most about the book is that nothing was black and while. Peter wasn't a perfectly innocent victim; nor were the bullies wholly evil.   hide

I love how Jodi Picoult writes – jumping back and forth between the present and the past. It does get annoying sometimes but in this book, it fits perfectly. I couldn’t put this book down…I read it in about a day. It’s every parent’s nightmare from several different angles. You can feel their pain, frustration and doubts. As characters come to life, you compare them to people you...more

I love how Jodi Picoult writes – jumping back and forth between the present and the past. It does get annoying sometimes but in this book, it fits perfectly. I couldn’t put this book down…I read it in about a day. It’s every parent’s nightmare from several different angles. You can feel their pain, frustration and doubts. As characters come to life, you compare them to people you knew from high school. You can really see the scenes of the story as if you are watching a movie. Excellent book.   hide

Wow! What a book! This is my new favorite author. She takes an incredibly inflammatory issue and explores it from all sides, describing everything without judgment, but with empathy. This is about a school shooting on the level of Columbine. It affected me on all levels, from being a mother of high-schoolers to being a court reporter and seeing defendants parade through my courtroom. ...more

Wow! What a book! This is my new favorite author. She takes an incredibly inflammatory issue and explores it from all sides, describing everything without judgment, but with empathy. This is about a school shooting on the level of Columbine. It affected me on all levels, from being a mother of high-schoolers to being a court reporter and seeing defendants parade through my courtroom. And at the end, you realize how responsible we all are for our future generations.   hide