Wednesday, May 18, 2011

{Between the Pages: "Nineteen Minutes"}

Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes is a strikingly real taste of the lives, dynamics, and circumstances of a community rocked by a school shooting.

Relying on several key characters to lay out the story, Picoult weaves their lives around one another, shedding light on the events that lead a social outcast to exploit his deepest desires.  In doing so Picoult effortlessly draws her reader to question reason and moral.


I loved this novel.  It was very easy to get into, drawing me in from sentence number one.  I like a book that makes me think, challenges me to question what I know, and gives me a story that takes me to places I wasn't expecting.  Picoult brilliantly does all of these things, while taking on a subject every parent should be acutely aware of: bullying.

What happened to the school shooter in this novel could be the story of thousands of students across America, and the underlying questions persist throughout: What makes one cross the line of no return and not another? Who could have prevented it? What were the warning signs? How could no one have known?

As an educator and a parent I find the subject matter fascinating and important.  Picoult tackled the subject matter respectfully and honestly, and as a reader I appreciated the way she allowed her characters' stories to unfold.

I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy a well-written, thought-provoking story with an ending you don't see coming.

[GIVE AWAY: My copy is up for grabs.... the first to comment for request gets the book!]


1 comment:

Susie said...

This was SUCH A GOOD BOOK, I completely agree. Pretty sure there hasn't been a Jodi Picoult book I haven't liked!

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{About Me}

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Fairborn, Ohio, United States
I'm a teacher by trade, writer at heart & mom in every sense of my being. I never considered writing as a profession, but after I got married and began moving around the country, I began sharing my adventures, misadventures & updates through a sort of e-mail newsletter. I found a true passion in unconventional story-telling that has followed me into motherhood.