Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Published in 2007. 464 pages.

Authors website

Amazon link

Genre: Fiction, Bestseller

My overall score: 4.5/5

What its about (taken from amazon.com): Nineteen Minutes deals with the truth and consequences of a smalltown high-school shooting. Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, Picoult offers reads a glimpse of what would cause a 17-year-old to wake up one day, load his backpack with four guns, and kill nine students and one teacher in the span of nineteen minutes. As with any Picoult novel, the answers are never black and white, and it is her exceptional ability to blur the lines between right and wrong that make this author such a captivating storyteller.
On Peter Houghton's first day of kindergarten, he watched helplessly as an older boy ripped his lunch box out of his hands and threw it out the window. From that day on, his life was a series of humiliations, from having his pants pulled down in the cafeteria, to being called a freak at every turn. But can endless bullying justify murder? Surrounding Peter's story is that of Josie Cornier, a former friend whose acceptance into the popular crowd hangs on a string that makes it impossible for her to reconcile her beliefs with her actions.

What I thought: Picoult is an excellent author and storyteller. This is the 3rd or 4th book I have read by her and there does seem to be a somewhat predictable path to her storylines. Always, toward the end, a slight twist. In this book, she allowed us to really get to know the characters. We learn so much from each of the main characters and I felt like I was right there beside them the whole way. What this book did for me, was take what would be a headline story on the news and make it real, she made it emotional on a personal level. My only complaint would be, I think it was a bit too long. There were some 'extra' characters that could have been eliminated and this book definitely could have been about 100 pages shorter without losing anything from the storyline.

Date finished: June 25, 2008

What I'm reading now: For One More Day by Mitch Albom