Category: book Nook
19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult
This book review is going to be different from my others. First, everyone who has kids, works in any kid environment and especially those who work in
our school systems, even the college levels needs to read this book. It is a painful subject, but an all too real one. Not just the school shooting,
but the way society allows or should I say, the way we allow situations to progress to this point. This book is written from every perspective. The victims
are not just the ones who are shot. They are the parents, the siblings, the law enforcement, the teachers, all of a community is involved. Having one
child who was a popular, athletic, honor role student and one who was in special teaching formats, not so athletic and yes, picked on, made fun of and
generally left out of a lot of social settings, I can relate to so many of the characters in this book. Below is a short blurb about the book and below
that is a quote from the author that I felt really says it all. Following that is a link to a web site that you can read more about the author and her
reasons for writing this book. I am glad I read this story. I give it a huge 5 out of 5.
Carla
In this emotionally charged novel, Jodi Picoult delves beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in our society.
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.
Even those who were not inside the school that morning find their lives in an upheaval, including Alex Cormier. The superior court judge assigned to the
Houghton case, Alex—whose daughter, Josie, witnessed the events that unfolded—must decide whether or not to step down. She’s torn between presiding over
the biggest case of her career and knowing that doing so will cause an even wider chasm in her relationship with her emotionally fragile daughter. Josie,
meanwhile, claims she can’t remember what happened in the last fatal minutes of Peter’s rampage. Or can she? And Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis Houghton,
ceaselessly examine the past to see what they might have said or done to compel their son to such extremes. Nineteen Minutes also features the return of
two of Jodi Picoult’s characters—defense attorney Jordan McAfee from
The Pact
and
Salem Falls,
and Patrick DuCharme, the intrepid detective introduced in
Perfect Match.
Rich with psychological and social insight, Nineteen Minutes is a riveting, poignant, and thought-provoking novel that has at its center a haunting question.
Do we ever really know someone?
From the author;
"But it wasn’t until I began to connect what kids experience in school with how adults treat other adults who are somehow different that I began to piece
together the story. Discrimination and difference at the high school level will never end until the adults running these schools can go about their own
lives without judging others for their race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. How ridiculous is it that America prides itself on being a melting pot,
when – as Peter says in the novel – that just means it makes everyone the same?"
link to site; http://www.jodipicoult.com/nineteen-minutes.html#synopsis