Nineteen Minutes Reviews

A recent book I have read and would recommend is Nineteen Seconds by Jodi Picoult. Picoult writes about controversial subjects such as suicide, and Nineteen Seconds is no different as it is about a teenager named Peter shooting and killing people at his high school. Although it was published before the Virginia Tech tragedy, there are similarities. Peter is a social outcast who is teased from the time he starts school. Josie is his best friend when they are younger, but when she wants to be popular in middle school, she joins the cool group and leaves Peter behind. Ultimately, Peter starts to unravel...

We recently read this book in my book club. I couldn't put it down and was so engrossed in the subject matter it made me ill.  The main character is oft-terrorized in his small town all throughout his school days.  It starts on the first day of kindergarten and doesn't end until he guns down numerous classmates and teachers his senior year of high school.  This book hit close to home because we had something along this line that happened in my high school and I realized just how close we could have come to something this big happening as well.  Kids can be mean, and other children pay the price. ...

Jodi Picoult never fails to amaze me with her writing. I couldn't put this one down!!!  I started reading it the day before the NIU shooting.  Its always so hard to understand why a person could ever do something so horrific and this book really makes you understand it.  I obviously don't agree with it but the way she writes and puts you in the mind of Peter, so you can actually see what happened to him to push him to the point of killing his classmates was just...I can't even think of a decent word to describe it!  This book made me cry...anyone with children should read this.  My neice...

This has to be one the best books I have ever read. It is very intense and deep book. As a teacher, it really made me think of the students that I work with and how we really don't know what is going on in their lives. If you have ever been picked on or humiliated by others, you really start to see Peter's side and really start to feel for him. I couldn't put the book down and I was sad when it ended as it just drew you in page by page.

Having read a few of Picoult's other books, I was interested in reading this one. She does capture the confused nature of her young adult characters, but the book seems to go on and on and on, saying little to add to the basic tenant of bullied children finally striking out. The one positive slant seemed to me to be that the relationship bewteen the perpetrator and the one who befriended him was effective and realistic.

She does illustrate the pervasive nature of bullying and anger in today's youth. For that alone, I would read it. Much unnecessary verbiage makes the book too prolonged and tedious...

This was the first Janet book for me, a friend lent it to me.  I enjoyed her writing style and the depth of the characters and plot--but it also scared the living daylights out of me --even though this is a work of fiction it reminded me of Columbine and  I kept thinking it could happen to anyone, anywhere anytime