Nineteen Minutes

This day started like any other – Matt picked Josie up to go to school.  They sat with friends during study hall during third period.  They were laughing and having a good time until the explosion.  Then nothing made sense.  Someone started screaming about a guy with a gun in the school.  A friend said it was Peter – Josie’s childhood best friend.  Another friend told them to run towards the gym, away from the shooting.  Nineteen Minutes was all it took to turn this ordinary day into every parent’s worst nightmare: a school shooting, multiple fatalities, and their small town turned upside down.

Jodi Picoult is known for her novels that delve into the deep and less politically correct topics like homophobia and hate crimes against LGBTQ+ in Mad Honey, and bigotry and legal discrimination in Small Great Things.  Nineteen Minutes is no different, digging into the effects of consistent bullying on the psyche of a young mind and the collective trauma of a school shooting on the community.  This is a heavy topic, but Picoult tackles it with a look inside the thoughts of each character and weaving together the timeline from before, during, and after the event in a way that brings the reader into the situation in an impactful way.  This is a book about the destruction of revenge and the power of a kind word.

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I give Nineteen Minutes 4 out of 5 stars. I nearly changed my mind when I started reading this book because of how heavy a topic school shooting can me.  I was in high school when Columbine and a dozen school shootings after it occurred.  I have a child who was in high school when several others happened, and when a rifle was found under a pew in a church just a few blocks from her school.  It was very tough for me to get started on this book, knowing what I would be reading, and I actually put it down for a few days to rest my mind.  With that said, I always appreciate the approach Picoult takes to these topics – it’s honest, eye opening, and, to a certain extent, science based.  More than just school shootings, this felt like an ode to PTSD survivors of all types – the bullied kid, the battered wife, the soldier, the disaster victim.  The only reason this book did not score 5 stars for me was the ending – without giving anything away, I can just say I do not agree with the twist at the end.  In the notes at the end of the novel, Picoult mentions that she started writing this with this particular ending in mind, but it was not the way I wish she would have taken the story.

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If you are a fan of Picoult’s other writings, you will enjoy this book.  I also think this is a great thriller-esque book if you enjoy police or judicial procedurals like TV’s Law & Order.  Given the topics of bullying, school shooting, gun violence, and domestic violence, I would caution this for readers for whom these may trigger their own PTSD and direct this to mature audiences over 16 as well.

I chose Nineteen Minutes for the US States reading challenge prompt “New Hampshire”.  Jodi Picoult is based in the state and several of her works take place there.  I read Mad Honey in 2023 with one of my book clubs and I fell in love with the powerful voice Picoult gives to the victims, including those who seem like the evil in the story, too.  There is something about her style that allows readers to connect with all the characters, even those who you don’t want to feel compassion towards.  If only that were the case in real life, too.

To learn more about the types and impacts of school bullying, visit www.SchoolBullying.gov.  If you or someone close to you is suffering from PTSD, depression, or suicidal thoughts linked to bullying or any other cause, reach out to www.NAMI.org or dial 988 to speak with a professional today.

 

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: A Certain Kind of Starlight, Heather Webber
• Current audio book: Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
• Book I’m most looking forward to: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Fredrik Backman