19 Minutes

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?

This was a wonderful book! If you want a good deep novel to read pick this one. It is a very thought provoking book that makes you really think about how what is said and done to others or to yourself does affect them/yourself.

It was really big on the sterotyping done by kids from elemetary to high school. And I couldn't help but think "was school really all that bad?" I really don't know if it was the school I went to, the class I graduated with or what but I don't think it really was as bad as the book says. But maybe I just wasn't a picked-on student and I didn't hang out with the crowd that did most of the picking on, so I didn't realize it was happening.

One thing this book made me realize is the importance of having a good parent/child relationship, and that also after a certain age they are their own person and they will make their own choices and us as parents have to accept that. One thing is for sure, this book made me realize the 2 year old stage isn't all that bad and I'm not ready for all the emotional drama that comes with having teenagers.

Want more reviews go here. There is a lot of good and bad ones.

I'm in love with this book club, even though we don't have many show up, I love the different styles of books that come forth and many are ones I would never pick up to read. This one is an example of one of those types.

Since everyone seems to have such busy lives and we don't get a very high turnout at our club meeting I started an online discussion forum. We are still going to be doing the hard in person meetings, they are just so fun! But maybe we can get some more discussion this way. So come join us at Let's Get To Reading.