Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Nineteen Minutes

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

59 reviews

sandysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I find the authors books very compelling, and this is no exception. She has an easy to read writing style and is never afraid to tackle contentious issues. The characters are well developed but centre around Peter the shooter, and Josie is his on-off friend who craves to be popular. Told from various points of view that enhance your understanding of the various characters, their feelings, and motivations. The book makes you question and empathise the basic scenario of a high school shooting. You go from feeling sorry for Peter, the sensitive bullied boy, to being completely outraged that he went into school with guns shooting, killing, and horrifically injuring students and adults and a twist at the end, which again gives food for thought. This was read as a book club read and picked as a banned book in some US states. Do I think this book deserves to be banned? Absolutely not. In fact, I would recommend that others read it and make up their own minds. A book that leaves you questioning what can be done, gun control, the quest to be popular, and more effective bulling procedures in school is not a bad thing. A brilliant book that is still on my mind, questioning and thinking about what I've read. Excellent.

Content Warnings

phantomgecko's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There's a lot in this novel. Because it tackles the issue from multiple perspectives, the nuance is appreciated. I could write an essay about bullying here, but suffice it to say that bullying is a problem without an easy solution, and the book really really explores that. An exchange between a lawyer and the principal really nailed it with these back-to-back (paraphrased) sentences.

Bullying is not tolerated at this school / Disciplining the bullies makes things worse

Moving on, the characters felt real. Peter was neither a monster nor a simple victim but a fleshed out teenager. His mother wasn't a perfect mother nor a failure but someone trying her best and making a lot of mistakes. Tbh, these are the only characters that I really empathized with. But that's not to say that the many other characters weren't also three dimensional.

idk, I won't read this book again, but I wouldn't deter anyone else from reading it. It's upsetting but the message is important, poignant and more realistic than other books I've read about school shootings.

Content Warnings

jessicakarem's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

haleybre's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

livlovread's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense

3.0

Content Warnings

danielleafsordeh's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book, there was an interesting twist at the end and it definitely kept my attention. It fortunately didn't focus too much on the violence of the day until you get into the actual trial in the latter half of the book. It was more interesting than I was expecting.

Content Warnings

juleskr02's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this novel. i was very excited to read, as this was the first book that was suggested to me when i started my jodi grind, and man it did not disappoint.

i was a little wary at first because it was third person narration, and i wasn’t sure if it was going to be clear to follow with that plus the time jumps each chapter. but i was pleasantly surprised. i actually loved the formatting of narration and storytelling.

that plot twist. woah. i predicted half of it but still was so shocked with the half i didn’t predict. this story was crazy and maybe an unpopular opinion, but i was really rooting for peter. i know i shouldn’t have but i felt really bad for him.

i wish i saw more in terms of certain side plots, and i didn’t love how the story ended, so my rating lost a star. but overall, i quite enjoyed reading it, and found myself on the edge of my seat for big chunks. i want to own this book so badly and annotate the heck out of it because that’s how much i enjoyed it. brava miss picoult!

Content Warnings