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Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Car accident, Abandonment
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Unlike most other banned books I've read, I completely understand why people would want to restrict who reads this book. It's not objectionable material (to me), but it is for mature readers and certainly benefits from discussion about what's going on in the story.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Pregnancy
You couldn’t argue the facts; you could only change the lens through which you looked at them.
Set in a small town, Nineteen Minutes explores the lives of students, parents, and teachers before and after a tragic event shakes the community to its core. The story is told through multiple perspectives, allowing readers to understand the emotions, histories, and struggles of each character. Through these viewpoints, Picoult delves into themes of bullying, social pressures, mental health, and the often unseen consequences of small, everyday actions. The novel raises important questions about justice, responsibility, and whether we ever truly know what someone else is going through.
What happened in Nineteen Minutes is devastating, but it is not without cause. It is the result of wounds inflicted over years—some obvious, some invisible. Bullying is not just a single act; it is a pattern that leaves deep emotional scars. The pain of being humiliated, excluded, and tormented does not fade when the school day ends. For some, it becomes a constant, inescapable reality. And the saddest part? Many people don’t recognize the damage they are doing until it is too late.
Taking credit for what a child did well also meant accepting responsibility for what they did wrong.
This book is a reminder that every action, no matter how small, can change the course of someone’s life. A cruel word, a dismissive laugh, an act of indifference—these things accumulate, shaping how a person sees themselves and the world. But the same is true for kindness. A moment of understanding, a gesture of inclusion, a voice speaking up—these, too, can leave a lasting impact.
Jail wasn’t all that different from public school, really. The correctional officers were just like the teachers—their job was to keep everyone in place, to feed them, and to make sure nobody got seriously hurt. Beyond that, you were left to your own devices. And like school, jail was an artificial society, with its own hierarchy and rules. If you did any work, it was pointless—cleaning the toilets every morning or pushing a library cart around minimum security wasn’t really that different from writing an essay on the definition of civitas or memorizing prime numbers—you weren’t going to be using them daily in your real life. And as with high school, the only way to get through jail was to stick it out and do your time.
Picoult does not ask us to excuse or justify what happens in this book. Instead, she challenges us to look deeper, to understand the complexity of human actions, and to recognize the role society plays in shaping them. Nineteen Minutes is not an easy read, but it is an important one. It forces us to ask: How often do we dismiss someone’s pain? How often do we fail to act when we see injustice? And most importantly, what can we do to ensure that no one feels so unseen, unheard, or broken that they believe there is no way out?
Nobody wants to admit to this, but bad things will keep on happening. Maybe that’s because it’s all a chain, and a long time ago someone did the first bad thing, and that led someone else to do another bad thing, and so on. You know, like that game where you whisper a sentence into someone’s ear, and that person whispers it to someone else, and it all comes out wrong in the end. But then again, maybe bad things happen because it’s the only way we can keep remembering what good is supposed to look like.
This book is heartbreaking, but it also carries a crucial message: We all have the power to affect someone's life. The question is, will we use that power to hurt or to heal?
Isn’t it amazing how, when you strip away everything, people are so much alike?
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion
Minor: Rape, Car accident, Pregnancy
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Car accident
This book was intense. It was raw and horrifying and extremely human. It made me sick to my soul and I could not put it down.
This is a horror novel, although it certainly isn't marketed that way. I saw one review that called it Carrie, but with a Glock and that is such an apt description. This is a horror story about bullies and bullying, about how trauma compounds, about the utter failure of parents and schools to handle severe bullying and hazing, about a child pushed well past the brink of what he can take, about how easy it is to miss the warning signs in patterns of escalation, about a uniquely American event that is mostly predicated around the glorification of and access to firearms. It is genuinely one of the most blood freezing horrors I have ever ever read and honestly the whole time I had one thought at the back of my head: This is actually Carrie if the story was written by a woman, particularly a mother.
There is nothing supernatural in this story. It is arguably hauntingly grounded in reality. And yet it is incredibly dark and harrowing as anything Steven King has ever written.
I'm typing this review at 3:15 in the morning. I *had* to finish this especially as I started seeing a twist coming. I was wrong about the direction it came from and I won't spoil it, but it was satisfying all the same.
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Acephobia/Arophobia, Lesbophobia
This particular novel is one I was hesitant to get into because of its underlying topic of gun violence, but I am so glad I did. I really wish people who banned this book read it before judging it, because yes, it is about a school shooting on its surface, but deeper, it’s about bullying, toxic clique culture, true friendships, familial relationships, grief, and personal responsibility. The plot line is fantastic (if a little unrealistic and some points) but it is truly the characters that hit this novel home for me. Each character is fleshed out really well, and by the end of the book you really feel as though you know each one personally. The writing is exquisite, as always from Jodi, and the re-readability is high. Love, love, LOVE! I highly recommend this for anyone looking to feel a bit challenged to think while reading, and if you are okay with some dark subject matter to learn a bit more about yourself and issues that plague our society.
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail