radhikarao 's review for:

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

4.75

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The highlight of this book is the fully realized characters. There are quite a few to keep track of, but they all felt 3 dimensional and I could understand their psychologies and motivations very well. The best example of this is of course our main character Peter, who I found myself completely empathizing with despite his unforgivable actions. My one complaint is that it included random references to various hot-button social issues which were never explored in detail (e.g. women's reproductive rights,  racism, homophobia, the impact of 9/11). I think if the book took a more focused approach to highlight just the main issues of gun violence, bullying, and homophobia (more in-depth), it would have overall felt tighter.