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A review by baileebee123
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Another book club read! We picked this book based on the category "banned books" and that is interesting because according to Piccoult, the reasoning for the book being banned was not because of the semi graphic school shooting scenes or the gun violence or the bullying, but because the word "erection" is used once:
"Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor – it’s a call for alarm. Nineteen Minutes is banned not because it’s about a school shooting, but the because of a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body. It is not gratuitous or salacious, and it is not – as the book banners claim – porn. In fact, hundreds of kids have told me that reading Nineteen Minutes stopped them from committing a school shooting, or showed them they were not alone in feeling isolated. My book, and the ten thousand others that have been pulled off school library shelves this year, give kids a tool to deal with an increasingly divided and difficult world. These book banners aren’t helping children. They are harming them." - Jodi Picoult, on the subject of censorship of Nineteen Minutes (https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/)
This book seemed to me to be very well researched and written. I was thoroughly impressed by Picoult's descriptions of high school in the late 2000s, the courtroom/trial scenes, everything basically. This is similar to Beartown in that there are many POVs, one of the main characters is a teenage girl and she has lawyer mother, the central plot is of a small town rocked by tragedy, and also there's some hockey. I liked this one better, I think probably because of the writing style. I was also impressed with Picoult's ability to write her different POVs so distinctly (something I thought was lacking in Beartown, and the last time I feel like I noticed this was when I read Game of Thrones). I really liked how the relationships of the characters evolved over the course of the book (Alex and Lacy in particular), I also really liked the structure of the story, it felt like the best way to tell the story was to hop around in the timeline.
Personally, I didn't have the high school experience as described in the book. I went to a college prep school in a semi-large city (for Maine, it was kind of big) and everyone was some level of nerd. Also as someone who grew up in the same area that the books takes place, I think that my opinions on gun control are similar to Lewis, because so many people hunt in rural areas like that.
On Alex: Do people actually refer to judges as "your Honor" outside of the courtroom? I kind of get why Alex was so concerned with her reputation, especially as a young, single mother. I wish we didn't have to be like that, but that's something that we still deal with in the real world almost 20 years later. Alex removing herself from the case was not where I saw this going in the book but it was where I saw this going in real life.
I liked how significant of a character Lacy was. It's interesting to see her role as a mother and a community member in the events surrounding this.
I also liked the characters of Jordan and Patrick. In fact, probably the only POV characters that I didn't particularly like were Josie and Peter.
A comment from Selena that I liked: “I don’t condone what he did, Jordan, but I do see where he’s coming from. You were born with six silver spoons up your ass. I mean, honestly, have you ever not been in the elite group? At school, or in court, or wherever? People know you, people look up to you. You’re granted passage and you don’t even realize that other people never get to walk that way.” Jordan folded his arms. “Are you about to do your African pride thing again? Because to tell you the truth—” “You’ve never gone down the street and had someone cross it just because you’re black. You’ve never had someone look at you with disgust because you’re holding a baby and you forgot to put on your wedding ring. You want to do something about it—take action, scream at them, tell them they’re idiots—but you can’t. Being on the fringe is the most disempowering feeling, Jordan. You get so used to the world being a certain way, there seems to be no escape from it.”
I was expecting a plot twist in this book but wasn't really expecting thatJosie was the one who fired the first shot on Matt. I was very confused about all of the talk about love between the two, he degraded her verbally and manipulated her emotionally and there was some level of physical/sexual abuse as well, though these realizations are difficult to see when 1) you're seventeen and 2) you're in that abusive relationship. The fact that her social standing at school would have been in jeopardy if she broke up with him (let alone he basically threatened to kill himself) probably had her feeling extremely trapped, which is definitely not a rare thing.
This is a heavy, difficult read. I'd be interested to read more Jodi Picoult because she writes very well and well researched books, however I'm not sure how often I'd be up to reading such an emotionally charged book. This isn't a five star read because I'm not sure how I feel about the ending (not the plot twist, but how some of the characters end up one year later) and I'm still solidifying all of the messaging of the book, but there were so many things that I did like about it and I would recommend it to people who have interest in reading it.
"Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor – it’s a call for alarm. Nineteen Minutes is banned not because it’s about a school shooting, but the because of a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body. It is not gratuitous or salacious, and it is not – as the book banners claim – porn. In fact, hundreds of kids have told me that reading Nineteen Minutes stopped them from committing a school shooting, or showed them they were not alone in feeling isolated. My book, and the ten thousand others that have been pulled off school library shelves this year, give kids a tool to deal with an increasingly divided and difficult world. These book banners aren’t helping children. They are harming them." - Jodi Picoult, on the subject of censorship of Nineteen Minutes (https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/)
This book seemed to me to be very well researched and written. I was thoroughly impressed by Picoult's descriptions of high school in the late 2000s, the courtroom/trial scenes, everything basically. This is similar to Beartown in that there are many POVs, one of the main characters is a teenage girl and she has lawyer mother, the central plot is of a small town rocked by tragedy, and also there's some hockey. I liked this one better, I think probably because of the writing style. I was also impressed with Picoult's ability to write her different POVs so distinctly (something I thought was lacking in Beartown, and the last time I feel like I noticed this was when I read Game of Thrones). I really liked how the relationships of the characters evolved over the course of the book (Alex and Lacy in particular), I also really liked the structure of the story, it felt like the best way to tell the story was to hop around in the timeline.
Personally, I didn't have the high school experience as described in the book. I went to a college prep school in a semi-large city (for Maine, it was kind of big) and everyone was some level of nerd. Also as someone who grew up in the same area that the books takes place, I think that my opinions on gun control are similar to Lewis, because so many people hunt in rural areas like that.
On Alex: Do people actually refer to judges as "your Honor" outside of the courtroom? I kind of get why Alex was so concerned with her reputation, especially as a young, single mother. I wish we didn't have to be like that, but that's something that we still deal with in the real world almost 20 years later. Alex removing herself from the case was not where I saw this going in the book but it was where I saw this going in real life.
I liked how significant of a character Lacy was. It's interesting to see her role as a mother and a community member in the events surrounding this.
I also liked the characters of Jordan and Patrick. In fact, probably the only POV characters that I didn't particularly like were Josie and Peter.
A comment from Selena that I liked: “I don’t condone what he did, Jordan, but I do see where he’s coming from. You were born with six silver spoons up your ass. I mean, honestly, have you ever not been in the elite group? At school, or in court, or wherever? People know you, people look up to you. You’re granted passage and you don’t even realize that other people never get to walk that way.” Jordan folded his arms. “Are you about to do your African pride thing again? Because to tell you the truth—” “You’ve never gone down the street and had someone cross it just because you’re black. You’ve never had someone look at you with disgust because you’re holding a baby and you forgot to put on your wedding ring. You want to do something about it—take action, scream at them, tell them they’re idiots—but you can’t. Being on the fringe is the most disempowering feeling, Jordan. You get so used to the world being a certain way, there seems to be no escape from it.”
I was expecting a plot twist in this book but wasn't really expecting that
This is a heavy, difficult read. I'd be interested to read more Jodi Picoult because she writes very well and well researched books, however I'm not sure how often I'd be up to reading such an emotionally charged book. This isn't a five star read because I'm not sure how I feel about the ending (not the plot twist, but how some of the characters end up one year later) and I'm still solidifying all of the messaging of the book, but there were so many things that I did like about it and I would recommend it to people who have interest in reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts