Jodi Picoult - Nineteen Minutes

I just got done reading, Nineteen Minutes, and can't stop crying. In this book, Jodi Picoult deals with a boy named Peter, who has been bullied throughout his school life and finally snaps. In 19 minutes he kills 10 people and injures 19 others. Usually books written about school shootings take the side of the innocent shooting victims. In this book you here about the other victim, the shooter. The author goes into great depth telling Peter's side of the tragedy. "He just finished what they started..." Jodi Picoult has such a great writing style that I actually felt Peter's pain starting when he was 5 years old. On his first day on the bus, a bully grabs Peter's brand new superman lunch box and throws it out the window where a car runs over it and smashes it. The same bullies will continue to torment Peter through his junior year in high school. There were a number of times Peter would tell someone of authority what was happening. No one would listen. In high school, Peter fought back. He received a detention, the other boys didn't receive anything because they were on the basketball team and there was a big game that weekend. Peter gave up. People will remember Peter for the 19 minutes he went on a rampage but will forget the over 3 million minutes of good things he did. This was a brilliant inside look into bullying, it’s consequences, the heartache of a tragedy, it’s aftermath, and remembering that even a murderer has a mother who loves him.

From the Book Jacket:

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.

Nineteen Minutes is New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's most raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?

On Jodi Picoult's website she was asked why she wrote this book -

"As a mom of three, I’ve seen my own children struggle with fitting in, and being bullied. It was listening to their experiences, and my own frustrations, that led me to consider the topic. I also kept thinking about how it’s not just in high school where we have this public persona that might be different from what we truly feel inside…everyone wonders if they’re good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, no matter how old they are. It’s an archetypical moral dilemma do you act like yourself, and risk becoming an outcast? Or do you pretend to be someone you’re not, and hope no one finds out you’re faking?"

This book is one of the most memorable books I've read. I think this is a great book for all mom's to read. Our children should not have to tolerate bullies and bullies should be held accountable for their actions.