Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Nineteen Minutes



I continue swiftly along on my Jodi Picoult rampage (if one can call cruising through an author's set of books a rampage). Last week I finished Nineteen Minutes, a novel focusing on bullying and school shootings. I really seem to enjoy her stories that center around teenagers in tough situations. Maybe I can relate more to them because I work in a setting concerning teenagers. Anyway, this one really spoke to me (again, maybe it's because I work in a school).

I haven't seen a school shooting book come out yet. It's almost like it's too soon for someone to touch this subject after recent school shootings, but I think Picoult does a good job at understanding WHY shootings could happen. She really goes back into the past to anaylze the years it takes to build up to something this devastating. And normally, like she shows, it's something that builds, and it takes a bunch of people to contribute to the pain that festers inside to make someone commit such a heinous act.

Before I start, why would the first cover posted above be the best choice for a cover for this book? The focus is not about love. This makes it look like a teen romance book. If anything, it's anti-that. It shows bad teenage love. It's more about pain and suffering at the hands of bullying. Why have this one then? I say, BAD CHOICE!

Ninteen Minutes is a clever name for the novel. Nineteen students are killed, which alludes to the title right off the bat. However, I really like how Picoult opens the book. She lists off anything that can potentially happen in nineteen minutes:

"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. Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tennessee Titans to sell out of tickets to the playoffs. It’s the amount of time it takes to listen to the Yes song 'Close to the Edge.' It’s the length of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It’s the driving distance from the Vermont border to the town of Sterling, NH. In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk two miles. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you
can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge."

In nineteen minutes, Peter Houghton invades the school and seeks revenge on those who bullied him.

The novel skips back and forth from the present to the past as the reader discovers why this shooting happened and discovers all of the pieces to the puzzle about the shooting itself. Like other Picoult novels, there is a mystery twist at the end (concerning the shooting) that changes EVERYTHING in the book. Honestly, I didn't see this coming in the slightest. She normally has a twist, but this one came from left field. In retrospect, I could've seen it. She was really building up to it. But afterwards, it makes a lot of sense.

Peter was a troubled kid, picked on by boys ever since his first day of kindergarten when his lunch box is tossed off the school bus. Throughout school, he had little support from administration who did not heavily punish the boys who tormented him. He even had an elementary school teacher who encouraged Peter to stand up for himself and did not force the bullies to stop picking on him.

A much better cover:



Peter's mother tried to make Peter fit in, but he just wasn't suited for it. She made him join the soccer team, which led to more embarassment and teasing from teammates, especially since he never played. He was picked on in the showers for being so small. And even worse for Peter was his older brother Joey, the perfect son who Peter could never live up to. He was an athlete, a smart guy, a popular guy--one who even picked on his little brother in school to save his own reputation. Unfortunately, Joey is killed by a drunk driver, making him almost become a saint. Part of this adds to Peter's pressure which leads up to the shooting.

In addition, the past connects Peter with Josie Cormier (daughter of the judge Alex Cormier) as good friends. Peter and Josie were childhood friends until Peter showed Josie his father's rifles (the ones he uses to shoot later on when he is a junior). Alex forbids Josie to play with Peter anymore even though they remain friends until they are in sixth grade. Josie starts to hang out with the popular crowd, and their friendship deteriorates.

Another level is added to the mix because of their dismantled friendship. Peter's mother, Lacy, was Alex's midwife and coached her into having Josie even though she was a single mother and aspiring judge. They became friends through this struggle. This paints the history of Alex's troubled relationship with Josie's father, her law professor, who she eventually beats out to receive the position of judge. Their friendship breaks apart when Peter's and Josie's does, but it sparks up a little bit at the end when Alex starts to smypathize with Peter during the trial.

Before the shooting, Josie was going out with Matt Royston, one of the victims. He severely teased Peter, even pulling his pants down in the cafeteria in front of everyone. On another occasion, his group of friends sent out Peter's love letter to Josie (since he had a crush on her) to the entire school. This made Peter look like a fool. This incident triggered some of the deaths on the day of the school shooting.

Some other percursors were linked to the possibility of him becoming a shooter as well: He created his own violent video games on the computer. They were about going into a school and shooting. He set fire to a dumpster at work and then wrote about it during school (Josie told on him which further severed their relationship--but they do make up in a jammed elevator where she lets him kiss her briefly). His father took him hunting which is where he developed his shooting skills. His father then feels tremendous guilt that he cannot shake for the duration of the novel.



In addition, the novel focuses on Josie's relationship with Matt and trying to fit into the popular crowd. She really sees these people for the shallow teens that they are. She hates how they pick on people, but she doesn't want to turn on them because then they would turn on her. She doesn't want to become a target. Matt is also abusive to her, physically harming her and then taking advantage of her sexually. He has moments where he sort of seems to care about her, but the relationship is really shallow and he is really selfish. He doesn't even care when she becomes pregnant and miscarriages. Josie's actions in the end have a purpose based on this information.

In terms of the shooting, Peter came into the school not really planned and killed students who bullied him and some random students as well. He killed a history teacher who was gay (perhaps to hide the fact that he caught Peter at a gay bar trying to figure out his own sexuality). If Peter WAS gay, which he wasn't, that would add another layer to the teasing and bullying. I think Peter must have been bisexual. Anyway, he sat down in the cafeteria to have a bowl of cereal and then continued to shoot victims. I think he stopped because it was the only time in school where he felt in control and where no one would bother or tease him (even though that sounds sick).

And as for the twist (SPOILER ALERT): Josie admits on the stand to killing Matt Royston. The way that the bullets were found in the locker room at the end of the novel make it impossible for Peter to take the blame for it. Josie is standing face to face with Peter and Matt when a gun slips out of Peter's backpack. Matt yells for Josie to shoot Peter, but she turns and shoots Matt in the chest. Matt is laying there dying, and Josie panicks and asks Peter to do something. Peter shoots him in the head, and they both faint before Peter could kill himself--what he wanted to do originally. It is hinted at the end of the novel that Peter does kill himself in prison. Josie is sentenced to five years in prison and her mother visits her.

Josie's mother Alex, during the novel, engages in a romance with Patrick, the lead police chief on the case. Alex eventually steps off the case, yet the two are still romantically intertwined. Apparently Patrick was a character in another novel of Picoult's, but he finally seeks his closure with Alex as they prepare to have a child at the end of the novel.

End of SPOILER.

I thought the topic was a really good one to discuss with others. Picoult gets inside the mind of a troubled victim to make us see why something like this might occur. It also points a finger at the tormentors who never got in trouble for being extremely cruel. It explains WHY bullies pick on others and the effect it has on those bullied. I found that exploration to be very interesting.

Picoult also focuses on the life of a judge, which I enjoyed. I never thought of the judge's perspective before, and the female judge's perspective was interesting. Alex kept connecting back her role as a mother to that of a judge which made awesome connections throughout.

Picoult does a great job sequencing of time to keep you hooked. We keep switching perspectives of characters to make the plot well-rounded. Then we keep going forward and backward which adds more layers to the characters and their stories. Of all the Picoult novels I've read, this was definitely one of the best. I was hooked on this one and couldn't stop reading it for days on end until I finally finished it.

Teens have so much to deal with. That transition that teens have when they go from childhood to teenage-hood when friends shift around and people become popular is hard. It hurts feelings. It makes people feel inferior. Being bullied is even harder. It's even more pathetic on the end of the bully because they need to make someone feel smaller than them because they have their own issues and insecurities.

I can't stand bullying. I can't stand seeing it in my classroom and I try my best to stop it when I can. But, the sad thing is, there is only so much that administration and teachers can do. Bullies can be smart, and they do it in places where there is little supervision like the locker room, the cafeteria, the halls, or the bus. Those areas are terrible targets for poor victims, and I feel bad that bullying is still a terrible problem. I don't even think it's one that can be stopped. People always want to have a hierarchy, and even if you hold programs on anti-bullying, it will still happen. Bullies don't peg themselves as bullies; they do it for psychological reasons that they may not even recognize. It's a sad cycle that I don't think will stop no matter how much we try.

But, we can at least try to be aware of it. Reading about the topic and dissecting WHY it happens (i.e. reading a book like this) is at least one step. Maybe if there is more discussion generated, more awareness can help more preventing--not to stop it completely. That would be a dream.

So what do you think of Nineteen Minutes?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

What makes you belive that Peter must have ben a bisexual

Anonymous said...

what is the reason for Josie's heart-ache , unreasonable reaction to hearing the death of her boyfriend if she hated him. What are you thougths to Jodi Picoults's thinking

Jami said...

I think his questioning over his sexuality could lead one to believe that he was bi. He thought about other guys in a curious way and went to the gay bar. I think that you could draw a conclusion of his curiosity, or you could also claim that he was just trying to find someone to accept him and a group to fit into. People can believe whatever they want based on this evidence.


I am also curious about Josie and her reaction. I think that's one reason why it's such a twist when we realize that she's the one who ultimately killed him. I feel like she was trying to kill the part of herself that she was becoming, the social group that she did not want to be a part of, and he was the ultimate symbol of that. I think it was a quick decision to end that life for herself even though it wasn't the best decision.

I think part of her did care for her boyfriend, and when she reacted that way, she was mourning the good memories. I think she was SO shocked at the fact that A. he's dead, and B. she is responsible. Thus, it looks like a mourning girlfriend who is devastated by the loss.

I think she was so shocked and didn't really know what to do. Should she come face to face with this new her (a murderer)? Can it remain a secret or not?

Unlike some killers, Josie is still partially sane here. When someone dies, she has feelings and can experience regret, remorse, depression, etc. I think this is partially why she has such strong reactions. She's also trying to figure out who she is and she just lost her best friend (who she killed!).

Picoult really surprised us here. She makes us go back and think about Josie's mind and thought process, and maybe that is a lot of her message. We get inside of Peter's mind constantly, but this helps us see the other side--Josie. There are many victims and perpetrators, and it's interesting to see where they come from.

Me said...

I absolutely loved this book. It took me about a week to read, and it had me engrossed for every word. The way Picoult understands the human mind is outstanding, and her writing style keeps you interested for the whole duration of the story.

The characters were interesting, and every one of them seemed to have a mind of their own, or at the very least, a part to play. None were there just for the sake of it.

In a bittersweet way, I loved the ending. It was sad, especially for Peter (who I had become quite fond of during the book, despite what he had done). It had some almost-cliched happy moments to it, like Alex pregnant and together with Patrick, but overall - for me, anyway - it was sad. And I liked that about it. It is the kind of ending that has you reflecting on the characters and all they've been through.

As I've already mentioned, the writing style was fantastic. The way nothing was revealed straight away, and the pieces of the story were revealed gradually, separated by different perspectives telling the story and jumps in time, made it all the more interesting to read. The best part was, even though the viewpoints and times changed regularly, it was not confusing at all.

This is the first Jodi Picoult book I've read, and I will definitely be reading more. The book was so much better than I originally thought it would be, even after reading the back. I don't think you can really understand how great it is until you've actually read it, because reviews and blurbs can't really express how good it is.

Next on my Jodi Picoult to-read list is The Pact, and I hopefully will be buying that in the next couple of days, so if you could maybe write a review on that, I will definitely be reading it (apologies if you have already written one and I just missed it).

Nice blog, thankyou for posting :-)

Lauren said...

Jami,

At the end, when Peter is dreaming that he's in the school bus and he sees the sun in the back of the bus and thinks he's going exactly where he wanted to go, where do you think that was?

Anonymous said...

Actually, if I remember correctly, 9 students died (and 1 teacher). Not 19 students, just so you know.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.

- David

yanee said...

Nice take you have there on the novel.
Just finished reading it yesterday.
If you could help me out here, how exactly did the bullet ended up in the tree?From what I understand,the tree was behind Peter.
Well,I might be wrong.English is not my first language.=)
Thanks.

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I have been reading about the "nineteen Minutes" , the reviews said that including peer pressure, popularity, , school bullying, betrayal and deception, sexual orientation , teen dating violence, suicide, video game violence, parenthood and communication between adolescents !!!22dd

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I don't know how to say this, but this book was certainly one of the books that I had read that left a huge impact on how I should see things. This was definitely one of those that I will always remember and never forget

Lisa Smoth said...

very interesting book, made me thinking a lot more about the meaning of life.

Anonymous said...

this book is absolutely the best book I have ever read. I got so into my book that I felt so depressed when it was over. I also got this strAnge attraction to Peter houghton. I find him hot. They should definitely make a movie out of Nineteen Minutes... now that would be a movie alright

Marlene Detierro said...

This book is a study in reality and had me asking where is the line? and why do some people cross it while others continue to play by the rules of society?

I stayed up way too late to finish reading this book. Easy to get into and hard to put down. A definite should-read especially if you are a fan of Picoult's more introspective work.

Marlene
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