Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Bullying is something most of us experienced when growing up, but what if it was so constant, so violent, that someone took justice into their own hands? Could you empathise? You can only push an animal so far before it bites back... And we're all only animals at our foundations.

Jodi Picoult has only gone and done it again! I picked up this book from one of those free libraries because I've read lots of her work and it's always a slam dunk. This book is one of the most upsetting and for more than the fact that the young male protagonist goes into his high school one day with four firearms and opens fire, killing ten people and altering the lives of the entire town of Sterling, and let me tell you why. Read on!

The Main Plot:

The town of Sterling is shook when Peter Houghton goes into high school one ordinary day with four guns and opens fire. He kills ten people in nineteen minutes, wounding many others. He is apprehended in the gym with his once best friend, Josie Cormier, wounded but alive. When he's put into a cell at the police station, the detective who caught him hears Peter quietly ask, 'How many did I get?'.

What drives a young man to do such a thing? Well, allow Jodie Picoult to explain, as we switch from the present to seventeen years before, eleven years before, two years before and so on, seeing what torment Peter is put through and how Josie fits into it all. With every chapter, the pieces fall into place, and we figure out why Peter was driven to such lengths, and why Josie isn't able to testify against him even though they haven't been friends in years.

Fault slowly blurs from Peter to other teenagers in the school, to parents, to teachers and everyone in between. It seems everyone had a hand in this tragedy, but how exactly? That's for you to read and find out. 😀

Let's dive into the Pros and Cons:

➕ The clever way the chapters switch from the present, the trial and the past gives us a real 360 point of view, as we don't just hear from Peter, but his mother, Josie, her mother, and a detective on the case. You get to read everything that's going on and everything in between, deciding yourself what is important and what you agree or disagree with.

➖ I know we get to hear from a lot of people in each chapter, but my word were the chapters long as anything. It was difficult to put this book down because I was scared of losing my place when I came back to it and having to reread some parts because I couldn't just bang out a chapter; a chapter could take me over an hour to read.

➕ I loved how this story wasn't just battering down on Peter as a bad guy who did a terrible thing; instead the narrative went into why he did what he did and how everything lead up to that one awful day. Almost like Frankenstein, you read about the awful things he did, but you also learn that Peter isn't really the monster.

➖ There are a few triggering issues in this book: shooting, violence towards women, rape, abuse, neglect, just to name a few. I understand how imperative to the story it was to include these things, so this is really more of a warning to you instead of a con per se.

This has got to be a 5/5! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is not for the faint-hearted, but it had everything. There is a lot of real life within its pages, a lot of triggering issues, not to mention you've got to have a long attention span or a lot of time in order to get through a single chapter. It tackles the epidemic of bullying and how we as individuals and a society need to become better and not look the other way when we see wrong being done, especially to others.

I've included links to this book on my LinkTree in my bio, order to get it in time for your weekend! Let me know on my socials if you're getting it, what you think, or if you've already read it! 😁