Title: “The Thanksgiving Timebomb”

As we get closer to the holidays and the colder weather, a new book is a great way to utilize your free time. Try out Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Be aware that this adult novel may not be like anything you are used to. Nineteen Minutes deals with harsh realities that we face in our world today.

Nineteen Minutes is a novel explaining the details before, during, and after a school shooting at the fictional Sterling High School. Told from multiple points of view and alternating time periods, we uncover important details that help us piece together what truly is the cause of such an act of violence.

Set in the autumn season, the novel explains a life full of bullying and harassment for seventeen year old Peter Houghton. Peter finds his only comfort with childhood friend, Josie Cormier. However, due to constant peer pressure from her friends, Josie completely abandons Peter in the time when he needs her most.

We can understand as readers that things are going to get ugly very quickly. Due to all of the pent up anger and betrayal Peter has been carrying for years, he decides to do something about it; something that no one ever expected.

Author Jodi Picoult has an outstanding cast in Nineteen Minutes. Because of her ability to change points of view with each chapter, readers are able to truly invade the minds and hearts of each character. We are able to see the sides of Peter, Josie, Josie’s mother Judge Alex Cormier, and the defense attorney appointed to help Peter, Jordan McAfee. Picoult has the ability to isolate the characters in a way that show off their humanity and unfortunately their cruelty.

My spotlight follows Peter Houghton. Although Picoult writes in points of view of many different people, Peter is considered a secondary character due to his crime occurring later in the novel. Houghton is a very complex character. Looking at the facts that the novel presents, he’s been bullied for years by his past friends and even people he has never even met before. Nineteen Minutes really did a great job of showing the extreme of something that some would call “just joking around”. For some people, it isn’t all fun and games and it’s great that this lone fact is being presented.

Any person would benefit from this novel because it teaches us that you never fully know what somebody could be going through. There is no guarantee that tripping a student or even calling them a name won’t have a lasting effect on them. Peter was one of those kids who was tripped and called names. He had done no harm, but still payed the price.

As high school students, this book can be seen as too intense or too serious for us, but I truly believe that we all could learn from something like this. This novel is a book about owning up to your mistakes and living with regret, no matter how small. Next time we see someone out in the world that could use a friend, we should strive to be that for them. We never know how vital that one little act of kindness could be.

For me, Nineteen Minutes is one of those classics that sets an example for all other suspense novels out there. It will shock you, break your heart, and truly make you ask yourself, “What kind of person am I?”

Nineteen Minutes is an outstanding novel in my opinion; a story that I think anybody would enjoy and benefit from.