19 Minutes

I began this blog with aspirations of reviewing every possible genre, from children's to deep fantasy to classic to contemporary literature. I had planned to review Henry James' Portrait of a Lady next, but its 600-something pages slowed me down a little... that and the fact that new and exciting books cropped up that I couldn't wait to read. So while Portrait of a Lady sits on my nightstand, bookmarked 400 pages in and begging to be finished, I just read a new book. I almost didn't review it here, because I've already done a Jodi Picoult book, and as I said before, I wanted to have variety in my genres. But the message of this book begged to be written about. So Portrait of a Lady will have to wait a little longer, as I take another break to write about Jodi Piocoult's 19 Minutes.

High School. As a 16 year old nearly halfway through, I feel qualified to say that for some, high school is the best time of their lives. For others, it's the worst. And for some like me, it's just in between: some days, you wish you were just in college, already! and others, the exhilaration of being young and free makes you wish you could stay a teenager forever. And the there's the schoolwork, which is definitely on the "worse" end of the bargain.

Stereotypes abound about high school groups: the jocks, the cheerleaders, the dancers, the nerds, the foreign students... the lists goes on and on. Although my own school doesn't play so dramatically into these groups, it is a fairly true grouping. The teasing and enmity between some of these groups (the "cool" group and the "nerdy" group, for instance) varies from school to school: but what 19 Minutes addresses is "how far is too far?"

19 Minutes is about a school shooting. Peter, the shooter, is a skinny, awkward teenager who has been bullied since kindergarten. Josie Cormier, a popular, beautiful girl, is dating Matt, one of the boys killed during the shooting who bullied Peter. She was with her boyfriend when he was shot, but Peter spared her. Incidentally, Peter and Josie were best friends growing up: as were their mothers, Alex and Lacey. Alex, Josie's mother, is the judge who will seat the case. See how complicated it all is? But each life is woven together with the next in a complicated domino-chain of hurt and fear.

Bullying is something high school students are taught about in boring seminars or warning lectures. What we don't realize is that it is a commonplace act at school: we just don't call it bullying. As I read 19 Minutes, I felt convicted: haven't I laughed at a joke someone's made about the nerdy kid who sits alone in the corner? Haven't I listened to guys make fun of the freakishly tall girl in the hallways? Isn't there that girl everyone calls "Sasquatch" but no one knows her real name? It's all bullying, it's all demeaning another person, and that person deserves respect no matter how different from us they are. Peter, the shooter, was bullied his entire life, and I found myself actually crying at the boundless cruelty the other guys inflict on Peter just for fun.

I cried for Peter, but I empathized with Josie, Peter's childhood friend and a member of the popular crowd. She knew the right thing to do was to be nice to Peter, but when her boyfriend and his friends made fun of him, it was so hard for her to stand up for Peter. In fact, it was easier for Josie to go the other way and nod, laugh, agree passively. It's a choice that many of us make (myself included)... and we could never imagine the consequences. Certainly Josie never imagined that Peter would grow so angry and hurt that he would shoot those same kids that had teased him for 12 years. Honestly, it scares me how many students think it's harmless to tease another human being... or just sit by and let it happen. Every single human being deserves respect. Whenever Picoult writes from Peter's point of view, you feel his pain. You understand that his life has been ruined completely by the bullying. You understand that all that defines him is the fact that others don't like him. I could NEVER live my life that way: I almost feel that I'd crack the same way Peter did.

With that in mind, I definitely am changing the way I treat people at school. Reading this book absolutely opened my eyes to my own behavior and others. 19 Minutes is the kind of book that should be required for all high schoolers to read: it's that life changing-- but before I recommend it too strongly to teens, it should be noted that I felt the sexual content and language detracted from the storyline and were unnecessary. I almost wish I hadn't read those parts of the book. Some scenes are understandable to further characterize or explain... others are extraneous and too graphic for my taste. I feel the book could have been better without some of the inappropriate material.

Jodi's books usually make me think, but none as much as this one. I think that's because they are usually about adults and their problems or remote, obscure, .0009% chances of something, but 19 Minutes is real and relatable to my everyday life. I strongly recommend that a high schooler read this book: and see how they treat others afterwards.