Comments on: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

By: samantha

samantha — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:53:40 +0000

this book was recomended to me by my grandmother, i am infact in highschool. and someone wanted to know if highschool is such shark infested waters. well, to be completely honest, in a way it can be. i mean i see everyone usually tries to be sympathetic to those who cant control if theyre “unnacceppted” and not give them a hard time. but there are really kids in school that have no regards towards others fellings and it can go from bad to worse in an instant. say the wrong thing to someone, and you might have a new enemy. look at a girl the wrong way and you deffinately have a new enemey. just something to think about.

personally, i loved this book. i didnt want it to end

By: Una

Una — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:10:29 +0000

I loved this book in many ways. However, It is the holes in the story that bother me.

Why is there no reaction from Alex when she realises what a bully Matt was? He was her daughter’s boyfriend and Alex was charmed by the signs of love in her daughter. Then we find out what a bully Matt was (the real monster of the story). Alex should have been horrified that her daughter was involved with a character who was capable of such cruelty. Picoult tells us nothing.

Then, how could Peter’s mother not have realised that he was suffering so much? When he “loses” his lunchbox for the third time in first grade, does it not even occur to her that he may be being bullied? Apparently not. Her reaction is to punish her little boy! Punish him for being bullied! The book encourages us to ask questions about the role of parenting (or failures of parenting) in the creation of a “monster”. Yet, this particular failure slips by practically unnoticed. Not only does his mother fail to recognise that he is in trouble, she punishes him for the consequences. That must be devastating for a child. The one person on whom he should be able to depend to protect him and vindicate him, effectively joins the bullies in undermining him. I can’t believe that any mother so loving as Peter’s could be so blind.

Next hole. No one seems to react adversely to details of the bullying Peter was subjected to. There is no sense that anyone looks at these “jocks” as monsters, which they truely are. This is emphasised in the complete lack of reaction of teachers (symbolised by the absense of any instruction to teachers in the anti-bullying policy document) when Peter is humiliated. In the canteen, after the “pantsing” incident, both boys are treated the same by the teacher in charge. In any school I know, such an incident, witnessed by a teacher, would lead to either the suspension of the perpetrator or his total expulsion from school. Is it really the case that such overt bullying would be passed over so casually by American High school adminstrators?

Near the end of the book, there are several comments to the effect that “nothing has changed”. I am not surprised. The book, while appearing to be trying to winnow out the reasons why a child would be driven to such appalling actions, fails to challenge the adults in the story. Where were they and where were they looking when their children were in such trouble? The story line seems to suggest that when Alex gives up her judge position and gets a man, she suddenly begins to develop a bond with her child Josie. Can Picould be serious? Despite being obsessed with the idea of being a good mother, Professional single mothers cannot connect with their children? Neither, it seems can professional married women or their professional husbands. Maybe they need to spend less time on the idea of parenting and more on actually being parents.

Are American High Schools such shark infested waters? I would love to hear from young people currently attending such schools. Is the picture created by Picoult accurate? Are children tearing each other apart like this on a daily basis (and I don’t mean the shootings)? Are parents really so blind?

By: Miller2

Miller2 — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:50:12 +0000

i really enjoyed this book but i thought that it was a little to long…i just wanted it to be straight to the point. there were too many details that i thought didn’t need to be there. but i really liked the back a forth of the story, that made it interesting

By: Brittney

Brittney — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:50:30 +0000

I loved this book! It was amazing! I could not put it down!

By: cynthia

cynthia — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:35:50 +0000

this book is absolutely brilliant. it is so well written and not even one page was boring or pointless. i was very interested the whole entire time. when i did put the book down, all i kept thinking about was going back to read it. the book only looks long and normally i would be hesitant on such a thick book but honestly, it is such a great read you don’t even realize it and you’re done before you know it. i would recommend this book hands down. absolutely love it and am looking forward to read more of her books. she is a great author.

By: reagan x

reagan x — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:23:28 +0000

this book was really really good, i had to write my PSU on it and i found it a really deep and emptional book. I have read mostly all off Jodie Picoults books and loved them all.

By: lukeeee whiteeee

lukeeee whiteeee — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:58:19 +0000

i thought this book was amazing. it is cool i love readding books im such a geek. that is what i do best. This book made me think a really ment a lot to me. it made me realisee dont even spend 19 minutes on a book never mind a whole lessonn

yagaaaaa
hollaaa
peacee outtt

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:41:51 +0000

In my AP english class we were asked to read a book from a list given to us by the teacher. I chose Nineteen Minutes (clearly) and my initial thoughts were, “This is going to take WAY too long to read.” I was Partially right. It was a really long book but I thought that had it been shortened it wouldn’t be as good. And seriously this book was awesome. After this I really want to read “The Pact”, mainly because Jordan McAfee was an awesome character so I’d like to read another book with him. I seriously would recommend Nineteen Minutes to anyone asking for a good book. Jodi Picoult has perfect delivery. Definately a two thumbs up!

By: Grace k.

Grace k. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:13:16 +0000

i lovvvveeeeeee this booook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if this was a movie this would be my cast
josie:brenda song or victoria justice
matt:sean faris
peter:chris owen
alex:leslie mann or leslie hope
patrick:peter facinelli or ben affleck
jordan:billy burke
selena:gabriella union
lacy:jennifer aniston
lewis:robort downy jr.
courtney:meagan park
drew:cam gigandet

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:25:41 +0000

in My sister’s keeper, Anna died in car accident for goodness sake, i don’t see how much more fantastic yet suprising that could be?! If you believe it should have better, you should write your own ending to it, and see how hard it is!!

By: Grace

Grace — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:21:32 +0000

This book was a fantastic read, i couldn’t get enough of it. It was roping me in further and further as i read on and was a brilliant topic of how bullying can cause such catastrophic events. I would recomend it to anybody.

By: morgan

morgan — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:30:50 +0000

so amazing.
my friends got my started on jodi picoult’s books and i haven’t been able to put them down. nineteen minutes is my favorite, hands down!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:53:37 +0000

This book is an amazing book & it really helped friends and family in the roccori school district. This was one of the hardest times ever! This book was something that really showed a lot about life. So thank you Jodi for making this book and helping students see the other side of things.

By: gigi

gigi — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:13:38 +0000

maybe jodi picoult was thinking of a possible movie. but the way peter’s short anecdotes of sorts are noted sometimes right at the beginning….its chilling how desolate and desperate loneliness can be…and yeah “we need to talk about kevin” by lionel shriver is a nicely written book too,in some ways more commendable than this one, but jodi picoult remains my favourite in this new “genre” of fiction.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:21:32 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this book, but I did not think it contained the depth of my Sister’s Keeper (which I definitely recommend). Also, just like in My Sister’s Keeper, I was disappointed with the ending. It seemed to me that Ms. Picoult took the easy way out, didn’t embellish on her new twist enough, and had nothing substantial to lead to her bold new statement.

By: michelle

michelle — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:25:13 +0000

i couldn’t agree more.
after reading my sister’s keeper, i was looking forward to reading picoult’s other books, and so, it had to be this one. it wasn’t bad, but it certainly would not have made the impression as her other books have had.

on the other hand, her unexpected twists are still present.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:39:35 +0000

I had to read this book for english class and i read 10 pages it wasnt the book lack of interest it was how damn long it was so Jodi Keep them shorter next time

By: Doug Alley

Doug Alley — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:00:35 +0000

As I read “Nineteen Minutes”, another troubled soul ruined lives at VTU. I’m sure that influenced me to tell everyone I knew to read this book, and, if anyone didn’t like it, I would buy any book of his or her choosing.
A comment on the review: Peter was picked on and otherwise bullied on his first day on the bus, and this treatment continued and increased throughout public school, culminating in, not beginning with, high school.
I feel the book is the story of Judge Alex Cormier, and any complaints on character developmen miss this point. The title obviously refers to “the shootings”, but the real story is about Alex, and her daughter. Any other reading simply parses the obvious.