Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

The book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a realistic fiction, coming-of-age novel, but is also a huge suspense and somewhat of a mystery. All those genres combined made for a great plot-line, involving the protagonist, Josie Cormier, and a school shooting that killed her boyfriend Matt Royston and nine other students at Sterling High School. The shooter, Peter Houston, happened to be Josie Cormier's ex-best friend; he was an unpopular boy in High School who was bullied horribly and felt he had nobody to confide in. This resulted in Peter going crazy, killing ten students, harshly wounding about twenty more, and permanently scarring everyone around him.

I believe that this book has many hidden morals and messages. As time goes on, even after a year, Josie is still engulfed in sadness, even after graduating. This is understandable, as an experience like this would definitely be traumatic and heartbreaking. But I think that the author is trying to teach us a lesson by putting us in Josie's shoes, and that lesson is that sometimes you just have to move on with your life (keeping what was lost in your heart) and not get swept away by the past. Although the author or any of the characters never really delve into the full meaning of this message, I can see when they show the characters a year after the shooting happened. Again, I know Josie has reason to be sad, but I think the author has kept her sad and gloomy throughout the whole book to show us as the readers that there is always an alternative, which is moving on and continuing to live your life without that dread always surrounding you.

Although this isn't exactly in the book, in the Acknowledgements section, Jodi Picoult writes: "To the thousands of kids out there who are a little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular: this one's for you." I interpreted this as Jodi Picoult is dedicating it not to the kids that are like Josie, who were victims of this horrible shooting, but children you were like Peter-- kids that had to jump to actions such as these to make themselves acknowledged or even just heard. I think it is so brave of this author to really put herself in the perspective of a killer and why this killer might have done what he did, instead of doing what so many other authors might do, which is put themselves in the shoes of the victim. I also think she dedicated the story to the kids who are "different," "scared,"and "a little bit unpopular," because they are the kids that may be obligated to feel alone like Peter did, and maybe (it is highly unlikely) take actions such as he did. Jodi Picoult probably didn't want anyone to feel alone, and dedicated the book to those children so they could relate to it.

I understand this book because I feel like almost everyone has been in a place where they feel alone. Even at family get-togethers, there are times when you feel alone and wish there was someone who felt as you did. Sometimes you're with a bunch of friends and they're saying something and you don't get the joke, and that can make you feel alone too. These are really common situations that show that it doesn't take much to feel alone or sad. I think that the author Jodi Picoult really showed this through dynamic characters and a shocking, suspenseful, and beautifully thought through plot line.