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Nineteen Minutes | 
 enlarge | Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $1.25
You Save: $14.75 (92%)
New (72) Used (436) Collectible (5) from $1.25
Rating:  554 reviews
Sales Rank: 1236
Media: Paperback
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0743496736
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743496735
ASIN: 0743496736
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Paperback no writing no highlight thru out pages.
Amazon.com Review
Best known for tackling controversial issues through richly told fictional accounts, Jodi Picoult's 14th novel, Nineteen Minutes, deals with the truth and consequences of a smalltown high-school shooting. Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, Picoult offers reads a glimpse of what would cause a 17-year-old to wake up one day, load his backpack with four guns, and kill nine students and one teacher in the span of nineteen minutes. As with any Picoult novel, the answers are never black and white, and it is her exceptional ability to blur the lines between right and wrong that make this author such a captivating storyteller. On Peter Houghton's first day of kindergarten, he watched helplessly as an older boy ripped his lunch box out of his hands and threw it out the window. From that day on, his life was a series of humiliations, from having his pants pulled down in the cafeteria, to being called a freak at every turn. But can endless bullying justify murder? As Picoult attempts to answer this question, she shows us all sides of the equation, from the ruthless jock who loses his ability to speak after being shot in the head, to the mother who both blames and pities herself for producing what most would call a monster. Surrounding Peter's story is that of Josie Cormier, a former friend whose acceptance into the popular crowd hangs on a string that makes it impossible for her to reconcile her beliefs with her actions. At times, Nineteen Minutes can seem tediously stereotypical-- jocks versus nerds, parent versus child, teacher versus student. Part of Picoult's gift is showing us the subtleties of these common dynamics, and the startling effects they often have on the moral landscape. As Peter's mother says at the end of this spellbinding novel, "Everyone would remember Peter for nineteen minutes of his life, but what about the other nine million?" --Gisele Toueg
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 554
 Can't stop thinking about it ... August 30, 2010
Laurel
This book sucked me in and hasn't let me go yet .... I read it a couple months ago and immediately wanted to talk to someone about it. I am in the process of trying to start a book club with this being our first book. It's THAT compelling. Jodi is a talented writer ... I now want to read everyone of her books!!
 Enjoyable but way too similar... August 17, 2010
lauralexandria
I really enjoyed this book as I was reading...I couldn't put it down. But I noticed that what really drew me to it was not only how Picoult made me sympathize for Peter...but also that this story cut to the bone, had so many vivid details...it was almost like I'd heard the story before. Then I realized that I had. Because this story happened in 1999 at Columbine High School. I know that the killer is completely different in his motive and the back story with Josie and Alex and the lawyers and whatnot was fictional...but those were just about the only things in the entire book that weren't taken directly from actual events that happened during or after Columbine.
To name a few:
-The body count was around the same number....with around the same number of people left injured.
-ONE male teacher died from similar injuries despite help from students in both stories.
-Peter had sawed-off shotguns in his bag and Eric and Dylan had at least one of those as well.
-Eric harris went into the library yelling about how he was going to kill the jocks (allegedly) and so did peter in the book except he wasnt in the library when he said that.
-They both set off a bomb outside of the school before they started shooting.
-In the book a kid is shot and loses function of one side of his body. He goes in and out of consciousness numerous times while trying to make it to a window...he gets to the window and the rescue people outside see him and say "we're coming to get you!" or something to that affect. The kid falls out of the window before the people are ready to catch him. This is almost EXACTLY what happened to Patrick Ireland at Columbine, the only difference being that in the book he falls because he tries to nod and at Columbine Patrick misunderstood what the people trying to catch him were saying. I'm sure everyone who watched the footage remembers the video of him escaping out that window...I was nine and I remember. I cannot believe she used that story in the book.
-In the book, the mother of a victim goes into a store, asks to see a gun, loads it and shoots herself right there. This exact same incident happened to a mother after the columbine shootings, the only difference being that her daughter survived but was paralyzed.
-Memorial crosses were made for the victims at columbine and someone made two for the killers as well which were repeatedly defaced....also happened in the book ...even tho the killer wasnt dead.
-In the book peter sees a kid he knows before he goes into the school on the day of the shooting and peter tells him to go home. Eric did the same exact thing.
These are just some of the similarities...and there's no way it's a coincidence. After discovering this I'm a little puzzled as to why she even wrote the book. Most of it was already written for her. I could understand maybe having a couple of similarities...but this many is just plain unoriginal. I can't help but feel like it's a little disrespectful. There is no guideline for how a school shooting goes...she could have been completely original. I just don't get it. However, I did enjoy reading the book...Peter is completely different than Eric and Dylan were and that's what makes the book so great. I would still recommend it...just don't expect an original work of fiction.
 Nineteen Minutes: The Abridged Version July 23, 2010
Erik Fitzpatrick
--Present day--
Alex Cormier is a judge who loves her job so much that there is no love left for her daughter Josie. Josie loves being popular and attractive, and can't stand her mom. They tolerate each other because they live together.
Josie has a boyfriend named Matt who she steals clothes from so she can smell them. She is moody, with a range that goes from hating herself to hating herself more.
Patrick is a detective who can't detect anything. (Oh ho ho! See what she did there?!) He's late for everything, which is extra bad because he's a cop.
It's March. Josie is with Matt, who likes saying innuendos. This page doesn't add to the book at all.
Alex totally walks all up in that courthouse and is a judge. She is so judge-like that she is literally a judge; A judge who judges things.
Peter turns on his computer and opens a file that makes him cry. He is so sad he forgets how to exit out of a word document and instead starts pressing ctrl+alt+delete because Jodi Picoult is not familiar with computer.
Courtney Ignatio is the ALPHA FEMALE at Sterling High School. She is clearly defined as the most attractive girl in the school by everyone because, you know, that's how high school works. Josie looks around the school cafeteria at all of the clearly designated areas for extremely well-defined cliques. Their entire school is a massive stereotype filled with more stereotypes, because that's how high school works. The jocks start throwing spitballs at less popular kids because they are super awesome and manly, not to mention popular.
There is a gym in the high school. Two nerdy kids talk about generic nerd discussion topics while they are being nerdy.
We learn about Peter's mom and dad, who are normal people who would probably have a hard time coping with extremely stressful issues. I wonder what will happen to them?!
Zoe Patterson is unimportant yet has a section devoted to her. This section introduces Mr. McCabe, a math teacher who tells jokes.
Patrick (that detective guy) is driving when he is alerted to a serious incident at the high school. He drives there and discovers that a shooter is inside. When told not to enter because he would be defying protocol, he states "There is no f**king protocol for this." (Oh snap!) Then he busts into the school like a cop who plays by his own rules, and finds a bunch of dead bodies that have been shot to death because they were murdered. With bullets. He finds Josie cowering in a locker room beside her dead boyfriend.
--Seventeen years before--
Oh man, so Alex is taking these pregnancy yoga mom tranquility classes and stuff because she's pregnant with Josie. Lacy is the teacher just so she can seem important later on in the story. Alex doesn't want her baby because she got knocked up by some old man named Logan who did not care about her.
Lacy has a baby, and leaves it with Alex when she goes to the bathroom or something. Alex sees how annoying the baby is and decides "I want one." Lacy still thinks Alex wants an abortion, but then Alex freaks out because she thinks she had a miscarriage and Lacy's all "You do want the baby! Man, what a strong independent woman you are, like those women on lifetime who do strong independent things like being independent and strong."
Before Alex has her baby, Lacy says "Let's do this together," which is a total 'that's what she said' moment. Then Alex births her baby and she is a mom, because moms have babies. Picoult is a genius.
--Present day--
Patrick is investigating dead bodies. John crawls out of a closet and flies out a window. Lacy, Peter's mom, arrives at the school in search of her son, but surprise! Her son shot up the school. Some unimportant people and Mr. McCabe are found dead.
Josie has amnesia. Lacy is all like "How could my son do this?" Jordan McAfee is called to be Peter's defense attorney.
--Twelve years before--
Peter loves the idea of school so much, he skips sleep because kindergarten will be so unbearably awesome. He gets on the school bus and some stereotypical bullies take his superman lunchbox and throw it out the window. The bus driver is like "Hey kids, settle down." and doesn't care at all. This happens three times within the month, because the bus driver is either one of the bullies or sleeping. Alex thinks about the differences between a judge and a mother, and thinks some things that are supposed to connect to the reader.
Lacy learns that because Peter is being bullied, he should become a bully too, because problems are handled with fists no matter what. Josie and Peter are best friends because neither one of them cares about social status. Alex and Lacy lose track of their kids and find the two playing with a RIFLE. A GUN. AN ENTIRE ONE. Alex FREAKS OUT because she's a MOM. A SOMEWHAT RESPONSIBLE MOM. She forbids Josie from socializing with Peter anymore.
Peter's dad starts teaching him about guns at age 6 because Peter has the psychological capacity of a lonely 46 year old Harvard professor.
(At this point I'm going to stop following along with the book and just write what I remember.)
Josie grows up and starts being popular because she wears makeup and does generic popular teenager things. She disses Peter because he's not popular. Peter is sad. He starts coding complicated computer games, somehow in basic HTML. Matt and Drew pick on him because he is unpopular.
Matt is a douche. After Josie found out her dad wanted nothing to do with her, he was all "Let's have sex on the side of the road." Then they did, because that's what happens after dramatic first encounters with unknown fathers. She thinks about mild philosophical things all the time, because she is complicated on the inside but not really. She hates herself because she won't be herself, because she hates herself. I know, right?
Peter is confused about his sexual preference, because he showers naked with dudes. He goes to a gay bar and starts playing pool with some gay dude. The gay dude assumes giving up a few of his quarters guarantees him his way with Peter, but suddenly Mr. McCabe, gay math teacher incognito, trots into the room on a shining rainbow-colored unicorn and saves Peter. He drives Peter home, if you know what I mean. Peter denies being gay and runs all the way down his street to get away from his gay thoughts.
One time, Peter got stuck in an elevator with Josie, because it was important to the story. She kissed him because he dared her to. Later on he sent her a letter revealing his love for her, and Courtney Ignatio (Alpha female) conveniently found it first and spammed it out to the whole school just because she could. Man these high school kids are so original and unpredictable, their pranks know no bounds. When Peter approaches Josie about her reaction to the letter, he gets pantsed in front of the cafeteria by Matt. Everyone laughs because he is half naked. Some teacher runs up and is like "Is that all or do you want detention?!" when he clearly should have escorted Matt to the principal's office right there. He doesn't, because clearly he does not care about the students at all.
Peter takes all of his built-up frustration and shoots up his school, killing 10 and wounding others. He even stopped for a bowl of rice krispies, because they are just that delicious.
(Like 12 unimportant backstories.)
(Way later on)
Patrick, the detective guy, makes out with Alex and they become a couple. Josie finds out and is like "whatevs", because Patrick turns out to be an alright guy. Alex was going to be the judge on Peter's trial, but couldn't because her daughter was too involved. Peter goes to trial and everyone hates him. People testify for him and everyone still hates him. Josie remembers everything, then goes up to testify. Turns out one of the two gunshot wounds in her boyfriend was caused by her, because she loved him so much she hated him, and vice versa. Random unimportant backstory of how he got her pregnant but she miscarried.
Peter ends up being charged with 8 accounts of manslaughter and two accounts of 'they deserved it', and Josie is sentenced to 5 years in prison. Alex and Patrick are having a baby together. The end.
Could not put it down July 21, 2010
booklover2 (NC)
This is the kind of book that you think about long after you have read the last page. It is haunting because it rings very true. Picoult did a great job of re-creating some of the worst school disasters in this book. She brings you inside to the lives of all involved. It is truly a book to be thought about, talked about, and pondered.
No Surprise July 16, 2010
I. M. Listening (Listening Inn)
How do I describe this story? Long and tedious. Few if any surprises. Reads like a fake biography in parts. Kind of a second tier soap opera, nothing new or deep to ponder.
I know some will find this harsh, especially seeing the ratings of others, but what a disappointment. This was my first Jodi Picoult novel. No thanks to a repeat. She's not without talent, but there was little here for me.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 554
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