Maroon Weekly

Book Review: Nineteen Minutes

By: Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes begins with a disturbing suicide note from a killer to his mother. In a quiet town in New Hampshire, school shootings were just awful stories on the nightly news–it could never happen to them…that is, until it does. In just nineteen minutes, Peter Houghton heinously slaughters ten people, 9 students and one teacher. Of course, he is a monster, how could anyone kill that many innocent people? But, Picoult raises the question, were the students really innocent: how can a child just wake up one day and decide to kill others without any provocation at all?

The novel follows the perspective of a few very important people that are affected by the shooting, including a childhood friend of Peter’s, a judge presiding over the case, a detective, and Peter’s own mother. The most challenging character to read about is Peter. Reader’s get glimpses of Peter’s tortured life, all of his resentment and hatred towards others, including his own mother. Picoult puts us into a place that we don’t really want to see; in our minds Peter is a monster, deserving of no sympathy. But trust me when I say that by the end of this novel you hurt not only for the victims but also for the “monster.”

Nineteen Minutes explores the aftermath of such an event. It describes how people either pull together or push apart when they are hurting. It explores if a mother’s unconditional love could survive such an act, could marriages and the town survive what happened. It also answers the intruding questions: should the blame ever be put on the students? Should the reasons for the shooting ever be explored or just pushed under the table? Picoult fearlessly delves into each character without hesitation, giving each a voice. This book is one that will haunt you forever–but more importantly, it will change the way you view people for the rest of your life, however long that might be.