Jodi Picoult's Best Novel: Nineteen Minutes

I’ve read several novels by Jodi Picoult this year. I find that they each have a lot in common. Ms. Picoult seems to write fairly depressing stories about teens and children for the most part. I’ve become glued to her books, and I’ve been met with disappointing endings and other unpleasant plot twists. However, I have to say that Nineteen Minutes, although completely depressing, is by far the best Picoult book I’ve read to date. Nineteen Minutes is a solid story with great character development and a denouement which ties up loose ends and is satiating to the reader.

Nineteen Minutes tells the story of a horrible tragedy in a small town in New Hampshire. We start with an all-too-familiar school shooting, where a young man goes into his high school with pipe bombs and ammunition and guns, and walks around shooting people. At first, we are not sure who the boy is and why he’s decided to kill his classmates. We are faced with the same confusion which faced parents and children at Columbine. There are police officers everywhere, and ambulances and hysterical parents. There are hysterical children hiding all over the school, and complete chaos everywhere.

Picoult then delves into the story of not only the victims (actually, it doesn’t really focus on the victims of the shooter much at all), but she tells the story of the shooter. Peter Houghton was the kid who was the most harshly bullied at Sterling High. Ever since the first day of Kindergarten, Peter has had his lunchboxes throw away, he’s been pushed into walls and lockers, he’s had his pants pulled down and he’s been beat up several times. His old best pal Josie Cormier is now part of ‘them,’ or the popular crowd. Her boyfriend, Matt, is the ring leader of the entire ‘Peter Houghton Circus,’ and he is relentless when it comes to picking on Peter.

The novel focuses on Josie and her mother Alex, who is a superior court judge and who is originally assigned to Peter’s case. Alex gave birth to Josie via a midwife, who was actually Peter’s mother. Lacy Houghton and Alex Cormier were best of friends for a long time, but when Josie and Peter were caught playing with some of Peter’s dad’s real guns, Alex ended their friendship. Josie still hung around Peter at school though, until it became a necessity that she end any public contact with him.

After Peter shot up Sterling High, he was captured and held at the county jail, awaiting trial. Lacy and her husband retained Jordan McAphee, a popular defense attorney. The story goes back and forth from the time Peter and Josie were young until the time of the trial. There are interesting revelations throughout the book. We find out that Josie wasn’t exactly happy with Matt sometimes, and that being popular meant sacrificing many things. We learn a lot about Peter’s upbringing and his brother Joey, who was opposite of Peter, but he was killed by a drunk driver. We find out what happens to the victims of the shooting that do live, and the pain and horror they face on their way to rehabilitation. We experience the fury of the parents of the deceased children, and the complete loss and vengefulness they feel. Most of all, we learn what it feels like to be constantly berated and made to feel like dirt, and the horrible effects such hazing does to one’s confidence, self esteem and self worth.

As I mentioned before, many of the Picoult books seem to follow a familiar formula. The characters do something terribly depressing but sometimes we don’t find out why. Picoult’s latest book Change of Heart was way too familiar with Stephen King’s Green Mile. Of course, Nineteen Minutes obviously gets it’s story from the tragic Columbine shooting in Colorado. However, it’s unique because it gives the shooter a voice and a reason for what he did. Needless to say, the reader has a hard time liking Peter at all. Even though he’s been bashed and picked on and tormented, nothing justifies the end result of his decision making process. However, we do see a valid argument for the accused- he after all, was a person with a mother who loved him very much. He had hopes and aspirations of his own, but they all came crashing down when he was told he was a loser and a pariah each day of his life.

Picoult has a gift when it comes to character development. Her readers wait eagerly, page by page, to see what’s going to happen to her characters. Each character fights his/her personal demon. Alex didn’t think she was a good enough mother and she didn’t date or have relationships with men. Josie had a secret, or many, when it came to her relationship with her jock boyfriend Matt. Lacy felt like she didn’t do enough for Peter, and she wasn’t a good enough mother. Jordan McAphee had feelings about his ability to be a lawyer and his ability to be a good husband and father. We want to know more and more about these characters, and they become a part of us.

I would have to say that aside from a silly romantic subplot between Alex Cormier and a detective on the case, Nineteen Minutes is by far the most connective, impressive book I’ve read by Picoult. I would recommend it to anyone who isn’t bothered by depressing books, and anyone who likes good character development and the crime/drama genre. This one will make you think.

4 stars