Nineteen Minutes | Teen Ink

Nineteen Minutes

February 8, 2015
By Anonymous

Overall, I enjoyed the book “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult. I enjoyed how much the characters could connect to me, how developed the main characters are, and how friendship can save your life. Early on in the book, as a teenager, you connect with the main character Josie because she is at the typical stage in her life where her and her mother are going to butt heads and I, and many other teens can relate to this. The characters in the book are not described with too much detail, however they are described just enough that no matter who you are, you can see them in your mind. You can imagine Peter being bullied and being fed up and you can imagine Josie and her beautiful face and long hair. Everyone can see characters in their own way, but they also have a standardization that everyone will follow. Jodi Picoult is describing the characters in such a way that anyone can create their own interpretation of characters and better relate to them. I’m not going to reveal how the book ends, but I will say this, Peter takes 19 minutes to kill 9 students and 1 teacher, this is something that every single student fears in the back of his or her mind. One thing that everyone will take away from the book is that a little bit of friendship goes a long way. Josi was a friend to Peter and that ultimately saved her life and it is one of the main things I have taken away from the book. "You don't need water to feel like you're drowning, do you?" (Alex page 355) is a quote that really stands out to me because it explains the whole situation perfectly, if you feel like you’re drowning, or in this case that there is no other option for you but to take others lives, then that is what you believe. "Can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been?" (Lacy, Peters mom, page 248) is another great quote from the book that really makes you think about Peter and eventually Josi’s situations and about those people around them; it makes you think about how you would react to a situation like this and about how you would deal with such a complex problem. Over all the book was a great read, at times it was hard to follow because it skips around from points of view and time periods but it really makes you think and makes you feel and I would recommend that people read it.



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