Nineteen Minutes

Reader reviewed by KK

What can happen in Nineteen Minutes? You could talk on the phone with a friend, walk a mile, or even bake a cake.
In this story nothing happy happens in 19 minutes. A school shooting. Many people dead. The shooter still alive, and heading to trial.
Can you imagine having your boyfriend their beside you one minute then dead the next?
When most people leave for school in the morning they assume they will be returning home safe and sound. No worries whatsoever. Each student at Sterling High thought THAT day was just a normal, average, ordinary day too. The shooting killed 10 people, nine students and one teacher. Why did this happen?
Josie was a student that survived, she is the main character, her mother is a judge. Josie was not shot at, but she is ex-best friends with the shooter. Peter (the shooter) and Josie's friendship starts back in elementary school, and ended in high school when Josie became "popular." Read to find out the entire plot/summary/ending. There is wayyyy too much action and drama to type about here.

Reader reviewed by Livy

this book is so good. i don't like to read that much but this books, all her books are great. i can never put the books down. the ending was so flabbergausting. i totally not see it coming. i felt bad for Josie, i wanted to change the ending myself. all in all every teen ager should read this book.

Reader reviewed by Emma

The book Nineteen Minutes is about a boy, Peter, who all his life has been bullied. He is constantly being made fun of and ridiculed for just being different. So, one day Peter wakes up and decides to do something about it. He brings guns to school and shoots and kills many people. Nobody was expecting him to do this however. Then again, does anyone ever expect someone to bring a gun to school? Nineteen Minutes also shows how Peters' actions affect everyone around him. Josie, Peters' once best friend, is one of those people that has been affected. Before the shooting occurred Josie was in the "in" group, she was considered one of the cool kids. But what people didn't know was that she really didn't belong. She hid her true self because she was scared that people would think she was a freak, like Peter.

Reader reviewed by Allison

The book Nineteen minutes by Jodi Picoult is a story of a school shooting. Peter and Josie grew up together, although Peter was an outsider who no one seemed to like. Therefore, Josie started liking how the popular kids were treated and not how Peter was treated. Josie stopped hanging out with Peter, at first she did not pick on Peter although then she started being like the popular kids and picked on Peter, but unlike the other kids, Josie felt bad about it afterwards. Peter was head over heels for Josie and he told her but Josie's friends found out and gave him hell for it. Peter finally said enough was enough and planned to shoot all the people who treated him badly. And one day, he went through with his plan. He shot all the bullies. Most of them died, however there was a few who survived. Jodi explained how they lived their lives after the shooting. Some took it harder then others. Josie took it the worst. Peter was sent to jail. At the trial, we realized something that I would have never guessed. 
I gave this book a 5 out of 5! I never wanted to put this book down! You  never knew what was going to happen next. I definately recommend this book if you want a good reading!

Reader reviewed by Dede

This story revolves around a community when they are hardest hit. Peter, who one day walks into school and changes everyone's life in 19 minutes of shooting, killing and wounding. His mother Lacy struggles to make sense of the sweet son she remembers through the years and the monster who would do what he did. Josie, Peter's one time friend before she became popular, who was not shot even though her boyfriend Matt was fatally shot. Josie's mother is a judge with a strong sense of justice that makes this book even more heartbreaking. Jodi Picoult writes with such passion, I was crying before I was even halfway through the book. It makes you wonder what if, it is one of those rare books who make you want to make the most out of life because it IS precious and you never know when something will damage it.

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

No one in the quiet community of Sterling, New Hampshire would have guessed that in nineteen minutes on a cool March morning, their whole world could be turned upside down, and their town could be national news. A judge, her daughter, a midwife, her murderous son, a detective, a defense attorney and his family--these are just some of the lives that cross paths in this very touching story of what drives a poor, bullied victim to commit such a terrifying act of violence.

This is a typical Jodi Picoult novel: touching, tender, and real, with no definitive answers. It also has an equally unsatisfying Picoult-like ending, which was the only part of this book that I didn't enjoy. Nevertheless, I would read it again, for her pitch-perfect portrayal of different people.