by Raymond L. Marr

Created on: February 01, 2010

Jodi Piccoult's - Nineteen Minutes is an amazing fiction story, that takes the experiences very similarly from the Columbine shooting, but it centres around only one perpetrator instead of two at least that is what you think as you begin reading. You may be in for a surprise once you reach the end, but this article is only a brief overview, a starting point so that you can also take the time to experience it from your own experience. To see if you can relate to what happens to the character since his early days in school, to what brings him up to what Jodi Piccoult speaks about in the first chapter. As each person will interpret things differently I only offer a brief stint into this unique novel, take some time read it through and share your views.

In finishing the book I was struck, as to how similar my experience in High School was seemingly so long ago. How each sentiment at the beginning of each chapter seemed so appropriate about the chapter yet to be consumed. What Jodi Picoult did in Nineteen Minutes was to bring you into the story piece by piece, by only sharing glimpses of the larger picture until you came down to the last page.

Throughout the story you meet and greet quite a few different characters, yet also see how similar the story flows to what may of happened at Columbine. How similar ideas could of lead up to the event itself. It is these characters, that builds up the story to a point, where you just keep reading, to see what may happen next, to see that one more piece has been put into place.

Of course it goes far beyond that, considering that as the story flows, and the characters intertwine you become part of the story, perhaps not an active role but with the descriptions, the views, and the characters it almost like you are there, in the story seeing all these events unfurl and reach to logical conclusion only then to be switched out as another perspective is seen from the eyes of another part of the story, that will later connect to the rest. From beginning to end you are often left wondering, as you are putting together the pieces of the puzzle, and parts of the veil is removed and you see one more possibility, of what may eventually form when you see the entire picture.

With that, it makes for a powerful story, with air of mystery while looking at the society we live in today and how so many things can parallel others, Jodi Piccoult, though this was the first book I read of hers will soon become one of my favorite authors. As I can appreciate something that once you start it is exceedingly difficult to put down until you finish the story and even then you want to read it one more time.

Learn more about this author, Raymond L. Marr.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.