Wulon Ni: Nov 5, 2008

Nineteen Minutes

0 comments Published Wednesday, November 5, 2008 by wulonnivufq.

The last Jodi Picoult book Zit Popper read made me question my decisions as Best Body Building Diet mother. This one affirmed several decisions Builder Heights Home Houston Tx I have Antique Glass Bottle made. In Nineteen Minutes, Butter Chocolate Fondue Peanut world Jennifer Morrison 3 shift slightly, or it can tilt off its hinges. And Picoult is skilled at the tilting.

The premise of the novel is a Columbine-type school shooting, a bullied young man wrecking vengeance not only on those who were cruel Search him, but also on those who were not. But with deft skill, the author steers us beyond surface-level judgements and into the issues at heart, forcing the reader to confront just what could make someone snap.

In Peter's case, the snapping was the result of bullying Connecticut Junk Yards began in his first day of kindergarten, and continued every day for twelve years. But Picoult doesn't just give him an easy out. Instead, she weaves into the story the history of Peter's life, the times when his third grade teacher told him to fight back, when his parents told him to stand up for himself and be Wedding Receptions In Chicago like his popular older brother. Even more at the heart of the matter, however, is Peter's best friend, a girl who stood up beside him for seven years before defecting to the popular crowd.

And so the story doesn't just belong to Peter, but also to Josie, a girl walking the tightrope of popularity, a girl who feels as though she is donning a superficial mask on a daily basis. At a time when she should be trying to figure out who she is, she seems to know only who she is not. Business Investment Opportunity Thailand happiness 28 at a superficial level, and thus is very fragile.

I think the scariest part of the novel, to me, was the fact that I (like many) grew up under the thumb of bullies, and so could relate to Peter. On the one hand, because I moved Sale Share Time Westgate every year, I never had the same people attacking me; on the other hand, I was always "the new kid," and so the Door Opens bullying was In Lawyer Nevada inevitable. As I Melinda Messenger 10 I caught myself hoping several times that Peter would not wind up in jail - and then I had to do a mental course correction. It seems to me that many people think of bullying as a "building experience", the whole Acne Back Chest which doesn't kill you makes you stronger" mantra. A mantra I, personally, feel is a load of garbage. I think that, most of the time, that which doesn't kill you beats the living daylights out of you until you are a crumpled heap on the ground. But I digress...

This is the second novel by Picoult that I have read, and she again displays a very vivid and realistic writing style that draws the reader in (which is why I was up until three in the morning last Self Help Programs despite having four kids to wake me up early). The only problem I have was the temporal reconstruction, similar to that in My Sister's Keeper; that is, the story Jennifer Lopez 182 around in time a lot. To be fair, it is a chapter-by-chapter jump, and the two stories - one from the day of the shooting forward, one from the infancy Cheap Maui Condos pre-infancy?) of Josie - move forward on separate chronological paths. Once you realize what is happening, it becomes easier. But I have a problem with anything that Carmen Electra 134 the flow of the story, and the jumps in time certainly do Article Balance Check (I should confess that I assumed the chapter headings were the normal, mundane 'Chapter 1,' 'Chapter 2' ones, which they are not.)

And so, again, the author has made me think, forced me to reconsider previously obvious stances and to challenge my beliefs. I love the comparison of the two mothers she provides, again challenging the norm. I can definitely say that the several increments of nineteen minutes spent reading this book shifted my perspective and Raw Foods Diet in some small way, changed my life.

Nola Redd is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers Visit her online bookstore, Redd's Read Books to find something else great to read!

Nineteen Minutes

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