From the Bookshelf of Pick-a-Shelf…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought

This is the 3rd book I have read by Picoult. This author is very brave to take on such controversial and emotional issues like suicide, date rape and school shootings. I think she has a talent for this type of writing. She grabbed me from the beginning of this book and I could not put it down. The plot is riveting but her books are also character driven. I found myself pivoting between the various characters I was drawn to. Nineteen Minutes is about a school shooting. There are so many aspects t
...more

I ended up liking this book. At first I was not sure if I was going to make it through, due to the subject matter, but I found the characters believable and wanted to read more about them. I especially liked the Lacy and Alex characters. I thought the perspectives on bullying and the relationship between parents and their children interesting.

Done, after 3 weeks on audio. I wish I could give 3.5 stars (I think it would have been 4 if I had read instead of listened to it--just seemed a bit high on the cheese factor in some of the dialogue, like I was watching a hokey TV show like CSI Miami or something, where the dialogue is so over the top you know no one actually talks that way).
This was pretty good, I have to admit. I was holding off on Jodi Picoult b/c I thought she was exploiting current trends in media-frenzy to sell novels. Thi ...more
This was pretty good, I have to admit. I was holding off on Jodi Picoult b/c I thought she was exploiting current trends in media-frenzy to sell novels. Thi ...more

This book tells the story of a school shooting. In usual Jodi Picoult style the tale is told from multiple view points. I was completly engrossed in the story and felt my heart being torn out of my chest at times I had such strong emotions. Very intense.
The things that stay with me are the "profile" of a school shooting perpetrator, really a number of those traits described me in my teens, and also the fact that grief counselors told numerous parents that their children went first in an attemp t ...more
The things that stay with me are the "profile" of a school shooting perpetrator, really a number of those traits described me in my teens, and also the fact that grief counselors told numerous parents that their children went first in an attemp t ...more

While this may not have been my favorite of Jodi Picoult's book (the ending was a little weak) it's still really good and completely engrossing. It's the story of a school shooting in a small New Hampshire town told from the point of view of the shooter, his mother, one of his victims, the victim's mother who's also a judge and maybe a few other people. The bullying stuff is hard to take and Picoult does a good job making the shooter a sympathetic character.
...more

This book was very good. While I was not thrilled with the ending I still felt that the rest of the book made up for that. I really liked watching the characters grow and seeing where they were before the shooting and after the shooting. This is my first Jodi Picoult book and I look forward to reading more from her.

Horrifyingly brilliant - she doesn't just capture the true horror of one aspect of the story, she brings home the absolute horror of the story from everyone's perspective and she shows us ways to be merciful in our judgements of others during tragedy. Nothing is ever as black and white as it seems, is it?
...more

Not my favourite Picoult book. I knew there was something odd going on and I ended up being half right. I didn't feel very sorry for Peter. He shouldn't have ever killed all those students. Then again, maybe I just don't understand what it's like to be bullied that much.
...more

Very interesting, very compelling. I didn't figure out the whole story til it was told, too, which I like. BUT don't read this if you want to feel at all good about the world. Definitely not in the "uplifting" category. Thought-provoking, yes. Easy, no.
...more

Bullying at school can be hard on the kids.
Monitor what your kids are playing on the computer. Playing shoot 'em up games should have a warning ' do not try this in real life'. ...more
Monitor what your kids are playing on the computer. Playing shoot 'em up games should have a warning ' do not try this in real life'. ...more

Sep 10, 2007
Katie
marked it as to-read

Jan 19, 2009
Carey
marked it as to-read