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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

TITLE: Nineteen Minutes

AUTHOR: Jodi Picoult

SUMMARY: Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister''s Keeper and The Tenth Circle, pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy.

Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state''s best witness, but she can''t remember what happened before her very own eyes--or can she? As the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show--destroying the closest of friendships and families. Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be. - From Publisher

REVIEW: A must read!

This was one of those books where I loved but at the beginning it had some lull moments. I liked that Picoult jumped back in time to give us history but at the beginning I was so desperate to get into the actual shooting that I was a tad frustrated that I was being pulled out of the present to be in the past. However, this could also just be my small level of patience I have. I did enjoy the past segments as it got closer to the shooting. I found those more relevant however; after reading the book those early years of Peter showed events that happened that morphed and changed him and tied things together.

Content. This book was heavy. It broke my heart in more ways than one and just sorta rammed home the after effects. Often the news covers the current and you sorta forget that for the victims the sound of a loud bang will send them falling to their knees looking for cover long after the camera crews have packed up. That's heartbreaking and Picoult gave us so many moments of the after. Of Peter receiving letters, the court description and pictures and how it shook up the town. It was all overwhelming and Picoult never shied away from the content. I feel like if you're writing about such heavy issues that you need to fully dive in because not and skimming or glazing over takes away and trivializes the events.

As always Picoult writes in detail and definitely not one that you can sorta breeze through. Every page has important information and the characters go through lots of changes and there's twist and upsets and you end up feeling for people that you wouldn't normally feel for.

A potent and beautiful book about events that are horrific and painful. One of the best books I've read and a must read for all, especially if you're in a book club.

RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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