Another repost, from that time I got really into Jodi Picoult. I'll be writing another post about her later, if I find the time.
Jodi Picoult is an immensely talented author, and she rarely disappoints her readers (note; I have since taken this back).
Nineteen Minutes, like all Picoult's other novels, demonstrates her established skill with dramatic wording, among other things. Take the opening paragraph after the prologue; after a litany of things that can be done in nineteen minutes, she ends with this chilling refrain;
"In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge."
This kind of dramatic effect is seen in many other lines, as well as in the way Picoult's narrative moves quickly between various characters and plot lines, often ending on a dramatic line or semi-cliff-hanger, in a style similar to that of Terry Pratchett or Sheri Tepper.
However, these specific nineteen minutes are those that a teenage boy spends shooting his classmates, an idea which has roots in real life and has been explored in other books such as Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. Picoult has used complex links between the characters in order to explore the childhood and origins of those people involved, in order to establish how someone could reach that state. Specifically, the daughter of the judge assigned to the trial is a classmate of the shooter, and his mother was her mother's midwife, meaning that, in a not entirely dissimilar way to Sara's role in Picoult's other work, My Sister's Keeper, flashbacks on the part of the mother enables the history to be explained.
Unlike in My Sister's Keeper, or many of Picoult's other novels the book is written in third person, rather than having different parts of the story told in first person by different characters. This does allow more viewpoints to be heard, and, surprisingly, doesn't hinder the ability to get inside a characters head as one might expect it would. At times, though, it seems like the sheer amount of character's might overwhelm the reader, but, as always, Picoult manages to hold the threads of the story together with consummate skill, and the ending is fresh, intriguing, and, despite the element of mystery, falls into place perfectly.
Many of Picoult's books focus on the way the world can change in just a moment, with the majority of mystery of the book being how, why and what happened in that moment. Surprisingly, this novel doesn't focus on what happened during those specific nineteen minutes; instead it focuses on the years which built up to them.
A major theme in the book is that of bullying, and there's a very powerful scene where one of the bullies in question is put on the witness stand. He defends himself by claiming that his actions were "just a joke". The defence lawyer – Jordan McAfee, a recurring character who also defended Jack St Bride in Salem Falls – then questions him about specific events that happened over the years, ending each time with the question "so that was just a joke?"
It's the kind of scene any victim of bullying would love to see; their tormentor put on the stand and forced to answer for their actions. And it has an interesting effect. Although throughout the novel, the reader knows that the shooter is in the wrong, that killing a number of people is wrong, at this point it becomes clear that he isn't a monster. His peers, his classmates, and everyone who looked the other way are, because of their actions over the years, in no way on the moral high ground. Although he's in the wrong, the reader sympathises with and likes the character a lot better than they do his rather lacklustre peers, and those who let him down over the years.
A number of comparisons can be drawn between this novel and that of Salem Falls, mostly due to the sheer unfairness of the way the defendant is treated and viewed within the small community in which he lives. This book doesn't elicit the same sympathy for the victim as Salem Falls did – I caught myself checking the ending of that novel, something I never do, just to check that everything worked out okay – but it's not entirely dissimilar.
In summary, the novel is a fascinating look at what can drive someone to such an extreme action, and manages to elicit sympathy for someone who commits a crime many people would consider monstrous. The victim culture and the underlying theme of the effects that bullying can have on someone is very well thought out and adds a lot of depth to the novel. Unfortunately, Picoult's portrayal of Peter, one of the main characters, as a very stereotypical "computer nerd" is one of the things I didn't enjoy about the novel. It's extremely clichéd, and considering Picoult's disparaging comments about Wonder Woman fans as "really scary people who live in their parents' basement" and the heat she took over the remark, you think she would have thought twice of using such an outdated concept.
Still, that tiny element is not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the novel as a whole, and I don't think any fans will be disappointed by this latest work.
Jodi Picoult is an immensely talented author, and she rarely disappoints her readers (note; I have since taken this back).
Nineteen Minutes, like all Picoult's other novels, demonstrates her established skill with dramatic wording, among other things. Take the opening paragraph after the prologue; after a litany of things that can be done in nineteen minutes, she ends with this chilling refrain;
"In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge."
This kind of dramatic effect is seen in many other lines, as well as in the way Picoult's narrative moves quickly between various characters and plot lines, often ending on a dramatic line or semi-cliff-hanger, in a style similar to that of Terry Pratchett or Sheri Tepper.
However, these specific nineteen minutes are those that a teenage boy spends shooting his classmates, an idea which has roots in real life and has been explored in other books such as Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. Picoult has used complex links between the characters in order to explore the childhood and origins of those people involved, in order to establish how someone could reach that state. Specifically, the daughter of the judge assigned to the trial is a classmate of the shooter, and his mother was her mother's midwife, meaning that, in a not entirely dissimilar way to Sara's role in Picoult's other work, My Sister's Keeper, flashbacks on the part of the mother enables the history to be explained.
Unlike in My Sister's Keeper, or many of Picoult's other novels the book is written in third person, rather than having different parts of the story told in first person by different characters. This does allow more viewpoints to be heard, and, surprisingly, doesn't hinder the ability to get inside a characters head as one might expect it would. At times, though, it seems like the sheer amount of character's might overwhelm the reader, but, as always, Picoult manages to hold the threads of the story together with consummate skill, and the ending is fresh, intriguing, and, despite the element of mystery, falls into place perfectly.
Many of Picoult's books focus on the way the world can change in just a moment, with the majority of mystery of the book being how, why and what happened in that moment. Surprisingly, this novel doesn't focus on what happened during those specific nineteen minutes; instead it focuses on the years which built up to them.
A major theme in the book is that of bullying, and there's a very powerful scene where one of the bullies in question is put on the witness stand. He defends himself by claiming that his actions were "just a joke". The defence lawyer – Jordan McAfee, a recurring character who also defended Jack St Bride in Salem Falls – then questions him about specific events that happened over the years, ending each time with the question "so that was just a joke?"
It's the kind of scene any victim of bullying would love to see; their tormentor put on the stand and forced to answer for their actions. And it has an interesting effect. Although throughout the novel, the reader knows that the shooter is in the wrong, that killing a number of people is wrong, at this point it becomes clear that he isn't a monster. His peers, his classmates, and everyone who looked the other way are, because of their actions over the years, in no way on the moral high ground. Although he's in the wrong, the reader sympathises with and likes the character a lot better than they do his rather lacklustre peers, and those who let him down over the years.
A number of comparisons can be drawn between this novel and that of Salem Falls, mostly due to the sheer unfairness of the way the defendant is treated and viewed within the small community in which he lives. This book doesn't elicit the same sympathy for the victim as Salem Falls did – I caught myself checking the ending of that novel, something I never do, just to check that everything worked out okay – but it's not entirely dissimilar.
In summary, the novel is a fascinating look at what can drive someone to such an extreme action, and manages to elicit sympathy for someone who commits a crime many people would consider monstrous. The victim culture and the underlying theme of the effects that bullying can have on someone is very well thought out and adds a lot of depth to the novel. Unfortunately, Picoult's portrayal of Peter, one of the main characters, as a very stereotypical "computer nerd" is one of the things I didn't enjoy about the novel. It's extremely clichéd, and considering Picoult's disparaging comments about Wonder Woman fans as "really scary people who live in their parents' basement" and the heat she took over the remark, you think she would have thought twice of using such an outdated concept.
Still, that tiny element is not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the novel as a whole, and I don't think any fans will be disappointed by this latest work.
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