19 Minutes

Nineteen Minutes

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. Artia Books: New York. 2007. (464 pages)

            I enjoy Jodi Picoult books very much. She explores topics not normally touched in conventional writing. She isn’t afraid to test the limits and boundaries of society I her writing. She dedicated herself to each situation she explores and tries her best to create a realistic depiction of the minds of those involved. Nineteen Minutes is no exception. In this book she explores bullying, friendship, post traumatic stress disorder, murder, and many other trying topics.

            I enjoy Picoult’s smooth and skilled writing. Her technique of switching narrators helps create a well-rounded explanation of events and helps the reader see in to each character’s mind. The constant switching of narrators, though, also creates a somewhat confusing and jumpy quality to the plot line at some points in her book. Never the less, this book was very hard to put down .It was able to capture my attention better than some of her other books I have read. I think that it partly due to her style of “cliff-hanger” writing, but also due to the subject matter of this book. This topic is unlike any other book I have read. It has a sort of fresh quality to it, even though these problems have been around for a while. Her “cliff-hanger” writing also just makes me want to read more. It was very hard to find a “dead” spot in this book to stop reading at. Many times I told myself that I would read just one more paragraph but then realize I read 4 pages. I had a wonderful reading experience with this book and recommend that anyone and every one read it.