Click here to buy Nineteen Minutes by: Jodi Picoult
"Nineteen Minutes"

by: Jodi Picoult.

2007; 588 pages.

Rating: 5

I grew up in Colorado. I was in high school when the Columbine school shooting happened. I am fortunate enough that I didn't know anyone personally who was involved. Unfortunately, this isn't something many Coloradans can say.

A school shooting is never something easy to talk about. It affects lives of everyone in the country. I may not have known anyone at Columbine, but I did write my senior paper on violence and adolescents. (Don't let 'senior paper' fool you - that thing was darn near 250 pages and took months.)

In "Nineteen Minutes", Jodi Picoult devles into the lives of those most closely connected in a school shooting that takes place at a high school in New Hampshire - including the shooter himself.

Each segment is told from each person's own perspective. I live that. It kind of offers a way to relate to all the players in the situation, the shooter, the victims, the parents, the friends, the bullies, everyone.

I highly recommend that you read "Nineteen Minutes". It may be a difficult topic for you; in fact it probably will be. But, it is a fantastic read, and one I couldn't put down.