Amazon blurb:
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 a school shooting. 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.
My reading experience:
I found this to be a powerful inspiration for thoughts on several themes – what we think is good parenting, what is a “well adjusted” young adult, cumulative human interactions as well as connections and relationships. It’s also an illumination on those sliding doors moments that happen in life – that one decision out of a billion that change the trajectory of your entire life path.
The author has woven character back stories throughout this traumatic and poignant story; sadly not unique in fiction or reality, however she has delivered a compelling and evocative book.
Themes include manipulative relationships, bullying, judgement, social strata, justice, violence, retribution and absolution. A highly emotional story that will give you more than a moments second thoughts about how you communicate with others, how much notice you take of the divergent lives our teenagers are living as well as trauma and PTSD.
Read for #OfficeBookClub and highly recommended reading fodder.
Appletree Books 