Nineteen Minutes

For my second quarter outside reading project, I’m reading the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I’ve read the first chapter (to pg.25) and already, a LOT has happened.
The story takes place in New Hampshire in a small town called Sterling. Josie Cormier and her mother, Alex, reside in the town. Alex is a judge and Josie is a junior in high school.

On what was thought to be a normal day turned into a tragedy and nobody in the town was prepared for something like this to happen. Throughout the morning in school, Picoult describes a few different students and what they were up to that day before the school shooting happened. Someone (it could be one person or more) first set off a bomb, and then a boy (again, there may have been more than one kid) went through the school shooting kids. I’m guessing the shooter was somehow getting revenge because on the first page a character says, “In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.”

Picoult describes the crime scene well and I can almost picture myself walking through the hallways of Sterling High School, seeing all the bodies sprawled about and blood that’s sprayed the walls. I noticed while Picoult was describing some of the characters days, she talked about these two boys who wished they could get out of gym class. It was kind of ironic how they said maybe an earthquake, monsoon, or terrorist attack would get them out of class...which is what happened. Another thing I noticed is that these 2 boys were talking about this in the gym and that’s where detective/policeman Patrick handcuffed the shooter in the gym locker room, which is also where Patrick found those same two boys dead (but in the gym).