First Blog

“Nineteen Minutes” has already confused the heck out of me, as well has surprised me beyond belief. For the first twenty pages or so, I was worried that I was going to have a difficult time coming up with enough words for our first assignment, but now I’m certain it will be no problem.
At the beginning of the book, when Jodi Picoult is jumping from character to character, introducing everyone, it was baffling. It was difficult for me to follow, and I was dreading that I would be spending the entire book reading at snail speed to make sure I didn’t miss anything and that I understood all of what was going on. It seemed like every time I had a grasp on everyone, a new character would come into play. I tried to figure how they would all be tied together eventually, but my guesses came nowhere close.
Once I hit page 21 or so, the light at the end of the tunnel became crystal clear. It was a surprise to me, which contributed to what made this particular part so good. I thought that not only was Picoult’s idea of a creating a school shooting brilliant, but I also very much enjoyed the way she wrote about it. To introduce us to it, she creatively placed it right in the middle of another one of the ever so thorough character introductions, making sure it was unexpected. Also, she discussed it with so much detail that close to nothing was left to the imagination. The detail of Picoult’s writing forced me to imagine what it would be like if that was my school, with my friends laying unconscious on the floor of the gym.
I’ve always believed that nothing as forceful as a school shooting would ever happen at Hoover, but reading the description of the students at Sterling High School, I could mindlessly name off 5 people at Hoover that matched the personality of each of the characters. This proves that it could happen anywhere, because the bullying that causes this type of situation doesn’t stop simply because a district has money and dresses their kid’s respectively, without holes in their jean, and mid-drifts showing. The behavior of students, to this extent, can never be fully controlled or avoided. It’s something that has to be prepared for, and instead of trying to prevent it with all kinds of avoidable rules, needs to be expected and have a created plan of action to react with.
It scares me a bit, thinking that this could happen, and as comical as it may sound, it makes me want to be nicer to people so that no one feels unloved enough to carry out such an act.
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