Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

"In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five..... In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it... In nineteen minutes you can get revenge"

Genre: Fiction, Crime, Courtroom Drama

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Year: 2007

Rating: 4/5

So begins Jodi Picoult's 14th novel, Nineteen Minutes. Set in a small town in the aftermath of a school shooting, this novel looks at how such an event can impact on the lives of those involved; the injured, the survivors, the family of those who were killed, and the town as a whole.

It also traces the life of the young shooter. What happened to him to turn him into someone who could walk into a school with four guns, and kill ten of his fellow students?

Peter Houghton has been bullied for twelve years. His whole school life has been one attack after another ranging from verbal to physical. Being a kid isn't easy, but being small and skinny with freckles and glasses basically makes him a target for bullies.

His only friend is Josie. Pretty, smart and kind, Josie is the only friend he needs. That is until Josie gets drawn into the 'popular' group in high school. Soon she ditches Peter because so is so desperate to fit in.

"Ask a random kid today if she wants to be popular and she'll tell you no. Even if the truth is that if she was in a desert dying of thirst and had the choice between a glass of water and instant popularity, she'd probably choose the latter."

Peter drifts through high school shunned by his peers, secretly holding a flame for Josie and suffering one humiliation after another. His biggest tormentor is Josie's boyfriend, Matt. Matt is possessive and jealous. When he finds out that Peter likes his girlfriend he takes particular offense and his reign of cruelty gets worse. One day, Peter just can't take it anymore and he snaps. 

There is plenty of evidence against Peter from the school shooting. There is no doubt that he committed this awful crime but the question is, why? 

Who is really to blame for this? Is Peter, the shooter the only person to blame? Can there really be any justification for murder? Are his parents to blame for lack of attention or for pushing him too hard to be the perfect son? Or, are the bullies who hounded Peter for his whole school life partly responsible for how Peter turned out? 

"When you don't fit in, you become superhuman. You can feel everyone else's eyes on you, stuck like Velcro. You can hear a whisper about you from a mile away. You can disappear, even when it looks like you're still standing right there. You can scream, and nobody hears a sound.  You become the mutant who fell into the vat of acid, the Joker who can't remove his mask, the bionic man who'smissing all his limbs and none of his heart. You are the thing that used to be normal, but that was so long ago, you can't even remember what it was like. "

I really enjoyed this novel. It asked some really important questions. All the characters in this novel were presented in a way which I was able to sympathise with. I felt sad for the children who lost their lives. I felt sad for their parents who would never again be able to kiss their children goodnight. I felt sad for the survivors who have to live with this trauma for the rest of their lives, with scars which are both physical and emotional.  I felt sad for Peter's parents who lost their son too, in a horrific way. And  lastly, I felt sad for Peter, who was pushed to the edge with no one there to help pull him to safety.

School shootings are such a tragedy but in my mind, not all that surprising. Schools are a battle ground for many children everyday. Bullies are always seeking out the weak, social status is everything and one small embarrassing moment can determine your social standing for the rest of your school days. Kids are cruel, have memories like elephants and will do anything necessary to uphold their own popularity and survive. Kids will become bullies just so they are not the ones being made fun of.

The acceptance of this kind of school culture is something that everyone should be held accountable for and it desperately needs to be changed. This novel provides much to think about.

Picoult does an excellent job of analysing this world and it is chilling in it's honesty. Like all Jodi Picoult novels it is an easy read. Her writing style is accessible and of course, she has her trademark twist at the end. A must read for Jodi Picoult fans, those who love a good courtroom drama or those of us who survived high school and lived to tell the tale.

Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Plain Truth another loan from my mother. I think I have said this before, but I love visiting my parents and browsing my mother's bookshelf. I get to read books I wouldn't normally buy for myself and I know she loves borrowing from mine for the same reason. I am always surprised to find some really good reads from authors I wouldn't normally look at. This is the second Jodi Picoult book I have read and it was just as good as the first one, My Sister's Keeper. I think I can safety say, I am now a Picoult fan.

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Crime
Year Published: 2000
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Rating: 4/5

A shocking murder shatters the picturesque calm of Pennsylvania's Amish country, and tests the heart and soul of the lawyer who steps in to defend the young woman at the centre of the storm... The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen year old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania to defend Katie, two cultures collide, and, for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep inside the world of those who live 'plain', Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within, to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past re-enters her life. - Fantastic Fiction

This novel tells the story of two women. First we have Katie Fisher. An eighteen-year-old, unwed Amish woman who is strong in her faith and lives on a dairy farm with her parents. She is the typical baptized Amish teen. Faithful, traditional and plain. That is until she is accused of murdering her own baby. A baby that no one close to her knew she was carrying. 

At the beginning of the novel, we see Katie sneaking off to the barn to give birth to her baby under the cover of night, in an effort to conceal her pregnancy from her family. She then falls asleep with the infant in her arms, praying to god to help her. When she awakes the baby is gone and Katie feels her wish was granted so she stumbles back to bed. The next morning a farmhand finds the baby dead, wrapped in horse blankets and the police are called. No one knows where this baby has come from, until a police officer finds Katie bleeding vaginally on the front porch. She is rushed to hospital where doctors confirm she has recently given birth. Katie however, swears that not only did she not kill the baby found in the barn, but she did not give birth and was never pregnant. Is this a desperate try from a young girl trying to cover up her crime? Or is it the truth?

Enter Ellie Hathaway. The successful, big city attorney and distance relation to Katie Fisher. Ellie agrees to represent Katie's case but to her disdain, finds that one of Katie's parole conditions is that she needs to be watched 24/7 by a family member. As the Amish do not believe in taking part in the American court system, or even fighting for their rights as they would much rather sit back and let life work itself out, Ellie gets landed with the role of guard. 

Moving onto an Amish farm is not only difficult for Ellie, who now needs to learn to live in a different way, but also for the family, who do not socialise with "the English". All of those involved need to learn to live with one another, rethink their preconceptions of the other and deal with the stress of a court case and possible murder conviction. On top of all of that, Ellie comes into contact with an old flame and finds herself rethinking her own life and her future. 

I really enjoyed this novel. It started off as a psychological drama and ended as a courtroom suspense. We learn much in this novel about neonaticide, the circumstances and psychological conditions which drive women to kill their own babies. We learn about how times of high stress can bring on a dissociative state where a person can carry out actions and not know what they are doing. Finally, we learn about the Amish community, their way of life, their values and their beliefs. 

Since I do not know much about the Amish (except what I saw in the movie, Witness) I am assuming that Picoult did her research and this novel pretty much gives a honest picture about this community. The Amish are plain people. They work on the principle that god comes first, followed by others, then yourself. Pretty nice way to live really. They are unselfish, they work hard and family means more than anything else (besides God).

I found it really interesting to read about their values and traditions. Such as, the set of rules they live by is called the Ordnung and everyone in the community must abide by this. Or that once children hit adolescence they enter into rumspringa, also know as their running around years, where teens join Amish gangs and are allowed to experiment with the American culture of cars, drugs, alcohol and wearing non-traditional clothes, until they choose to be baptized and stay with their faith. 

Besides the education about the Amish and neonaticide I received from this book, it was a good mystery. At first I found myself mad with Katie and her denial of the pregnancy. I wanted to shake the woman and tell her not to be so stupid. I really believed that she was just trying to get away with murder. As the book progresses, however, you really start to question what really happened that night. Soon I was second guessing most of the characters wondering if they were the culprit or was it just a sad accident. In the end, Picoult delivers quite a twist! 

Jodi Picoult novels seem to have a formula (if I can assume that from two books) and I quite like it. I am looking forward to reading another one of her books in the future and recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery!

My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult

The last book review I wrote, I started it off with one word… “wow”. I feel compelled to do the same for this novel, but for very different reasons.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is the story of Anna. Anna is 13 year’s old and was conceived in a very different way. She was conceived with in vitro fertilization to be a donor for her big sister Kate, who has a rare form of leukemia that attacks the blood and bone marrow. Initially it is just meant to be Anna’s umbilical cord blood that is needed to help Kate, but it doesn’t stop there. After 13 years of Anna being a donor and having many operations in order to help her sister, Kate’s health is still failing and she needs a kidney transplant. So Anna is told she has to give one of her kidney’s to Kate. Anna, however, wants to make her own decisions and sues her parents for medical emancipation.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plauged her since childhood. Anna was concieved as a bone marrow match for Kate, a life and a role that she has never questioned until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to ask herself who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister – and so, Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and perhaps have fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

Told from multiple points of view, My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child’s life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you?

I haven’t read anything by Jodi Picoult before but if all her novels are this good and this heartbreaking then I am sold! I don’t often get teary while reading a novel but this one managed to do just that.

This story begins with Anna approaching a lawyer named Campbell Alexander asking him to help her sue her parents to the rights to her own body. Campbell is at first hesitant to take on the case but does so anyway. When Anna’s parents are served with the court papers while they are at the hospital with Kate they are horrified. Anna’s mother Sara is determined that this case will not go to court and that Anna is just attention seeking. But the issues go deeper than that so Sara, a former lawyer, decides to defend herself and her family against Anna. She argues that Anna is incapable of making her own decisions due to her age and therefore as a parent it is her responsibility to make the hard decisions for her, in this case she feels it is in Anna’s best interest to donate her kidney so her sister will live.

My Sister’s Keeper showed the great lengths that a parent will go to save their child’s life. It also showed the gaps in the medical professions standards of ethics when it comes to cases such as this. Each hospital has an ethics commity that convenes to discuss and make decisions about the ethical side of medical procedures and if it is in the patients best interest to undergo such procedures. But they do not look at if it is ethical to force a child to make donations that they do not want to make, because parents have the right to make medical decisions on their children s behalf.

This story brings up so many moral, ethical and legal issues surrounding organ and tissue donation. Such as, is a child capable of making their own medical decisions? Is it really in the child’s best interest to force them to undergo a medical procedure that they do not personally need, or that does not benefit them physically in any way, in order to save another if they do not wish to go through with it? In a situation like this, are the parents actually able to make an informed decision or are they swayed by the sickness of one child over the health of another? In this case, Kate has been so sick for so long, and Anna was conceived purely to make sure that Kate lived, so are her parents really able to make the big decision of kidney donation? Is it ethically and morally okay to have a child just to save another? And if that does happen, is it then okay to submit that child to a lifetime of donations in order to keep her sister alive? Would Anna be more damaged by going through with the transplant and having to live with the affects of that, or would it be worst to lose her sister? This novel raised so many questions that really are unanswerable.

I really thought, as I was reading this novel, that I knew what was going to happen in the end. Boy, was I wrong! Jodi Picoult not only wrote a gripping story but ended it with an event that is shocking and all the more heartbreaking. I did not see this coming and I must admit, I was a little angry with her at first for doing such a thing but then I realised, it made sense.

I highly recommend this book to any who likes a story about people, families struggling with their circumstances and how hard it can be to do the right thing, when you don’t know what the right thing is, because both ways seem so wrong.

I haven’t seen the film adaption of this novel but it will be interesting to see how each character is portrayed on the screen.

Rating 5/5