Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!
I swear, today's book review is not a specific statement about the States... it is a coincidence only.
But I also didn't change it, so...
Anyway.
This spring I read Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes. I didn't write a review immediately following for a few reasons, one being that I truly wasn't sure how I felt about it.
I'm a teacher. That's important to me.
So this book, about a school shooting, was tough.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I thought I would attempt to discuss it, at least.
The book takes place in a small town in New Hampshire, and there is a LOT of jumping around, between characters, between time periods...
It starts one morning, and follows a collection of characters as they start their day.
Later that morning, there is an explosion in the parking lot at the high school, and then a student enters, and starts shooting.
Bit by bit, chapter by chapter, the past connects itself to the present, and the characters tell their stories.
The reader gets into the head of the victims, of their loved ones, but also of the killer's loved ones, and the killer himself, previous to that day.
What I liked, what I really liked, about this book was Picoult showing so many different perspectives. There is a point where we are asked to consider that some think the shooter is a victim, too. We are made aware that some of the dead were wonderful people. Some were not. And in the shooter's defense at his trial, we are asked about the way bullying shaped him.
But it wasn't the only thing that shaped him. Picoult makes this clear. She lays it out for us and tells us to come to our own conclusions. Other students who were bullied, the trial informs us, didn't kill people. Students who were shot maybe didn't affect the perpetrator at all. And yet... and yet, had he had an easier time at high school, perhaps there never would have been the shooting.
A teacher dies. A teacher who was kind to the shooter in the past, who dared to offer help, and who defended his students.
And some of the jocks, who humiliated, physically attacked, and otherwise tormented the student for years; they died, too.
I don't particularly like any of the main characters. But I don't think that matters; they are complex characters, and so, more realistic than if they were likeable.
I think the storytelling style, the bits and pieces coming together to tell the story, the questions, the chaos, even, fits the subject matter.
So did I enjoy this book? Hell no. (Though I did like the twist at the end.)
But was it well done? Yeah, definitely. I devoured it, and it has lurked in my brain ever since. It was horrible and lovely and realistic and really troublesome.
Which was the whole friggin' point.
I have a lot of opinions about the propensity of school shootings in the States. Well, really only one or two... but they are passionate opinions.
But this review is not about my opinions on anything except this book. Let's just say that Picoult doesn't seem to adhere to my opinions, not does she oppose them. She presents characters dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy in a million different ways, raising questions, hypothesizing, trying to find meaning in something so disgustingly wasteful and horrible and yes, tragic. And through these characters, Picoult raises her own questions and explores different opinions and considerations. Some of them she answers, some she doesn't. But she gets us, the readers, to question them all, too.
An effective read on a tough subject matter.
What's a tough book that you found good, but was hard for you to recommend to others?
And if you're celebrating Independence Day today, I hope it's a lot more cheerful than this book review was!
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