I wish I could say this book merely broke my heart. The phrase, broke my heart, just isn’t enough to describe the raw aching feeling, shallow breath and the knowledge that one misstep, one snip of Fate’s scissors and everything can go so wrong.
The book didn’t simply break my heart, it eviscerated, pulverized, created a crack that spilt my heart right down the middle. Eventually, before I know it, my heart will re-knit itself, stronger, hardier than before but for now pure emotion flows and oozes out of every nook and cranny.
Nineteen minutes – the average running time of any sitcom without commercial interruptions, anything can happen in nineteen minutes. Nineteen minutes can change your life forever.
At ten o’clock on March 6, 2007, Peter Houghton walked into Sterling High School with two sawed-off shotguns and two handguns. Nineteen minutes later, with ten dead and nineteen wounded, Peter walked out in the custody of the local sheriff.
At the end of such a tragedy only one question remains….why?
Why would a bright, seventeen year old junior take the lives of so many? With lives left in ruins all around, Jodi Picoult brilliantly explores just how easily it all can go so wrong.
Despite the plethora of manuals, how-to guides, and various theories, parenting at best is a crap shoot. Add love, discipline, guidance, and maybe, just maybe you have a fifty-fifty chance. Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking, Bullying, Mental Illness, Suicide, Violence, Crime, Friends, Sex, Pregnancy and on and on and on…any one can cause a teenager to lose their way-perhaps forever.
Jodi Picoult brilliantly tells the tale of a life wasted with a positive message. Love your kids- with all you have and tell them, over and over and over.
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1 comments:
Gosh, what a well-written review. Really like you said, all any parent can do is love, love, love their kids and throw in some discipline when necessary. 19 Minutes really made me look at such a tragedy from a whole new perspective.
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