Mrs. Lueders
Nineteen Minutes
By Jodi Picoult
AUTHOR RESEARCH
Got started--Picoult wrote her first story when she was 5. She studied
writing at Princeton University and published two stories in Seventeen
magazine while in college. She had many jobs including editing textbooks
and teaching eighth grade English. She wrote her first novel while she was
pregnant with her first child in 1992. She has written 15 novels.
Became known--My Sister’s Keeper (2004) is the book that catapulted her
name. It wasn’t until her ninth or tenth novel that she even had a
bestseller. Now, her books fly off the shelves as soon as they are released.
Work received--In 2003, Picoult was awarded the New England Bookseller
Award for Fiction. 19 Minutes debuted at #1 on the New York Times
bestseller list. It was her first book to debut at #1. Her second book to
debut was Change of Heart.
Discovery--Jodi does extensive research for her books. She has spent time
living with an Amish family, observed cardiac surgery, learned Wiccan love
spells and DNA testing procedures, gone ghost hunting, and even gone to
jail for one day.
Author’s career--She wrote five issues of the Wonder Woman comic book
series for DC Comics. She does not believe in writer’s block. She said when
you have time, “You write--whether it’s garbage or it’s good...you just DO it,
and you fix it later.” She also said that there are times when the book
writes itself. At times the characters take over and move the book in a
different direction.
PLOT
This is more than a book about a school shooting; it’s about the people
involved. Jodi Picoult does an outstanding job of making her characters
come to life. She helps the reader understand that the shooter was loved
and he had a family too. This is an outstanding book about the effects of
bullying. The book shows how everyone wants to fit in somewhere.
WHILE READING THIS BOOK
Descriptive Adjectives
1. “Josie had been contentious for a week now.” (page 82)
2. “A mottled flush rose up his neck.” (page 186)
3. “She paced like an athlete coming off a brutal race.” (page 264)
4. “...repeating the same meticulous investigation of the tiled wall.” (page
434)
5. “It was a sumptuous room.” (page 8)
Strong Verbs
1. “...the defendants that had paraded through her professional life” (page
32)
2. “He looked at the yearbook confiscated from Peter’s room.” (page 123)
3. “Guenther crouched down beside ...” (page 55)
4. “Every time he envisioned his mad dash to Sterling High, he imagined
what would have happened...” (page 122)
5. “Josie flicked a glance his way.” (page 200)
Characterization
“Alex had been a superior court judge now for thirty-four days. She’d
believed that, having proved her mettle as a district court judge for the past
five years, this time around the appointment might be easier. But at forty,
she was still the youngest judge in the state. She still had to fight to
establish herself as a fair justice--her history as a public defender preceded
her into her courtroom, and prosecutors assumed she’d side with the
defense. When Alex had submitted her name years ago for the bench, it
had been with the sincere desire to make sure people in this legal system
were innocent until proven guilty. She just never anticipated that, as a
judge, she might not be given the same benefit of the doubt.” (page 6)
Vivid Description
“The first ice storm of the season arrived before Thanksgiving. It started
after midnight, wind rattling the old bones of the house and pellets
drumming the windows. The power went out, but Alex had been expecting
that. She woke up with a start at the absolute silence that came with a loss
of technology, and reached for the flashlight that she’d put next to her bed.”
(page 228)
Point of View
Most of the book is written in third person omniscient point of view.
“For years, he’d thought that might have been worse than being
punished in the first place.” (page 371)
“She just, at that moment, hated what he’d said; what he’d done.” (pg
370)
The page before each chapter was printed in a different font to look as if it
was hand written. They were pages out of a character’s journal and were in
1st person.
“I wonder if anyone works any harder at anything than kids do at
being popular.” (page 241)
RECOMMENDATION
I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone. Jodi Picoult does an
outstanding job of making her characters come to life. I felt like I had
known them forever. This book makes me look at people differently. The
book would help everyone to understand how important it is to be kind to
everyone and not bully anyone.
AUTHOR’S LIFE
Jodi Picoult says she is the world’s worst friend because if a friend tells
her something, it will likely come out of a character’s mouth too. She used
a disagreement she had with her husband for a pivotal scene in a novel.
While writing Perfect Match, she’d listen to what her kids said during
breakfast then go take notes and use parts of their conversation for her
character Nathaniel. She draws the overall plot out of midair but uses real
life conversations all over her books.
Picoult knows how much being bullied can hurt. When she was in 8th
grade, a school bully broke three of her fingers in her locker door and called
her a freak.
Sources: www.jodipicoult.com
Galarneau, Andrew Z. “Revenge of a bullied schoolboy.” The Buffalo
News, N.Y. 06 May 2008.