|
Nineteen Minutes | 
 enlarge | Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Hodder Paperback
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £2.51
You Save: £5.48 (69%)
New (28) Used (11) from £2.00
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 58
Media: Paperback
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0340935790
EAN: 9780340935798
ASIN: 0340935790
Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New Book (Different Cover) - In Stock - UK Seller - Very Fast Delivery - First Class Customer Service
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Nineteen Minutes May 15, 2008
F. Postlethwaite (Coventry)
I have read nearly all of Picoult's books and while this is not her worst, it is certainly not the best. It started of really well and I was engrossed then it just felt the Picoult had to keep to a word count and I found myself skipping chunks to get through it. The end was a surprise and redeemed it slightly, but I was still left disappointed.
ok but not my favourite May 10, 2008
Bex (Cumbria, England)
I was really looking forward to reading this book and have to say I was slightly dissappointed with it. Although I was intrigued to see the outcome I found that I was kind of forcing myself to keep picking it up. Not Jodi's best.
 Picoult at her best May 8, 2008
Amzieday (England)
Being an avid Jodi Picoult fan and having read almost all of her previous books, I could not help but start to read her latest work, Nineteen Minutes, with high expectations. Picoult's ability to tackle even the most sensitive and challenging of issues has long led me to rate her one of my favourite authors. Being the kind of person that would fail to notice the apocalypse if she was reading a good book, I emerged from Nineteen Minutes four hours later to discover that it was 3 am and the work I had been planning to do lay untouched on my desk.
Nineteen Minutes delves into the lives of parents and children involved in a high school shooting and explores what it means to be different in society. The plot revolves around seventeen-year-old Peter Houghton, who one day calmly walks into his high school with an arsenal of guns and shoots his fellow students killing ten people and injuring many others. The reader is shown many subjective accounts of the fateful day itself and the seventeen years leading up to it from the point of view of a friend of Peter's, a judge, a police officer, Peter's parents, both prosecution and defence lawyers, and Peter himself. Picoult forces the reader to look at why someone would commit such an appalling crime and why no one saw it coming, skilfully leading you to empathize with everyone involved. Those familiar with her previous work may note the return of criminal defence lawyer Jordan McAfee included in The Pact and Salem Falls, and Police officer Patrick Ducharme from Perfect Match. Picoult keeps adding extra twists and turns that keep you guessing the truth right up to the end.
When Jodi Picoult began writing Nineteen Minutes, she was unable to know that it would be published in America just a month before the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. in April 2007. The novel, therefore, deals with issues that have been forced to the attention of both politicians and the general public. Is violence in the media partly responsible? Is this a consequence of America's gun-friendly society?
Whatever the answers to the myriad of questions that the reader is left with, Jodi Picoult has proved once again that she is a master at dealing with emotive subjects and contentious issues. Nineteen Minutes surpasses many of her other novels to achieve a similar ranking to some of her best works such as My Sister's Keeper, Salem Falls and Keeping Faith. Although this is hardly a light and cheerful book to read with a cup of tea and a biscuit, I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone who likes books that challenge their perception of the world and the people in it.
A return to form - thank goodness! May 8, 2008
Snapdragon (London)
I had been starting to get worried that Picoult's books were becoming more about quantity rather than quality; but 'Nineteen Minutes' really is a return to form.
If you've read a Picoult novel before, you'll be on familiar ground in terms of structure; there is the usual crime and then twists and turns until the trial at the end. There are some subtle changes though, this time we are taken back and forth in time so we can better understand what turned Peter Houghton, a high school misfit, into a murderer. It's a credit to the writing that she manages to make us feel sympathy for a character that has done something so incomprehensible.
Also in the mix are a couple of familiar characters, Jordan Mcafee (the defence lawyer from 'Salem Fallls' and 'The Pact') and Patrick Ducharme, the POlice Officer (from 'Perfect Match'.) I won't give too much away, but I'm glad that Patrick has a happy ending.
I'm really glad I read this book. If you've been disillusioned with Picoult's writing of late, you'll welcome this return to form.
Excellent May 7, 2008
Mrs. L. J. McKain (Northampton UK)
A really good, hard to put down book. A bit similar to 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' though by Lionel Schriver.
|
|
|
www.pcprotech.co.uk | |
