Book Reviews: "Nineteen Minutes", "Perfect Match", by author Jodi Picoult -

I've recently discovered author Jodi Picoult, and I'm blown away. She is not only a talented writer, but an intuitive and brilliant story teller. She brings a genuine and deeply touching authenticity and human frailty to the characters in her novels. She is not afraid to give her characters serious flaws, even when they are the heroes of her stories, or allow her villains to have redeeming qualities, however irredeemable those characters may be.

I just finished Nineteen Minutes, about a school shooting that left 10 high-school students dead, many injured (some severely), and a community in pieces. It is not an easy read. It took me several weeks to finish it because it was so emotional for me, I had to put it down for days at a time before I could pick it back up. I was particularly surprised and impressed by her willingness to slide in and out of the different characters to share their perspectives and experiences, including the heartbreak of not only the victims and their families, but of the shooter and his family. This allowed the reader to see complex characters with complex lives, and the honest, sometimes brutal reality that there's no easy fix to some very big problems in our society, from bullying to racism to fanaticism to domestic violence to child abuse, etc. It would be so simple to say, this is what causes someone to go bad, to become a murderer, to become a serial killer or a rapist or a terrorist, but can we really predict?

I would give Ninteen Minutes 5 stars out of 5 for masterful story-telling, but ultimately I am giving it a 4 for the fact that it was just plain emotionally difficult! It is difficult to recommend because it is truly emotionally exhausting reading. It left me sad and drained. Still, I do recommend it. It was well done and insightful.

Nineteen Minutes - 4 stars out of 5

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The other Picoult novel I read before this one was Perfect Match. Here is the synopsis from Jodi's website: "What happens when you do all the right things for all the wrong reasons? As an assistant district attorney in York County, Maine, Nina Frost prosecutes the sort of crimes that tear families apart. She helps clients navigate their way through a nightmare – even though the legal system is not always the faultless compass they want and need it to be. She learns that the easiest way to cross this devastating minefield time and time again is to offer compassion, battle fiercely for justice, and keep her emotional distance.

But when Nina and her husband Caleb discover that their five-year-old son Nathaniel has been sexually abused, that distance is impossible to maintain. The world Nina inhabits now seems different from the one she lived in yesterday; the lines between family and professional life are erased; and answers to questions she thought she knew are no longer easy to find. Overcome by anger and desperate for vengeance, Nina ignites a battle that may cause her to lose the very thing she's fighting for."

I certainly do not want to spoil the twists and surprises in this novel, but I do want to say that this story dramatically and poignantly reveals the horror of vengeance gone wrong.

Again, this was difficult subject matter for me, the sexual abuse of a young child by a person of trust.

Interestingly, I had started reading Nineteen Minutes first and put it down, then read Perfect Match. Perfect Match was so good I became determined to read Nineteen Minutes, plus the ending was satisfying as well. I can honestly say that it didn't leave me as sad as Nineteen Minutes. It just was not as hopeful and couldn't be. How do you ever make right a senseless and evil act of mass murder? How do you move forward and heal and start over and not have it be part of you for the rest of your life?

Perfect Match - 5 stars of 5

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On top of the joy of discovering yet another author to love, I am delighted to see that Picoult has written a lot of books! I love favorite authors, and I love prolific favorite authors even more!