Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult; Washington Square Press Publishing, 2008

Reviewed by Sally Lovell

I recommend Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult's riveting tale about a long-bullied teenager who eventually snaps, and takes out his revenge by killing ten people in his high school. Flashbacks reveal how years of persistent bullying eventually leads the teen into a world of violent computer games and dark emotions, which manifest in tragedy. Sharyn McCrumb's mystery If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him is a good pageturner with lots of clever, funny dialogue. This story offers a medley of marriage-and-divorce scenarios, and amusing commentary on romantic relationships. If you're looking for true-life stories of contemporary senior citizens (age 70 and older) in America, take a look at Coming of Age, by Studs Terkel. This book is created from interviews, but the interviewer's questions are omitted. This technique produced choppy storytelling, but offered very interesting "nuggets" here and there.

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