When I was in high school and college I would spend hours reading fiction novels. I enjoyed VC Andrews and Danielle Steele. I can remember staying up all night reading a new VC Andrews book - hearing that I was crazy from my roommate. But books used to consume me. It was like I was transferred right into the happenings of the book.
I didn't read for a long time. I could barely get my devotion time down or make it through an entire magazine. My friend Renee' gave me three novels in August by Meg Cabot - the author of The Princess Diaries. I thought the titles "fit" me, "Size 12 is not Fat" "Size 14 is not Fat Either: and "Big Boned" A murder mystery series - and I again remembered why I loved reading. It was fun, like I could step out of reality.
I'm not current with books, authors, or novels. I picked up a Jodie Picoult book titled "19 Minutes" right before Christmas. I have spent about 16 hours over the past five days consuming this book. The cover shows a close up of hands being held. I grabbed the book quickly thinking it would be light reading. But it really hit something in me. Maybe fear. Fear of the future, of who my children will be come. And has really stirred me to pray for my children and the youth of America.
Here is a synopsis of the book, taken from Jodi Picoult's home page.
Synopsis:
In this emotionally charged novel, Jodi Picoult delves beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in our society.
In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents.
Even those who were not inside the school that morning find their lives in an upheaval, including Alex Cormier. The superior court judge assigned to the Houghton case, Alex—whose daughter, Josie, witnessed the events that unfolded—must decide whether or not to step down. She’s torn between presiding over the biggest case of her career and knowing that doing so will cause an even wider chasm in her relationship with her emotionally fragile daughter. Josie, meanwhile, claims she can’t remember what happened in the last fatal minutes of Peter’s rampage. Or can she? And Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis Houghton, ceaselessly examine the past to see what they might have said or done to compel their son to such extremes. Nineteen Minutes also features the return of two of Jodi Picoult’s characters—defense attorney Jordan McAfee from The Pact and Salem Falls, and Patrick DuCharme, the intrepid detective introduced in Perfect Match.
Rich with psychological and social insight, Nineteen Minutes is a riveting, poignant, and thought-provoking novel that has at its center a haunting question. Do we ever really know someone?
