Reading Wishlist

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs)
Hollow City (Ransom Riggs)
Elenor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
The Pact (Jodi Picoult)
Winter's Tale (Mark Helprin)
The Lost Hero (Rick Riordan)
The Cuckcoo's Calling (Robert Galbraith)
It's Kind of a Funny Story (Ned Vizzini)
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein)

Book Talk

Book 3 Review

Nineteen Minutes

“In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.
In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it.” (Jodi Picoult).

 

Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, is a novel that breaks the boundaries of fiction writing. Jodi Picoult tells a story about a school shooting that took place at a high school in a small town known as Sterling, New Hampshire. The characters within the novel are so well written that they started to feel real. The emotion Picoult put into the novel combined with the emotion felt while reading will give readers an experience they will never forget.

When writing this novel, Picoult did the unthinkable; she took a sensitive subject such as a tragic school shooting, and turned it into a best-selling novel. Not many authors can say they have done that. One of the many great things about this novel though was, that it wasn’t focused on the graphic, gory details about the shooting as much as it was focused on the affect it had on the people who were involved.  The novel itself isn’t supposed to be sad overall; according the Janet Maslin in After the Shooting Is Over , “[This] novel [has] soap-opera momentum, and they guarantee comforting closure.” The issue here is that people don’t want to read about a tragic event that killed 10 teenagers. They want to read books about happy things such as romance sparked between two unlikely people. But let’s ask readers this, what’s the difference between a novel about a tragic shooting that kills 10 children, compared to a best-selling novel that kills 23 children per book for a “game”? Picoult makes it clear that this book is not all about the death. It’s about the affect it has on the living. Josie, one of the main characters, only wants to move on from the horror.  She says, ““But then again, maybe bad things happen because it’s the only way we can keep remembering what good is supposed to look like.”(pg. 221) This book does a wonderful job showing readers how different people can be affected by the same tragic event.

Different characters in the novel had different reactions to the shooting, so Picoult did the most practical thing; she wrote the book in third person.  In order for the reader to get the most out of the book, it was only necessary to write in the point of view of a narrator so all the characters could be heard.  It was hard to understand why reading this book was so addicting until a thought popped up; every character has a voice in this story but yet readers don’t get their whole story until they read the end. This novel made the characters feel alive because every thought, every feeling and every emotion they ever felt was understood by the readers. “’I’m great,’ Josie pasted on a smile. It felt gummy, like wallpaper that hadn’t been smoothed right. But she had gotten so good at this- faking it- that it was second nature. Who would have thought that she’d inherited something from her mother after all?” (page 253). Every person could relate to Josie. Faking smiles and hiding her true feelings within; everybody knows that feeling. When Picoult wrote this book, her intent was to zone in on the emotions of the characters and make sure the readers hear all of their voices and therefore connect with the characters on a whole different level.

                A question that pops up a lot is, “What makes this book stand out amongst the others?”  The answer to that question can be summed up in two words: character development. The amount of thought Picoult most have put into these characters is unimaginable. On every page a new connection is made between two or more characters. In order to get a better understanding of the characters, Picoult used flashbacks and flash-forwards almost every other chapter. It’s brilliant because the readers were hooked and had to keep reading to find out more.  In the end,  emotions are running wild but yet Picoult continues to throw curve balls until the last page. Throughout the whole novel characters grow up and become people who the readers not only want to love, but want to hate as well. Peter is the best example, Picoult must have really thought him out. He’s a sensitive kid who was bullied his whole life, so when he finally snaps the readers want to hate him, but they can’t. Empathy is a good word to describe the emotion readers will feel while reading this book. “’Don’t tell,’ Peter whispered, and Josie realized he was offering her a way out- a deal sealed in blood, a partnership of silence: I won’t share your secrets, if you don’t share mine.” (page 441). This is the part of the book where reader’s start to question the evilness of Peter. Is Peter really a monster, or is he just a misunderstood teenage boy with a good heart after all? Picoult does a wonderful job developing her characters as well as throwing readers curve balls, making Nineteen Minutes such a thrilling experience.

This novel deserves five stars. Nineteen Minutes was such a thriller, readers are still trying to recover. Jodi Picoult took a tragic horror and turned it into a best-selling novel. It sucks readers into its whirlpool of emotion and never spits them out. Readers are hooked within the first page of the book. Picoult was brilliant and deserves more credit than she is given. Nineteen Minutes is a novel readers will never forget.

Characters

I don’t agree with Jennifer Weiner when she says the best books have the most likeable characters. I believe books with characters that are always happy and always likeable are boring. I like drama; I like intensity in my books. If a character is evil, then I tend to want to read the book more to find out what happens to the villain or what they end up doing themselves. I find books more interesting if they have variation in characters. Books with characters that are always likeable are just too boring. I need excitement.

I’m currently reading the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. The book is told in 3^rd person so there’s not one certain narrator. Throughout the book you get to know each and every character and how they are affected by this tragic event. There’s not really any character(s) that I dislike. But there is one guy, Peter, who you want to like but deep down you know he’s a terrible person but at the same time you feel bad for him. I believe characters like Peter are the most interesting/ likeable. Even if you know they do terrible things, the author makes you feel empathy towards them, so you want to like them.

If I had to say there was villain in my book, I would have to say it is Peter Houghton.  Peter is just a misunderstood teenage, who has been bullied his whole life, he doesn’t have any friends, and finally one day he snaps and reacts in a very violence way. Peter follows all 6 of the steps of “becoming a villain”.  He was wronged for being bullied (injustice), he became obsessed with the idea of someday getting back at his bullies. He isolates himself from everyone at his school and even his parents. He starts to hate people (detachment). And finally one day he finally snaps and reacts in such violence/ cruel way. He might not have a cape but Peter definitely classifies as a villain. You can tell Peter has many problems and you want to feel sorry for him, but in reality he’s a psychopath and there’s no excuse for what he did. Peter reminds me of Holden Caulfield because they’re both depressed, misunderstood teenagers who are just trying to fit in. Even though Peter is “evil”, he’s still one of my favorite characters in Nineteen Minutes because he’s one of the most mysterious/ interesting characters of them all.

The Truth About Fiction and Non-Fiction

In order for a book to be considered “non-fiction” I believe there has to be some sort of truth to the book. I’m not saying the whole book has to be word-for-word true or even a large percentage of it true. As long as the book has a background that is true, I can consider the book “non-fiction”.  I’ve heard about so many incidents where authors are being criticized for writing memoirs that aren’t 100% true. I could care less if the truth is stretched a little bit. If a book has a good story to it and I enjoy reading it, I honestly don’t care how much of it is true. All that matters to me is that I enjoyed reading it. I’m not going to be the person to hate on the author for lying; I’m going to be the person applauding the author for writing a fantastic story.

Personally I agree with Shields, it doesn’t matter if a book is “fiction” or “non-fiction”. Relating back to what I said above; a story should not be limited to being categorized in just these genres. As long as the story I’m reading leaves me satisfied, I don’t care about the genre of the book. Why should it matter is a book is “fiction” or “non-fiction”? A book is a book no matter what genre. Every book contains a different story, so why are we so focused on putting every book in just two categories when in fact many books don’t fit into either. We shouldn’t force a book to be either “fiction” of “non-fiction”.  We don’t need to draw a line between the two because some books could be classified as both genres or not as one at all. When an author writes a story, he isn’t worried about writing a piece that is 100% true. He is just worried about writing a book that readers will enjoy. And in the end, people shouldn’t worry about the genre; they should just worry about if the book is a good read.

Book Trailer

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Book Trailer

Readicide

I believe readicide is a big problem in schools today. Students are forced to read books they do not want to read and they are being forced to over analyze every little thing about books. I already hate it when a teacher hands me a book that I have no interest in, so what makes it worse it that I have to take notes and do so many analysis’ and projects on the book. Forcing students to read a book isn’t going to make them like it. So yes, I believe it’s causing students to hate reading all together and causing readicide to occur everywhere.

Like Gallagher suggested, swapping some of the more classical and literary books out for popular books could spark some interest in students reading again. If students had the opportunity to read books they actually like in school, they wouldn’t hate it as much. A valid argument is that students should read the books they want to read outside to school. However, to be honest, it’s not that easy now a day. Students are put under so much stress already with homework, sports, and part-time jobs that sometimes we don’t have the time to just pick up a book and read for fun. I personally love reading so it’s sad when the only time I have to read is in English class. So if students were able to read what they want in class I think it would show a huge difference in the amount of students actually interested in doing the reading for class. Who knows, people who hated reading before, could start to love it.

I hear students always ask the question, “Why should we have to read anyway?” This question breaks my heart. Reading is such an important part of learning and becoming well educated.  Reading helps expand our imagination and helps widen our vocabulary. I believe if we want students to become more intelligent, we should get them to read more. Not just the literary “smart people books” but all kinds of books, like different genres and reading levels. If a more broad choice of books could be chosen in classes, students would read more and therefore become better students in the end. Reading is one of the most important things in a student’s life and right now, the way reading is taught is slowly killing the interest students have in reading.