19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a captivating novel that everyone should have the pleasure of reading. This novel steals your attention from page one instantly taking the reader through a seemingly normal day at Sterling High School, but then suddenly everyone's world changes as one of their very own students starts shooting his peers. The yardsticks shown in this book are clarity, and reflection of real life.

19 Minutes could be flagged as not being very clear due to the fact that every page or so, the view point is switched to a different character without notice. At first I hated this. I thought it was confusing, and I did not care about some of the characters being introduced, but as the novel progressed each view point grows more and more valuable to the overall opinion I was forming of the shooting. The reader experiences the heartbreak from the families of the victims, the extensive investigations of the detectives, lawyers, and police officers, and even begins to see the reasoning behind what the shooter was feeling. I began to start to feel for the characters I did not immediately want to like, and hate characters I initially loved, showing how important these view point shifts really were. If the reader is paying attention and is truly inthralled with the book, the clarity should not be a problem, and you might even find it to be very helpful.

The reflection of real life in this novel is unreal to say the least. The reader will connect with characters they may have never thought they would connect with, and you may see not only yourself, but your peers and family within each of the characters. Given the circumstances of the novel totally revolving around the school shooting, it can be sad to connect with characters during such a tragic time in their lives, but as the book takes the reader through the characters’ lives, you see their mistakes. It personally made me realize many of the mistakes I have made and that I will certainly never make again. Overall this book really makes the reader reflect on their own life, and how they treat others.

This novel was on of the most amazing books I have read, and I definitely recommend it to everyone, especially high school students.