Jodi Picoult’s contemporary novel, Nineteen Minutes encapsulates the traumatic events of a school shooting in New Hampshire. Picoult creates Peter Houghton, a boy who was bullied every day since the first day of kindergarten. He had one best friend, Josie Cormier. As they grew up, things started to change. Josie got involved with the popular crowd, which caused her and Peter’s relationship to deteriorate. As a junior, on the morning of March 6th, 2007 something inside Peter snapped. He went to Sterling High School, killed ten students, and wounded several others.

Picoult tells the story from years before the shooting, to the day of the shooting, to a couple months after the shooting. She offers the reader a wide variety in points of views. Exploring the thoughts of Peter, his mother and father, Josie and her mother, a detective on the case, and Peter’s lawyer. A common theme throughout these characters is, “Something still exists as long as there’s someone around to remember it.” In this world, people tend to forget the good. For example, does anyone ever talk about the fact that the Columbine kids were computer assistants for the school? How many people with computer issues they helped at their school? No. Everyone remembers the bad. I’m not saying that what they did is forgivable. But everyone forgets that at one point, they were adequate human beings. Picoult develops her characters and sequences the plot to challenge her reader’s views on the shooting. Should we try and remember the good that was left in Peter? Or is it all washed away by his harmful actions?

Picoult offers the viewpoints from numerous people affected by the shooting. One person she really focuses on is Peter’s mother, Lacy. Before the shooting, Lacy was a wonderful midwife. She was one of the best in her area and she helped Alex Cormier give birth to Josie. Lacy and Alex grew to be friends. Their children played with each other and got along incredibly well. Peter and Josie hung out all the time until Alex found Peter showing Josie some of his fathers hunting guns. After that, Alex and Lacy did not talk and their children were not allowed to see each other. Because of their friendship in the early years, it complicates the shooting’s trial because Alex became a judge. Alex removed herself from the case because she felt the previous relationship with Peter’s family would affect her verdict.

Lacy was an emotional wreck when she found out what Peter did. Peter? Her little boy that could not shoot a deer when hunting with his dad? Her little boy that comforted her when she lost their family dog? Her little boy who couldn’t stand up to the bullies that repeatedly threw his lunchbox out the window? She could not believe what everyone was telling her on the morning of March 6th. She began questioning her parenting style. She was filled with regret for not paying close attention to her son. She did not realize the posters of the band “Death Wish” or all the time Peter spent alone with his computer in his room. She did not realize that from the very first day of kindergarten, the bullying had not stopped. However, by committing his crime, Peter not only hurt his reputation, but his mothers. There was one incident where a pregnant woman told Lacy that she did not want Lacy’s hands to touch her child; because in the pregnant woman’s eyes, Lacy’s hands had raised a murderer. And the mother-to-be did not want those hands to touch her newborn baby. It took Lacy a while to stop feeling like everything that happened was her fault. After Peter was sentenced to prison, Alex knew how hard Lacy must have been taking the trial. Alex sought out Lacy and could see the look of despair in Lacy’s eyes. Alex started talking about how Peter liked peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches. Alex tried to bring back some innocent memories of Peter’s childhood. She ended the conversation with, “Something still exists as long as there’s someone around to remember it.” Alex’s statement helped Lacy get through the pain of having Peter locked away forever. One day as Lacy started to pack up Peter’s things-knowing he would never return- in his room, she remembered what Alex told her. Lacy started putting everything back, the way Peter had left it. It is important for everyone to understand that just because someone changes, that doesn’t mean you never knew them.

In addition to character development, the sequence of the plot helps Picoult produce this controversial story. Was Peter genuinely a bad person and did plan to execute a shooting? Or did he slip into a dissociative state, unaware of his actions? Picoult makes it challenging for her readers to pick a side on this topic; She switches the story from before, after, and during the time of the shooting.

Leading up to the shooting, it is easy to observe that Peter had been bullied. The first couple years of school, his lunch was taken from him. And he was harassed for being a “fag” in his middle and high school years. Post-shooting, Peter tells the detective that “they started it.” By giving Peter’s background story, Picoult engages her readers with feelings of sympathy for him. She offers a valid reason as to why Peter may have become unaware of his actions. She validates this by bringing Dr. Wah- a trusted, honorable psychiatrist- to Peter’s trial. Wah goes in-depth about each step Peter took in the shooting, and why Peter chose that day to shoot. Wah explains that Peter developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from being bullied throughout the years, and when he woke up on March 6th, he was not actually planning to go on to kill the students at Sterling. But Peter saw something that triggered a fight-or-flight defense and he immediately went into self-protection mode. After being bullied all those years, Wah truly believes that Peter cannot be to blame for his actions due to his mental instability.

However by jumping back and forth between the shooting date, Picoult also leaves room for her audience to think that Peter meant to bring harm to the kids at school. She informs her audience about a video game that Peter had created. A game where the main character was a nerd, and the object of the game was to murder the popular kids. Peter also tells the detective about The Anarchist Cookbook, which aided him in making bombs and other tools of mass destruction. There was a yearbook in Peter’s room that had circles around certain people. And some of those people ended up dead in the shooting. These three pieces of evidence were used heavily in Peter’s trial because it shows that he had a plan. He woke up and decided that March 6th was the day that he was going to put a stop to the bullying. Another piece used in his trial was the fact that he had warned his only friend to go home because something bad was going to happen. If Peter were to have been in a dissociated state, he would not have recognized his friend. And he would not have warned him because Peter would have been unaware of what he was about to do.

Is Peter truly as innocent as he was when Alex made peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches? Or is he truly a monster who executed a mass murder at Sterling High School? That is for the reader to decide. This book is incredibly complex and has numerous topics within: homosexuality, popularity, bullying, parenting, and school systems. But one of the most important things to take from this book? Something still exists as long as there’s someone to remember it. If your child or some one close to you was sentenced to jail for a murder, would you want to believe that they were a good person? Or follow the rest of the world, and hate them for what they did?