Nineteen Minutes ~ Jodi Picoult

One of the things I thought  it might be fun to do with my blog this year is to write a little about each of the books I read and then link to that from the Books in 2008 page.  I really liked keeping the list last year because by the end of the year there were some books on there that I'd almost forgotten about.  I did consider rating each book but dismissed that idea after about 30 seconds as I hate rating things - what I would call a 6 on a bad day is different to what I would call a 6 on  a good day.  That's something I discovered when my counsellor used to ask me to rate my mood and I'd think it was crap and say 5 or some such and she'd say that was good, it was higher than the average.  So no ratings.

Anyways, the first book I've read this year is Nineteen Minutes which is by Jodi Picoult

I adore her books and Nineteen Minutes is no exception to that rule.  In fact I would be hard pressed to say whether My Sister's Keeper is still my favourite of hers or if it's been superseeded by Nineteen Minutes.

It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it and it surprised me again and again.  Jodi Picoult books always have a twist, a sting to the tale.  And this is a story that twisted and twisted and changed and changed more and more with each page turned.  I had thought early on that I had figured out what the twist would be - I was wrong, that plot point was used but it was done in completely the opposite way to what I suspected.  Also it was done early in the story and it was minor, inconsequential.

Nineteen Minutes is a subtle book.  The characters are very real and there were a few times when I thought "I did not expect that" and then  realised that slowly and silently clues had been built up in the story.

I loved it and I was sorry to see the end.  All the ends were tied up when you came to the conclusion and you left the characters going on with their lives, changed, grown and completely different to the beginning of the book.  But yet, it didn't seem that neat and it left me wondering... what's next for this character and that one and that one......

Then again I guess that's the sign of a good writer.  They do say you should always leave them wanting more , after all.