List of Blog Comments

1/15:Holly W.
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1/15:Quinn D.
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1/15:Kelly T.
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1/15:Tess R.
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These are the people who's blogs I commented on.

Blog #10 Quarter 2

There's one point in "Nineteen Minutes", by Jodi Picoult, where Lacy Houghton finds her husband visiting the graves of all the children that their son killed and putting a rose on each one. She realizes that he has been doing this every week instead of visiting their son in jail. This poses a tough ethical dilemma, should Louis be apologizing to the children that Peter killed? Or visiting Peter in jail? The circumstances change because they are family. So far in the book, it seems like Lacy has chosen to take Peter's side, feeling that it's mostly her fault and Peter's taking the blame for her. Louis also feels like it's his fault but also Peter's and is afraid to face Peter because he feels like his fears might be confirmed. He might find out that Peter blames him as much as he blames himself.

I'm excited for the big courtroom scene because I have a feeling that there'll be some emotions going. I really want to see what happens when Peter and Josie see each other. Everyone who knows Peter feels that it's their own fault. Peter himself thinks it's their fault too. Even the parents of the deceased blame both Peter and his parents. Nobody puts the blame solely on Peter, so maybe it's really not his fault. This book is full of ethical dilemmas and I have a feeling I haven't gotten to the bulk of them yet.

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square Press, 2007.

Blog #9 Quarter 2

"You could patch up whatever was broken, but if you were the one who had fixed it, you'd always know where the fault lines lay" (184). This is a passage from Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes" which illustrates the idea the everyone who was affected by the shooting will never be the same. Even though, eventually, things will get back to normal for future generations, everybody who had to, in some way, fix an aspect of their lives will know and feel exactly how it used to be broken. I read a book once that compared that idea to a vase falling and shattering. Even if I was to glue the pieces back together, I could still see the cracks, and more importantly, I could feel how broken it really is when I run my hands over it.

For Peter Houghton, he might feel as though he is the one to fix something that had been broken for a long time, instead of breaking it. In reality, he glued together one vase but knocked another one over in the process. Instead of putting the vase of their school back together, with everyone equal, he simply threw a few pieces out before trying to glue it back together. But without those pieces, the vase wouldn't reassemble. He miscalculated because he couldn't fix the school by taking out some of it's most important parts. Now he'll see the shattered vase forever, but is unable to fix it.

Alex feels that she has to fix the situation seeing as she is the judge assigned to the case. I haven't gotten that far in the book yet but I imagine she'll do her best to fix it, but she'll also be the only one to uncover every secret and know the absolute and entire story. She'll be the only one who can see every single crack left in the vase.

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square Press, 2007.

Blog #8 Quarter 2

In Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes," her writing style changes a lot from "My Sister's Keeper." The first difference that I noticed was the change from first person to third person. I've always liked books in first person that stay from the point of view of one specific character and doesn't change. I think these are my favorite because it's easy to fall inside the story where the reader is placed in the exact same position with all the knowledge and feelings of one character.The reader only has one angle to consider and whatever the protagonist feels is immediately transmitted to the reader. Third person becomes more complex because the reader is taken out of the story and put on the sidelines to watch. It makes it harder to read because the emotions are not provided for the readers, but rather they are left to decide how they feel about the unfolding events. The immediate reaction to the fact that Peter killed people is to feel sorry for the survivors and to condemn Peter. However, since it is in third person, the reader sees Peter's perspective and we're forced to understand why he committed his crime. One of the most confusing things about Picoult's book is while I'm reading it, I'm not sure what to feel. I still haven't made up my mind as to whether or not I want Peter to get thrown in jail. It comes back to ethics. He tried to settle things the right way but nothing worked. The other kids were truly monsters to him so why should he be any better? I'm excited to see how Alex, and all the other characters find Peter, seeing as they only have their own perspective, and are not enlightened to Peter's as well like I am.

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square Press, 2007.

Blog #7 Quarter 2

I've decided that I've finally run out of things to discuss with "My Sister's Keeper" and have moved on to reading another book by Jodi Picoult titled "Nineteen Minutes." I'm not done with this book yet but I've read about two thirds of it and I like it a lot. It's interesting the way that the characters' lives all spin together in a way that "My Sister's Keeper" never achieved. One of the things I find most interesting about this book is how almost every chapter is from a different point in time, until the chapters concerning the court assemblies occur. In the first few chapters, Picoult gives a general overview of a few characters and tells the reader what they are like. After that, more towards the middle of the book, Picoult goes on to show us flashes into their lives to explain why they are that way. One of the first things we learn about Peter Houghton is that he kills 10 of his classmates. After we learn this, we slowly start to piece together all the possible reasons that have driven him to this point.

Another thing that caught my eye was how Alex, the supreme court judge, kept making allusions to the fairytale, "The Emperor's New Clothes" in which an emperor was tricked by two crooks. The crooks pretended to make him a beautiful robe out of thread that only the smartest of people could see. Of course, there really wasn't such a thread but when the emperor saw himself in only his underwear, he didn't want to tell anyone that he couldn't see the robe. All of the townspeople were too intimidated by him to tell him that he was naked. Alex could compare herself to the emperor because nobody was ever real with her considering her status, even outside of the courtroom. Alex's daughter, Josie, or her "popular" friends, are the same way without realizing it. Every other kid in the school follows them blindly just because of who they are. Maybe Peter thought he was the one brave person to tell them that they really aren't wearing a magical robe, to tell them that they aren't so special at all.

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square Press, 2007.