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.
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2 comments:
Nineteen Minutes sounds like an awesome read. I think I might have it under my bed with all the ordered books from elementary school but maybe I will find it one day. So far what has been your favorite part of the book? Would the people in sixth hour read this book too? If you had the choice would you recommend the The Sister's Keeper before Nineteen minutes or the other way around?
what do you think provoked those allusions to the fairy tale? what kind of message was he trying to convey?
hahahaha the word verification thing right below this is 'flabs'
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