If you are a parent, you can read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult as a cautionary tale. It can also be read as an anti-bullying novel or a defense of mass shooters. The book compares the mass shooter (a high school student) to Battered Women’s Syndrome. Another example of justifying violence in retaliation for bullying is the movie Office Space (1999). The book asks, “Who is responsible to defend the victims of bullying?” The author doesn’t deliver any easy answers. Highly recommended for anyone in a position of power.
The book ended with a surprise twist. While I found this turn of events clever, it distracted the reader from the fundamental question: how can the main character receive justice?
The main characters are Peter Houghton who is bullied from the first day of kindergarten and Josie Cormier who befriends Peter in elementary school but drops him by high school. Other characters include his parents (Lacy, a midwife, and Lewis, an Economics professor), her mother (Alex(andra), Superior Court judge, single parent), the detective (Patrick Ducharme), and the defense lawyer (Jordan McAfee).
I found this book over the top both in terms of acceptable bullying and homophobia.
Math joke:
So, two kids are in the lunch line, when the
first kid turns to his friend and says, “I have no money! What should I do?”
And his buddy says, “2x + 5! A binomial. Get it? Buy-no-meal?!”
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for Omega Cats Press books and book recommendations.
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