Every night you go to bed late and every morning you wake up early for school, dreading the moment you have to walk into the old hallways and actually learn something. But school isn’t just about learning algebra or doing labs in chemistry; it’s also about stepping into a new social environment everyday. For some people, they love to see their friends and catch up on gossip, but for some kids, they dread having to act invisible all day long. In the novel Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Josie and Peter are childhood best friends who couldn’t be more different. Josie, a popular girl who is outgoing, bold, and whose caring nature and sensitivity makes her more likeable than ever. And Peter, a quiet and gentle boy who appears to be an easy target for bullies no matter what he does. Their friendship begins when Peter is bullied in public and Josie lends a helping hand. Josie and Peter are constantly made fun of and picked upon but they both had one another to lean on, until 6th grade when their friendship couldn’t bare the hardships of popularity and jealousy. The climb of the social ladder drives a wedge between Josie and Peter that just gets deeper and deeper as the years go on. And then one day Peter does the unimaginable and forces the community of Sterling, New Hampshire, to take off their masks and reevaluate who they want to be.

In the novel, Picoult portrays the image of most high schools; the popular crowd that everyone wants to be apart of, the nerds, and the bullied. The climb to the top of the social ladder is tough when you start at the bottom but Josie figured out a way to do so. Josie started dating Matt Royston; most popular guy and hockey player, one would think Josie has it all. However, she carries around a mask all day to hide who she really is and how she really feels. Then there is Peter, who sustains his role in society as the loner as he is bullied. His life has not gotten easier throughout school and no one is there to help him anymore. Peter continuously struggles with the popular crowd rubbing their success in his face and he has to watch his ex best friend Josie, finally have the life he has always wanted. Because for Peter  “when you don’t fit in, you become superhuman. You can feel everyone else’s eyes on you, stuck like Velcro. You can hear a whisper about you from a mile away. You can disappear, even when it looks like you’re still standing right there. You can scream, and nobody hears a sound. You become the mutant who fell into the vat of acid, the Joker who can’t remove his mask. The bionic man who’s missing all his limbs and none of his heart. You are the thing that used to be normal, but that was so long ago, you can’t even remember what it was like”. From the time he has gone to school, Peter just wanted to feel accepted for who he was, but the bullies made that impossible.
        

Sterling, New Hampshire was supposed to be a safe, boring town. It was supposed to be a place where nothing went wrong. However, Peter changes all of that. “They ask how could this happen here? Well. How could it not happen here?”. Sometimes, those who are struggling the most fake it the best. From first glance, everything can seem okay, but if that person is anything like Peter, they are far from okay. Peter, the boy who made a video game to recreate his high school and attack the “jocks, the bullies, and the popular kids”. Peter, the boy who was bullied almost everyday. Peter, the boy who thought “you get so used to the world being a certain way, there seems to be no escape from it”. And for Peter, there really was no other way. Guidance, school staff, even parents disregarded Peter and blamed all the bullying on Peter himself. For being a victim for so long, he needed to find a way to fight back, and finally acts on it. Peter’s actions shook Sterling and they will forever be affected.
        
Peter’s journey for revenge began a long time ago, to the time when he lost his best friend to peer pressure and the standards of society. Peter’s violent act was not random, it was the culmination of years of bullying, taunting, and anger. “He just wanted it to stop”. He just wanted everything to stop for once in his life. But he was not alone. Josie’s relationship with Matt isn’t all sunshines and rainbows. Their relationship is what is expected from the popular crowd, but nobody can detect the signs of trouble. “Love was supposed to move mountains, to make the world go round, to be all you need, but it fell apart at the details”. And for Josie, her love did fall apart at every detail. Josie is so blinded by the idea of popularity, she will live through anything to stay at the top, including staying in a toxic relationship just for status. Peter wasn’t the only one who felt like he needed a way out, he was just the only one brave enough to find one.

“In nineteen minutes you can get revenge” and that is what Peter does.  He fights back in the only way he knows how to anymore, and gets everyone's attention for the wrong reasons. Peter may have changed many lives for the worse, but for him, he took the pain away. “All Peter had done was what they all secretly dreamed of: be someone even for just nineteen minutes, who nobody else was allowed to judge”.

Nineteen Minutes is a real wake-up call for those who need it the most. It’s emotional portrayal of the reality of society brings to light the hardships of many people. Through relationships, bullying, and different points of view, Picoult shows how everyone feels the same on the inside; afraid to be themselves. I recommend this book to any young and mature adults because it is impossible to put down. This novel pulls on every heart string in the human body and overall makes the reader question; Are they really a bad person?