19+Minutes+,+Alexa+A

In the first quarter of the book, the main event that occurs is the school shooting in Sterling. Before the shooting we learn some background information on the main characters. Josie is Alex’s daughter, and she is one of the popular girls who is dating Matt Royston ( the star hockey player). Josie is one of those girls who would hurt others to stay on top, even though it hurts her to hurt them. Josie does not know her father, and she also sometimes thinks of suicide. Alex is a single mother and the district [|judge], and her and Josie’s relationship is not that well. Peter is the kid who shot up the school and killed 10 people and wounded many others. Peter and Josie used to be friends when they were younger because Lacy ( peters mom) and Alex were friends. Peter was teased and bullied a lot when he was a kid and Josie was the only one who ever stuck up for him. As they grew older, Josie stopped sticking up and being nice to Peter so she would fit in with the cool kids. Alex is going to be the judge on the school shooting case, which is going to be difficult for her and Josie. Patrick is the main detective on this case, he was the one who ran into the school and got a hold of Peter. He also saved Josie from the locker room. The whole town is traumatized by this tragedy.
 * Journal 1 pgs. 1 -116

The book was slow in the beginning and did not really interest me. Once I got to around page 50 I started to like it more because the shooting finally happened. There are a lot of flashbacks in the book and they are kind of confusing and some are irrelevant and don’t really go in numerical order. Some of the stories are funny though and good to know. The book is alright and it’s kind of sad in a way with how Josie is perceived; being this popular girl who really is depressed inside. The book seems like it’s going to be predictable, obviously we know Peter was the shooter so I hope something interesting happens at the end. · Ambian pills ( suicide) · Pipe bomb · Remington 721( gun) · Saab ( car) · Court system

 || Journal 2 pgs/ 115-200

In this section of the book, most of the town is mourning over all the deaths of various classmates, and now all the people in town and even the surrounding towns are trying to help out the victims families. Peter is in jail now and he is very scared of what might happen to him. He meets with his lawyer, and his lawyer actually gets harassed by some people of the town just for doing his job in defending Peter in court. One event that was important was Josie’s boyfriend, Matt’s funeral. Josie could not handle herself, she was so sad and crying. Later on, Josie tried taking a bunch of Ambian pills that she had collectively stolen from her mother, but she spit them out last minute. Peter shot up the school because he could not take getting bullied anymore. He told his stories of when he would get bullied; on the bus, on the soccer team, in the locker room, being called a homo, for wearing glasses, having a superman lunch box and notebook, and whenever he would try to defend himself, he would get punished instead of the boys bullying him. Josie is a very important aspect in this investigation because she was the only one who was with Matt when he got shot and lived. She is the most important witness, but for some reason she cant seem to remember anything that happened.



I thought this section was pretty said because everyones feelings were coming out and reveling why they are all so sad and what they regret. I kind of wish the flashbacks would decrease a little bit because what I really want to get to are the trials and to see what Josie is really hiding about what happened when Matt was killed. When Peter would tell his stories about getting made fun of and bullied so much as a kid it was so sad and I felt really bad, nobody has a right to be mean to kids like that.

~ Superman ~[| cyber bullying] ( click here for an example video of what cyber bullying is/does) ~ 9/11 ( people jumping out windows) ~ Death Wish ( band) [|~ Jail]

Journal 3 pgs. 200 - 310

This section of the book mostly focused on flashbacks. We find out that Peter’s older brother, Joey had been killed in a drinking and driving accident. Joey was always the better son, better grades and very athletic, Peter felt as if he could not live up to his parents expectations by being like Joey, thats why he was always in his room messing with the computer. Peter made online video games in his spare time and he would have other people rate them online. Peter also went to a gay bar because he thought maybe he was gay, and he saw one of his teachers there. Peters mother would go visit Peter in jail every other week, but his dad never once came to visit him. I also found out that Matt was a very controlling boyfriend and pressured Josie sometimes, and even hit her if she was out of line. Josie also went on an adventure to go met her real dad, she just showed up at his house. It turns out Josie’s dad had a whole other family and he had tried to bribe her with money to leave him alone. Peters lawyer really wanted to get Alex off the case as a judge, so he decided to put down Josie on his witness list because Josie and Peter used to be friends. Josie did not like this at all, she was terrified, so Peters laywer, Alex and Josie all agreed that if Josie signed a thing that said she did not remember anything, she would not have to go on trial. Alex getting off of the case was actually a good thing because now, her and Josie relationship is so much closer. School had started up again, but it is at a new location, at an elementary school. Everybody tries to act normal but they can’t seem to do it. Alex and Patrick, the detective, end up getting together, and they try to keep it a secret from Josie.

This part of the book was the most interesting for me. I thought it was so rude of Josie’s dad to give her money to stay out of his life. I also felt bad when Peters dad never once showed up to visiting time at the jail, I’d be so mad if my dad didn’t visit me in jail. When Alex and patrick hooked up, it was my favorite part because I so called it coming. I was surprised when Matt would hit Josie because he seemed like he would never hurt her, and I don’t get why she didn’t break up with him after that.

~ DUI accidents ~ aspects of happiness ~ Social Status ~ [|Abusive relationships] ~ online gaming ~ gay vs straight

Journal 4 pgs 311- 455

The last section of the book was mostly Peters trial. But before that we found out the Josie had been secretly pregnant, but miscarried her baby. Instead of going to the graveyard, Peters dad finally came and visited Peter in jail for the first time. That encounter did not go to well, Peter was still so pissed at his dad. Peters lawyer focused his arguement on lessening Peters jaill time by claiming he has [|Post - Traumatic Stress Disorder], and had a doctor back up that theory.During the testimony, Josie was the last person to get called to the stand because she finally remembered what had happened; she admitted to shooting Matt Royston, her boyfriend, in the locker room. To some extent, that helped Peters case, but everybody was so insanely shocked. Josie was sentenced to five years in the women’s jail, and Peter was sentenced to life. In the end, most of the families try to move on, Peters parents finally start going through Peters room sense he’s not coming back, and Patrick and Alex get married, and are expecting a child shortly.

As a whole, I thought the book was okay. I think there was a lot of unnecessary details in the book that had no importance to the main point, like some of the flashbacks. I also did not like how the book was set up, it confused me how the sections/ chapters of the book was split into time periods that were not in order. I think it jumped around a little too much and was hard for me to keep up for what was happening when. The ending of the book was a complete shocker for me. I would have never guessed that Josie would shoot Matt. I still wonder why she shot him, that was crazy. Over all, the story it self was well written, but sort of sad at times. ~ peer pressure ~ Helen of Troy ~ [|Teen Pregnancy( miscarriage)] ~ BVA( bully victims of america) ~ Post traumatic stress disorder