I just finished the book, "Nineteen Minutes," by Jodi Picoult. When I finished it, something immediately struck me. Though most books end with a good event, or at least a little hope, this did not at all have this effect. In the end, Peter is sentenced to more years than he will live in prison, and Josie is in prison for five years. This certainly was not the ending I had envisioned. And though this ending made me sad that the characters were not ending up well, I feel like it was deserved.
Because the reality of it is that even if you think Peter doesn't deserve to go to jail, that he was provoked, he killed 10 people. And even if Josie thought she was making the world a better place by killing Sterling High School's meanest bully, she still killed him. We may do things that we think will make the world better -- and maybe it will -- but we have to think of everyone when we do something rash and and reckless. Would it be nice if Josie and Peter didn't go to jail? Yes, I think it would. But, at the same time, even though they had reasoning, what they did was wrong. And any way you look at it, it was not the right thing to do. And even though it is disappointing to have to look at their futures in this way, I think it is necessary. Because, I believe, even if neither Josie nor Peter had gone to jail, I would still not be content. Two people who broke the law and ruined people's lives, I believe deserve to be punished. So, in a way, I agree with this not so typical ending.
