Jodi Picoult Interview- Ninteen Minutes - 0 views
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What appealed to you about bringing back two characters from previous novels:
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It's always great fun to bring a character back, because you get to catch up on his/her life; and you don't have to reinvent the wheel -- you already know how he speaks, acts, thinks.
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Two other facts that surprised me: for many of these shooters, there is the thinnest line between suicide and homicide. They go to the school planning to kill themselves and decide at the last minute to shoot others, too. And that, psychologically, a single act of childhood bullying is as scarring emotionally as a single act of sexual abuse.
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You once remarked about your previous novel, My Sister's Keeper, that "there are so many shades of gray in real life." How might this statement also apply to Nineteen Minutes?
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And like the moral and ethical complications of MSK, you have a kid in Nineteen Minutes who does something that, on the surface, is absolutely devastating and destructive and will end the lives of others. But -- given what these characters have endured -- can you blame them? Do I condone school shootings? Absolutely not. But I can understand why a child who's been victimized might feel like he's justified in fighting back.
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I also think it's fascinating to look at how two good parents might find themselves with a child they do not recognize -- a child who does something they can't swallow. Do you stop loving your son just because he's done something horrible? And if you don't, do you start hating yourself?