THEME

I got into a discussion with my mother about this book, and we had extremely opposing views.

She thought this was a depressing novel (i can't disagree with her there), and she thought it was morbid and weird how Josie ended up serving 5 years, Peter ended up committing suicide, and Alex had to step down.

I thought it was more of a second chance by the end of the novel, Josie's putting her life back together even though she's in prison (she's no longer being abused and has come clean about her life), Peter's finally free of torment, Alex is having a new child and while it won't replace Josie, it's a new start, and finally I felt as though when Peter's father met the bullied student named Peter, it was symbolizing a second chance. 

"If you spent you life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask…with nothing beneath it?"

"A gun was nothing, really, without a person behind it. "

But, the theme which resonates the strongest in Nineteen Minutes is that of expectations – those for ourselves as well as those entertained by parents for children and children for parents – and how those expectations shape our lives. Is it fair to judge someone? Should we expect the world to accept us as we are, and if not, is it ever okay to strike back?