Book: 19 Minutes

I am disturbed. This book bothered me, on multiple levels, which is why my clock just passed 3 a.m. and instead of sleeping like a normal person, I'm writing about it on the internet. Go figure. It's not that it gave me nightmares...yet...it just bothered me enough that I cannot go to to sleep.

When the book came out, I got an email from Borders, and the first chapter. So I read it, and it sounded like an interesting set up. (School shooting, one of the victims is a judge's daughter) Since it was at the library, I grabbed it. I do not recommend doing the same.

I'm not precisely sure what the author normally writes, but I'm going to give it a shot in the dark and guess romance. The plot inconsistencies crop up regularly, and the descriptions of the lead female's sexual encounters with her physically and emotionally abusive boyfriend litter the pages like pine needles litter our yard. And they are both juniors in high school. Her mom has a contrived romantic interest pop up about 2/3 through the book, which is hardly believable.

Also, at the end of this book, no one is happy. Not one single person in the book gets to be truly happy again. it reminds me of the 'classic' children's movie, The Pagemaster, when the book that represents horror wants to go to the fantasy section because there are happy endings. I think he said, "horror always has sad endings." I would look up what the exact quote is, but my calm has been mangled.

This got me thinking off in another direction (it takes a completely un-derailable train of thought to keep me up until three in the morning) - I have always really loved fantasy, but science fiction I can take or leave. I have read a few of Heinlein's books; but I've never actually made it through anything by Orson Scott Card, I don't like Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Star Search, and I have never watched an episode Battlestar Galactica. I've always thought that maybe sci-fi was just too weird for me, but I have recently decided that it has more to do with the characters.

I think fantasy authors might tend to like their characters more than the sci-fi authors. I really don't have a defense for that, it's just a feeling I had. It might be because when I watched Stardust, the charcters were vivid and moving; when I read it, it wasn't particularly inspiring, and I thought the ending was not particularly happy.

Anyway, I think this author hated her characters. She would write one as sympathetic for a while, then reveal something to make you lose all sympathy. She obviously wasn't well-liked in school, and this book reads like an embittered account of what she wished teenagers thought and acted like.

So, in summary, don't read it. I have just decided to begin doing a book vs. movie comparison for Stardust...the only pitfall being that I'll have to read it again.