事发的19分钟 (2007)

事发的19分钟（英语：Nineteen Minutes）是一本描述美国青少年世界中的集体欺凌及探讨家庭疏远冷漠的小说，作者为茱迪·皮考特（Jodi Picoult）。

内容简介

斯特灵镇位于美国的新罕布夏州，日子平静安详，但是有一天，一项惊人的暴力行为打破了小镇的平静自满：长期在校饱受欺凌的高中生彼得.霍顿，选择在2007年3月6日这一天，拿着炸弹与枪支进入校园，花十九分钟的时间射杀他看到的每一个老师跟同学，把多年来对世界的愤慨与不满一次解决，书中详细描写彼得的家庭与人际关系，他所受到的欺凌也是一路由小到大的，不论他如何做，始终无法逃脱这样的命运。于是他选择报复，但仍不解为何这些人、这个社会、甚至这一整个世界为何要这样对待他，文中提到:“你看大家都为他们哭泣......他们是一群王八蛋。每个人都说我毁了他们的人生，可是当我的人生被毁的时候好像没有人关心”，这句话显露出他从小到大被欺凌，有多么的痛苦，却一个人也帮不上忙，因此他对校园中理所当然的阶级制度做出了不言而喻的批判。

Nineteen Minutes (2007) is the fourteenth novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. It was Picoult's first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. This novel follows the unfolding of a school shooting, including the events leading up to the incident and the aftermath of the incident.

Plot

The story begins on March 6, 2007, in the small town of Sterling, New Hampshire, tracking the lives of a number of characters on an "ordinary day." The characters include Alex Cormier, a superior court judge; her daughter Josie, a junior in high school; Lacy, Lewis, and Peter Houghton; Detective Patrick Ducharme; and several victims-to-be.

At the local high school, Sterling High, the story follows a routine day of students in classes, at the gym, and in the cafeteria. Suddenly, a loud bang is heard from the parking lot, which turns out to be a bomb set off in Matt Royston's car. As the students are distracted by the noise, gunshots are fired. When Patrick, the only detective on the Sterling police force, arrives at Sterling High, he searches the school to seek out the gunman, who is alleged to be a student. After passing several dead and wounded victims, Patrick traps and arrests the shooter, Peter Houghton, in the locker room, where he finds two students, Josie Cormier and Matt Royston, lying on the floor surrounded in blood. While Matt is dead, having been the only victim shot twice, Josie is not seriously injured, but only shocked: she cannot remember what happened.

The shooting kills 10 people (nine students and one teacher) and wounds many other people.

Throughout the book, time flashes back and forth between events before and after the shooting. In the past, the reader learns that Peter and Josie were once close friends. Peter was frequently the target of severe bullying at school, and Josie often stuck up for him. The friends slowly drifted apart as they got older: Josie joined the popular crowd in order to protect her own interests, seeing her relationship to Peter as embarrassing. The story pictures Peter as an outcast at home as well; Peter believes his older brother Joey is favored by their parents. Joey is a popular straight-A student and athlete, but feels it necessary to ridicule Peter to protect his reputation, even fabricating a story that Peter was adopted. When Joey is killed in a car accident in 2006, Lacy and Lewis Houghton are too upset to pay attention to their remaining son, causing a bigger rift between Peter and his parents.

In their sophomore year, Josie begins dating Matt, a popular jock who leads his friends Drew Girard and John Eberhard in bullying Peter. Matt often calls Peter "homo" and "fag," leading Peter to question his sexual orientation. The bullying intensifies once Matt begins dating Josie, in his possessive efforts to keep her away from other boys. On one occasion, Peter approaches Josie after school to try talking to her. Matt beats him up, leaving Peter humiliated in front of the school.

The flashbacks also reveal several subplots: the difficult relationship between Josie and her single mother Alex, Alex's dilemma of being a judge and a mother, Peter's escape from bullying into the world of video games, Josie's fear of falling out of the popular crowd and her suicide back-up plan when she does, Matt's abusive behavior toward Josie, Josie's pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, as well as Lewis Houghton's hunting lessons with his son Peter.