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Bill's Reviews > Nineteen Minutes
Nineteen Minutes
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The only other Picoult book I read was My Sister's Keeper, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nineteen Minutes is a favorite among most people, so I had this one slated to read whenever I wanted a quick summer read.
For the last 100 or so pages, I could hardly put it down. Her formula for keeping the reader engaged works very well.
But I had some issues with this book that annoyed the hell out of me. Firstly, I have never come across so many stupid and needless analogies. Or are they similes? Whatever...
Here are a few:
This is from a funeral scene:
Loud, noisy sobs - the kind that splattered against the walls of the church like paint.
I wonder how long it took her to think that one up.
Or this one:
If you were uncertain in the decisions you made as a father, could you patch over your insecurities with the confidence you had as a professional? Or would the fix always be flimsy, a paper wall that couldn't bear weight?
Or this Picasso:
Bruises bloomed on her skin where he held her fast, as if she were a canvas and he was determined to leave his mark.
How about this gem?
and the way the stars were pricking at her skin, like inoculations for a terminal disease
I could go on and on, but I'll stop with one more:
In the upper right-hand corner were the lunch ladies, slopping food onto plastic trays as students came through the line one by one, like drops through an intravenous tube.
Yes! Exactly like that!
Ugh. You know, for the most part, this was a pretty solid read, formula-wise. But every time I came upon one of these ridiculous analogies, it took me out of the story and I'd think, why the hell was that needed??
Okay, Let's do one more for the description of Alex's eyes:
Hers were the pale gray that made you think of nightfall and silver bullets and the edge of winter.
O-Kaay.
This is a writer that is trying way too hard.
Furthermore:
(view spoiler)
Alright, so that's it for Jodi Picoult. See ya...
For the last 100 or so pages, I could hardly put it down. Her formula for keeping the reader engaged works very well.
But I had some issues with this book that annoyed the hell out of me. Firstly, I have never come across so many stupid and needless analogies. Or are they similes? Whatever...
Here are a few:
This is from a funeral scene:
Loud, noisy sobs - the kind that splattered against the walls of the church like paint.
I wonder how long it took her to think that one up.
Or this one:
If you were uncertain in the decisions you made as a father, could you patch over your insecurities with the confidence you had as a professional? Or would the fix always be flimsy, a paper wall that couldn't bear weight?
Or this Picasso:
Bruises bloomed on her skin where he held her fast, as if she were a canvas and he was determined to leave his mark.
How about this gem?
and the way the stars were pricking at her skin, like inoculations for a terminal disease
I could go on and on, but I'll stop with one more:
In the upper right-hand corner were the lunch ladies, slopping food onto plastic trays as students came through the line one by one, like drops through an intravenous tube.
Yes! Exactly like that!
Ugh. You know, for the most part, this was a pretty solid read, formula-wise. But every time I came upon one of these ridiculous analogies, it took me out of the story and I'd think, why the hell was that needed??
Okay, Let's do one more for the description of Alex's eyes:
Hers were the pale gray that made you think of nightfall and silver bullets and the edge of winter.
O-Kaay.
This is a writer that is trying way too hard.
Furthermore:
(view spoiler)
Alright, so that's it for Jodi Picoult. See ya...
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Reading Progress
August 11, 2013
–
Started Reading
August 11, 2013
– Shelved
August 14, 2013
–
29.55%
"This story would be a lot better if she would let up on the weak pop psychology and stupid analogies."
page
130
August 17, 2013
–
68.18%
"Sometimes I'll add notes on my Kindle so I'll remember things to mention in my review. Usually, as is the case here, it's things that really annoyed me. So far I'm up to 15 notes. And yet, I can't put it down..."
page
300
August 21, 2013
– Shelved as:
fiction
August 21, 2013
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
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message 1:
by
Beth S.
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rated it 2 stars
Oct 06, 2014 06:51AM
Agreed....weird.
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Those are similes andmetaphors (similes use words such as "like" or "as" in them). I do think authors have to tread a fine line between just the right amount and having too much of that in their prose. These days, you never know if it is the author or the editor who puts that in.
Quite. This is where I thought PLEASE stop now:"He slipped out of the jail through a rear door and walked past three media vans with satellite dishes perched on the top like enormous white birds."
I was very annoyed too. The similes/metaphors were so common and terrible it was suffocating.
I'm with you 100%. Thanks for putting the effort into giving all those examples of unnecessary and inappropriate figurative comparisons.
