High school massacres

Well hello and welcome to my brand new blog! I am afraid that at the moment it isn't going to be very entertaining as currently I don't have a job or lead a very exciting life.... but I am certainly hoping that one day soon I will have something more interesting to talk about.... Also I hope that you don't mind the pinkness of the blog, I just couldn't resist!

So, what do I write about in my first blog entry? Seeing as it is lying next to me, I am choosing my current novel, '19 minutes' by Jodi Picoult, about a high school shooting in America. I was curious to read this book because:

1) I always love reading books by Jodi Picoult, even if they are somewhat predictable and formulaic.
2) I wanted see how this book compares to the excellent and thought-provoking 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver, a book on the same topic.
3) High school massacres are sadly far too common in America, even the other day at Northern Illinois University, five students were killed by a lone gunman.

I believe that the reasons behind these crimes need to be understood in order to prevent them. The high-school killer (Peter) is much more sympathetic in Picoult's book, and a weak character, he was bullied at school for not fitting in. On the other hand, Kevin is more of a psychopath (my take was that Kevin was inherently 'evil'; if that can ever be possible). Thankfully, I don't believe that children can be 'born evil' , as there is not much that we can do about nature. However, we can influence the way that children are nutured. I strongly believe that schools should do more to prevent bullying and focus more on the outsiders who don't fit in, as this book reminds me about how cruel school can be.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Nineteen Minutes