Quarter 2: Week 4, Post B

Dear Jodi Picoult,

Your novel continues to intrigue me as the plot deepens. You've already succeeded in shocking me with some of the crazy twists that have been revealed as Peter's case approaches and more flashbacks occur. The most recent years of Peter and Josie's relationship have been very revealing to their characters. Josie is, as I suspected, not the perfect it-girl she was made out to be. In fact, in some cases she was just as hurtful and rude to Peter as her other bullying cronies. Peter, on the other hand, never completely lost hope for his friendship with Josie to be renewed. He just cannot accept that she would move on to become "one of them" without ever looking back.

Although I feel sorry for Peter because of the bullying he was forced to endure throughout his childhood, I do not in any way excuse his murderous rampage. He lost my sympathy when he fired the first shot. Killing another human being is never the solution, no matter how impossible the problem. Peter was treated very unfairly, this cannot be denied. However, he is not the only kid who has ever been so harshly bullied. Imagine the world if every kid who has ever been hurt by his fellow classmates chose to shoot up his school--there would not be a single school intact across the nation. Bullying is, unfortunately, a fact of life students must face in high school, and more constructive ways of dealing with it must be found. Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts on Peter's current situation.

I can' t wait to continue reading your book--I'm completely hooked!

Thanks,
A-Rod :)