The Storm After by Gina Hooten Popp

The Storm After by Gina Hooten Popp.  In the dark of the night, September 8, 1900, a terrible hurricane hit Galveston, TX, wiping out nearly all buildings and most of the people.  As the sky lightened, survivors stumbled through debris and bodies, disoriented a few feet from their former homes because everything is wiped away.  Although the stories about each individual survivor are fiction, it is based on facts of the time.  The lives of the characters are woven beautifully around the agonies they must go through to carry on. This was a 10 out of 10 until the ending when it just quit. No real solutions or solid directions for the character.  One gets the feeling they will flit from one thing to another.  There are just implications of what might happen..or not.  Temporary situations may have been better, but what about the next few weeks?  It was like the first book of a trilogy; a tease to tune in next week, to be continued.  8 out of 10.

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.  This timely novel starts with a high school shooting.  But that is not the start of the problem.  As the author puts piece by piece together about the involved characters, causes, and complications, one realizes the shooter, Peter, was headed this direction for a long time.  But nobody put the pieces together to stop it.  I’m sure there are thousands of young people who have been teased, ignored, shoved around and tormented at school and at every group in which they have participated.  For Peter it started in pre-school.  It is pointed out over and over that if the bullied kids “tattle” the taunting is worse when no adults catch them at it.  Peter had had one friend, but in her determination to be one of the “in” kids, he lost her, too. The ending for her will surprise you.  The ending for Peter never seems very promising, as has been the case for all of his life. The anguish of the families is a main stay of the plot, too. No matter where your children are in the social pecking order, every parent should read this.  So should teachers, administrators, church adults, neighbors, grandparents,  coaches...everyone.  We need to come to a better understanding of what goes on and why some people are turning to violence to stop the violence against themselves.  Rates a 10 out of 10.  For more book reviews: http://queenbeewritings.blogspot.com/2013/07/one-second-after-by-william-r-forstchen.html