Nineteen minutes

Although her storylines are always very engaging and thought provoking, and although I think that one of Picoult's strongest talents is her use of point-of-view shifts, this book seemed like it could have been trimmed down a bit. She introduces characters and starts to flesh them out, then abandons them once they have played their (usually tiny) part in the story. I wish that some of these characters would have been translated into short observations on the part of others, and the book would not be lacking had they been left out entirely.