Reading Groups 2 & 3 Panel Presentations

Reading groups 2 and 3 presented their theses to the class on Tuesday and Thursday, researching the two books James Patterson's The Postcard Killers and Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, respectively.

Both bestsellers revolve around a major conflict of murder, which got me thinking more about what we discussed on Tuesday/Thursday: the glamourization of murderers and murdering. Although The Postcard Killers and Nineteen Minutes deal with two very different instances of death: a European couple who view their murders as art and a life-long victim of bullying driven over the edge to commit a high school shooting and sees it much like a video game, they both provide a brief glimpse into the murderer's delusional mind. Someone who commits such atrocities has to be delusional to some extent, whether they think its a video game or its art. The fact that so many authors in contemporary American literature delve into death and murder as a routine happening shows a lot about the interconnectedness of the media (shows like CSI, Dexter, etc.) and our everyday lives.

In The Postcard Killers, some theses included death as an art form, the ethics of journalism, the bestseller formula, and nationality as a cultural barrier. They all seem very original, which makes for a harder base for sources, but also provides an opportunity for original thought. One thing that I think Joanne should keep in mind with her "bestseller formula" thesis is the aforementioned ideas about how the media hypes up murdering, since it is very telling of our gore-obsessed culture.

As for Nineteen Minutes, I had no idea that that novel was based on a real-life situation in a small New Hampshire town. It really brings it home to think of such atrocities happening so close to home (too close for comfort!), even if it is an unfortunate reality of today. Some thesis ideas circulated on the panel included high school characters using "masks," how teenagers view death, and the conditions that set the stage for tragedies like in Nineteen Minutes. I think that definitely the coined "high school hierarchy" is the motivating conditional factor that causes these tragedies and should be researched.

I commend both groups for developing original, well-thought theses. Good luck!