Art Imitates Life - Or Is It The Other Way Around?

A very much appraised novelist, Jodi Picoult specializes in carefully-woven stories where the main protagonists are oftentimes youths. "Youths" yes - as Joe Pesci would say it... A month before the sad events at Virginia Tech, a tale that she had penned -a disturbing tale revolving around a High School shooting indeed- was published in the USA. A mere few days after the V.T. tragedy, that book was published in the U.K. - which made literatis raise their eyebrows in disbelief at the bad timing displayed by the publisher...

"The school shooter is walking a very fine line between killing himself and taking other people with him."
- Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult herself could be accused of something like "prophetic bad taste mired in the poorest timing of all" - but that would be easily undone by the literary merit she has earned among the connaisseurs and critics alike.

Also, one must not champion the cause of censorship - every and any subject can and should be tackled in works of fiction, be it the written word or no matter what medium is used. A fictional account, slightly romanticized, makes the masses aware of events and causes they might have completely missed otherwise. Nonetheless, there are ways to do it - there is a time for everything and everything has its place and time (to paraphrase the Turtles' poetry) and said timing is of the essence. Also, one cannot not see that, no matter what form it takes, the shooting spree subject always leave a very bad taste no matter where it's been tackled, broached or explored:

CAMPUS SHOOTINGS IN THE ARTS
Novels include We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver)
Songs include Rival (Pearl Jam), The Good Die Young (Tupac Shakur) and I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats)
Films include Elephant and Heart of America
And Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine documentary

Ultimately, only a news-reporting approach is truly acceptable; and that is why Michael Moore's documentary was so well-received and Jodi Picoult's book, especially on its date of release, can only raise eyebrows...