Alex Cormier Character Analysis in Nineteen Minutes

Josie’s mother and the youngest judge in New Hampshire. On the outside she is a hard-working, formidable woman who maintains a pristine reputation and finds it easy to fit in with a vast variety of social groups. However, inside Alex is plagued by uncertainty, particularly when it comes to her competence as a mother. Alex became pregnant with Josie at the age of 24 as the result of an affair with her married law professor, Logan Rourke. On discovering that Alex is pregnant, Logan encourages her to have an abortion, but Alex ends up keeping the baby and raising her as a single parent. While Alex lacks many of the skills traditionally believed to be “maternal,” such as cooking, she is a devoted mother who would do anything to protect Josie. After the shooting, Alex initially takes on the case as a judge, despite the fact that she has such a close connection to it and thus could be accused of bias. Under pressure, she eventually decides to recuse herself. Throughout this time she develops a romance with Patrick Duharme, a police detective also working on the case. At the end of the novel, Alex is pregnant with his child.

Alex Cormier Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

The Nineteen Minutes quotes below are all either spoken by Alex Cormier or refer to Alex Cormier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

You don’t stop being a judge just because you step out of the courthouse, her mother used to say. It was why Alex Cormier never drank more than one glass of wine in public; it was why she never yelled or cried. A trial was a stupid word, considering that an attempt was never good enough: you were supposed to toe the line, period. Many of the accomplishments that Josie’s mother was most proud of—Josie’s grades, her looks, her acceptance into the “right” crowd—had not been achieved because Josie wanted them so badly herself, but mostly because she was afraid of falling short of perfect.

Related Characters: Alex Cormier (speaker), Josie Cormier

Page Number and Citation: 9

Explanation and Analysis:

Everyone broke up in laughter, as Lacy watched. Alex, she realized, could fit anywhere. Here, or with Lacy’s family at dinner, or in a courtroom, or probably at tea with the queen. She was a chameleon.

It struck Lacy that she didn’t really know what color a chameleon was before it started changing.

Related Characters: Lacy Houghton, Alex Cormier

Page Number and Citation: 37

Explanation and Analysis:

“He used to like the peanut butter on the top half of the bread and the marshmallow fluff on the bottom.” Alex smiled a little. “And he had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen on a little boy. He could find anything I’d dropped—an earring, a contact lens, a straight pin—before it got lost permanently.”

Related Characters: Alex Cormier (speaker), Peter Houghton

Page Number and Citation: 386

Explanation and Analysis:

Alex Cormier Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes

The timeline below shows where the character Alex Cormier appears in Nineteen Minutes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...(mowing the lawn, getting pizza delivered) to the sinister (exiting the world and getting revenge). Alex Cormier is running late to her job as superior court judge, a position she has... (full context)

...expectations. However, ever since Josie started high school, the “tunnel of communication” between her and Alex has closed. Concerned that Josie hasn’t eaten breakfast, Alex starts cooking some eggs and bacon,... (full context)

Josie also can’t talk to Alex, because Alex has the same problem of having to preserve a perfect public image. Just... (full context)

Alex rushes into the courthouse, past a man who shouts at her flirtatiously, and she quickly... (full context)

...of the class is required to fill out, and Lacy sees that her name is Alex Cormier. Alex, meanwhile, is currently representing a repeat offender who recently committed a brutal assault... (full context)

The next time Lacy sees Alex—who, at 24, is younger than Lacy initially assumed—Alex explains that she is a public defender.... (full context)

Alex spots Lacy at the courthouse paying a parking ticket, surprised to see her carrying a... (full context)

...message on her pager saying that one of her patients is insisting on seeing her—it’s Alex. Ordinarily, Lacy would assign someone else to see Alex, but she senses that something is... (full context)

That night, Alex burns all the assignments she ever did for Logan and vows that her baby will... (full context)

During Alex’s prenatal exam, Lacy informs her that the baby is breech. She might need a caesarean,... (full context)

During the birthing classes that Alex and Lacy attended together, Alex said that she wanted to have a natural birth. However,... (full context)

In court, Alex is listening to the bizarre story of a woman who had just purchased a tropical... (full context)

Alex goes to look at the list of wounded, which has been posted by the hockey... (full context)

At the hospital, Alex has discovered that Josie fainted during the shooting and now has a mild concussion. From... (full context)

...last name. The nurse points him to Josie’s room, and he finds her sitting with Alex, whom Patrick knows as Judge Cormier. When Patrick greets them, he tells Josie that he... (full context)

Outside in the hallway, Patrick feels overwhelmed by horror. Alex comes out and curses him for telling Josie about Matt. Gently, Patrick reminds her that... (full context)

While Josie is at her first day of kindergarten, Alex is speaking to a 19-year-old she is representing who has committed a robbery. Alex’s former... (full context)

...feel his parents’ disappointment over the fact that he is not Joey. Meanwhile, one of Alex’s former clients—a man she helped evade domestic violence charges after he got in a drunken... (full context)

Alex drives Josie home, eyeing her dirty, torn-up outfit. At home, Josie quietly explains that a... (full context)

While Alex is completing the application to become a judge, she realizes she does actually want the... (full context)

At Open School Day, Alex and Lacy sit chatting about Alex’s application to become a judge. They are both supposed... (full context)

...another time, and Peter sadly tells Josie that he can’t come over for a playdate. Alex is shortlisted for the judgeship and meets the young female governor. The two of them... (full context)

Having been successfully nominated as a judge, Alex is at the Houghtons’ house to pick Josie up from a playdate. After initially being... (full context)

Ever since the gun incident, Alex and Josie can’t stop fighting. During an argument in the grocery store, Josie screams that... (full context)

Later that morning, when Alex tries to make her own coffee, an attorney intervenes and makes it instead. Alex accidentally... (full context)

At 7 a.m., Alex enters and, with a “fake smile,” asks if Josie is ready to go. Josie feels... (full context)

Having put Josie to bed, Alex briefly watches the news coverage of Peter’s arraignment, before turning it off to preserve her... (full context)

In this moment, Alex wishes she was more like Lacy, who she feels is a gentler, more natural mother.... (full context)

...High are “all our children.” Back at home, Josie has learned that she can get Alex to leave her alone by announcing that she wants to take a nap. She lies... (full context)

...Ambien, but ends up spitting them out and flushing the rest. Hearing her daughter crying, Alex comes upstairs and rubs Josie’s back. Meanwhile, Yvette Harvey—Kaitlyn’s mother—speaks to a producer from the... (full context)

...a group of Sterling students attend wearing hockey jerseys with his number, 19. Josie and Alex sit at the back, and Josie wonders if it is possible to grieve when she... (full context)

...ok, and if she wants to say anything about Matt. Josie starts crying and apologizes. Alex immediately comes to her side, and Josie accepts the Kleenex her mother offers her. Meanwhile,... (full context)

When Patrick arrives at Alex Cormier’s door, he is surprised by how young she looks. Frostily, Alex tells him that... (full context)

In court, Alex finds herself face-to-face with a defendant barely older than Josie. The girl has been charged... (full context)

Lacy and Alex find each other outside the middle school, where they have both come to pick up... (full context)

It is Josie’s 12th birthday and, against her wishes, Alex is taking her out for dinner. Josie doesn’t want to spend the evening around people... (full context)

Josie waits until Alex is asleep, then sneaks out of bed, just like she once did to go and... (full context)

Alex’s mother died when she was five, and thus she was raised by her distant and... (full context)

Josie eventually agrees to go out somewhere with Alex, and the two of them drive to the diner. However, as soon as they get... (full context)

...into the Mount Lebanon School, a former elementary school that is no longer in use. Alex tells Josie that she doesn’t have to go back yet. Although Josie doesn’t want to... (full context)

Josie snaps at Alex and feels horrified by the two versions of herself that are simultaneously inside her: the... (full context)

At work, Alex finds herself distracted, obsessively wondering if Josie is ok. She calls an hour-long recess and... (full context)

...asks if Josie is ok, but he is evasive in answering Jordan’s questions. Jordan likes Alex, who he thinks is a “tough, but fair” judge. Tension rises between Jordan and Peter,... (full context)

...fact that he was a law professor, and that he is ten years older than Alex. In bio lab, Josie and Courtney are partners. She is supposed to be looking up... (full context)

In court, Alex is adjudicating a dispute between two neighbors who hate each other. She goes out to... (full context)

...explains it was her first kiss. Later, at home, Josie remarks on the fact that Alex is wearing mascara, which is unusual. Alex eventually admits that she’s being set up on... (full context)

Alex’s date is a Canadian banker named Joe Urquhardt. When he arrives, he makes a cringey,... (full context)

...Gates is paid. Just before Thanksgiving, there is a huge snowstorm, and school is cancelled. Alex wishes she didn’t have to go to court either, but unfortunately this isn’t the case.... (full context)

Eventually, Alex explains that Logan wouldn’t leave his wife. She then apologizes for the fact that he... (full context)

...he grew up. Diana is shocked to see that one of the injured students is Alex Cormier’s daughter, and she assumes that Alex will recuse herself, as Alex couldn’t possibly be... (full context)

Someone had put a cross there for Peter, too, but people took it down. Alex reflects on the unlikely but true fact that someone out there considers Peter to be... (full context)

Diana is shocked to learn that Alex is indeed sitting on the Houghton case, and she immediately goes to see her. Jordan... (full context)

In court, four television cameras are set up, filming Alex reading the charges against Peter. When she reads the name of one of the people... (full context)

Alex tells her secretary to clear her schedule for two hours and she drives straight to... (full context)

...people on the outside, indicating that she might want to talk to him herself. Concerned, Alex tells Josie that there are other people looking after Peter. Josie requests that they drive... (full context)

...to the police station to ask her “a few more questions.” Josie is nervous, and Alex immediately tells Patrick that Josie doesn’t remember anything. However, Patrick says he needs to talk... (full context)

When Josie emerges from her conversation with Patrick in tears, Alex feels furious. Yet when Alex tries to comfort her daughter, Josie snaps, “None of you... (full context)

...A silence settles between them. Eventually, Jordan strikes up a conversation about computer games. Meanwhile, Alex’s secretary informs her that Diana is requesting that Alex recuse herself from the case. Alex... (full context)

As Alex opens the fire door to go outside for a cigarette, it accidentally hits Patrick. She... (full context)

Alex is looking for a skirt Josie borrowed and never returned. While searching Josie’s closet, she’s... (full context)

Suddenly, an older man who has “lawyer written all over him” approaches them, greeting Alex and introducing himself to Patrick as Whit Hobart. He feels horrified that this is who... (full context)

Alex goes into court, preparing to recuse herself from the case. However, she then sees a... (full context)

Alex confesses that she sometimes struggles with the expectation that, as a judge, she should always... (full context)

...has written it in her notebook. There is a knock on Josie’s bedroom door; it’s Alex, who announces that she has recused herself from the case, then tells Josie she might... (full context)

On Saturday morning, Alex goes back to Jordan’s house, this time with Josie in tow. She suggests that Jordan... (full context)

Now that Alex is home all day, she and Josie have started cooking together. At first Josie did... (full context)

Downstairs, Alex and Patrick initially speak in a warm, flirtatious manner. However, Alex asks Patrick to describe... (full context)

Josie feigns illness so she can stay home from school. After Alex leaves for work, she Googles the word “abortifacient.” She doesn’t want to tell Alex about... (full context)

Alex and Patrick have now been dating for four months, and Alex feels as if he... (full context)

Once Alex is down in the kitchen, Josie reveals that she knows Patrick stayed over. Alex says... (full context)

...a volunteer tutor teaching math to elementary and middle school kids. Every evening she tells Alex stories about the kids she tutors, all of which are invented, because she is not... (full context)

...just about to leave the cemetery when she runs into Patrick. He points out that Alex thinks Josie is tutoring right now, but he says that he is there because he... (full context)

Alex has made “barbecued lasagna” for Josie and Patrick, who examine the meal suspiciously. Alex enthusiastically... (full context)

When Alex comes back downstairs, she tells Patrick that she’s going to attend the trial. She asks... (full context)

...Peter’s wellbeing. At the end of the first day of the trial, Lacy runs into Alex in the courthouse bathroom. Alex tells Lacy she’s sorry and shares her memories of Peter... (full context)

On the drive home, Alex mentions that in court, the email Peter sent confessing his crush to Josie was read... (full context)

...out. In order to avoid the crowd, Patrick sits down in the empty courtroom, where Alex finds him. They embrace. Jordan, meanwhile, is having a distressing day. His cross-examination of Patrick... (full context)

...comfort Lacy before she has to go back on the witness stand for the cross-examination. Alex joins them, bringing Lacy coffee. Alex tells Lacy to look at her for reassurance during... (full context)

...thing about Peter, it would be the last hope of a different outcome. Selena informs Alex that Jordan has subpoenaed Josie to testify. Josie immediately panics, but Selena gently says she... (full context)

When Josie and Alex go to see Jordan, he apologizes for what he’s doing. At this moment Sam’s diaper... (full context)

That night after Josie falls asleep, Patrick comes over and Alex explains that Josie revealed that Matt shot at Peter first in the locker room. Patrick... (full context)

...up. Jordan insists on pressing ahead, surprising Diana by calling Josie to the witness stand. Alex squeezes Josie’s hand, telling her everything will be alright as long as she tells the... (full context)

...has struck the courtroom following Josie’s shock confession. Judge Wagner calls a fifteen minute recess. Alex’s secretary grabs her, telling her she’s “not safe here right now.” In this moment Patrick... (full context)

...differently. Yet Peter replies, smiling, “You don’t break a promise to a friend.” Meanwhile, when Alex finally gets to talk to Josie, Josie explains, “I loved Matt. And I hated him.... (full context)

...five years. Now that she goes to visit a daughter of her own in prison, Alex decides to become a public defender again, feeling a sense of kinship with her clients. (full context)

...there are ten chairs bolted to the floor as a memorial to Peter’s ten victims. Alex is pregnant; she and Patrick are at the school for the ceremony. She observes how... (full context)

Nineteen Minutes

Alex Cormier Character Analysis

Alex Cormier Quotes in Nineteen Minutes

Part 1, Chapter 1: March 6, 2007 Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 2: Seventeen Years Before Quotes

Part 2, Chapter 1: Five Months After Quotes

Alex Cormier Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes