The Chamber

Rating:
Summary: Oh no: Not Another
Review: And in the "Big Surprises" category, we have a Grisham book with a young lawyer who is a pastiche from "Friends" and "Captain Planet;" who embodies Grisham's own unoriginal politics; who looks suspiciously like he could be played by Brad Pitt, or even Keanou Reeves; who engages in a shallow moral milieu with benighted society without actually making a damned bit of substantial difference; who worries up banal (if not completely trivial) moral fodder; who catapults from obscurity to a Momentous Event; whose every emotional twitch is described with complete lack of authenticity; who undergoes character development so minimal that we believe he really IS a lawyer. Welcome back to the bookstand, John: you fit like an old shoe with broken laces and no sole

Rating:
Summary: Grisham delivers an imformative novel about death row.
Review: This novel was overall good. It shows how a famly has been ashamed of their grandfather`s and their great grandfather`s racist actions. Somehow Adam Hall, a member of this particular family, defends his grandfather from getting the death penalty. At the end it shows a moral lesson about racism. It does have flaws, though. One of them is it is too long and it really gets boring sometimes. A good thing about the book is the author`s style.

Rating:
Summary: A really good book with an ending that wasn't expected.
Review: It was a really good book, but I wish that Sam hadn't died at the end.That would be cool. I love the book, eventhough it isn't as suspensfully gripping as his others, it is more psychologically gripping.

Rating:
Summary: Top of the line Grisham, don't miss it, a high recommend!!.
Review: One of the best of Grisham's batch of legal bestsellers. You'll find it hard to lay down once you start and before you're done you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll surely question your own views on the death penalty. I was an avowed advocate of capitol punishment before reading this book;now I'm not so sure! It's hard to imagine caring about the fate of a confessed killer, but under Grisham's skilled pen, Sam becomes a real person and somebody you actually feel like you know.The idealistic young lawyer, Adam, who finds the grandfather he never knew and a cause he never imagined, is a hero who is both likeable and plausible.Definitely a recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, gripping reading.
Review: This story is more about the lawyer representing the death-row inmate than it is the inmate.... I didn't think it would be a good candidate for a movie, but perhaps they are about to prove me wrong (movie is forthcoming). An excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely no plot twist/boring tale
Review: I love John Grisham. I've read most of his work and most of them are excellent. The Chamber has to be his worst book. It's a nice tale about a death row inmate, along very similar lines of "Dead Man Walking" - but there is no intrigue or plot twists, or anything else that makes for a page-turning suspense novel. I kept waiting for something out of the blue to happen, and nothing did. I even had thoughts of things that might happen, trying to guess a potential plot twist, and nothing happened. You are introduced to characters who appear throughout the story, which you expect to become a huge player at the end of the story, only to find them dissapear without a trace. Grisham seems to be building another suspensful, mind blowing story and then 3/4 of the way through the book almost every sub plot disappears never to resurface. When I got to the end of the book I thought I was missing a few chapters because there seemed to be som much left unsaid. I would strongy urge you to stay away from this book - or at least if you read it, don't expect a suspense novel, just a nice description of what someone goes through when on death row.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and moving
Review: A friend of mine lent this to me saying it's the best book he's ever read. I can see why some people would think this.
After just finishing The Chamber my first thoughts are that it was compulsive read but also that the ending left me feeling a little flat. It was fast paced, and at times moving (re the lynching photo and Halls thoughts about it). You're left feeling how awful it is to spend years on death row but...the alternatives are never gone into in depth-there is only so much one can do with this I suppose, especially if the authors trying to entertain as well as enlighten. It reminded me of Dead Man Walking where it took the murderers pending death, moments away, for him to be truly repentant. Like that movie The Chamber inspires sympathy and forgiveness for the main characters and shows that people can change. I got a little disinterested in all the legal procedures and ended up trying to flip through these paragraphs to concentrate on the plot and emotion. There were some loose ends but you can't often squeeze life into a perfect little package.
I was very happy with the lack of romantic interest to slow the pace down (Grisham uses an alcoholic Aunt for this) at key moments. And happy that I didn't feel preached to by the author. Even now I'm not sure how strongly, if at all, Grisham is anti execution. He certainly didn't hold back on Cayhalls crimes.
All in all a very good book. Very different to my normal fare and one I would strongly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book on death penalty
Review: I think this book has portrayed fairly well on the position against the death penalty. It made more powerful argument than, I'd say, Life of David Gail. It has a more realistic ending as opposed to an happy ending of the most novels. The issue is between forgiveness as justice. Are we supposed to forgive even the worst of the mankind? Is death penalty justified for a cruel bloodthirst racist? The author is toward forgiveness in the novel. Anyways it was a book that makes you look at the other side of the coin if you're for the death penalty, and I strongly advise you to read it and give a second thought on death penalty if you support it. (That would probably include most of our politicians.)

Rating:
Summary: Grisham Gets Controversial in Unusually Gloomy Story
Review: "The Chamber" is probably Grishams most unusual book (maybe except for "The Rainmaker" who differs because of the light-footed humour). In this story we are forced to think long and hard about the death-penalty. And Grisham does not make it easy: An unsympathetic racist bastard of a Klansman is on deathrow for having killed two kids in a bombing many years ago intended on a Jewish lawyer who defended blacks. The choice is obvious... or what. The description of the life on death row is shocking, touching, emotional, and necessary: it forces us to ask ourselves the question: can the death penalty be justified.While our hero fights time, his client, and all odds to get his Klansman grandfather off death row, the reader has time to make up his/her mind, but it is not easy. I say: Let the man go. Read the story and see what Grisham chooses to do.If this story does not bring tears to your eyes, you have a heart of stone. It is a most human and touching book, with a dark and controversial tone, otherwise unheard of in Grisham novels. Well done Mr. G.

Rating:
Summary: Great - but unnecessarily long
Review: Quite interesting topic , that is: a grandson wants to save his grand-father from cruel and unfair execution. But it was too long. If you are on vacation and desperately need something to read, this is it, I wouldn't recommend it for readers who like suspense since they might get bored easily.