Rating:  Summary: The Last Reader, Maybe Review: Grisham, you've gotta be kidding. I beg my fiancee to let me buy this book -- as we are on a shoestring budget-- and she relents and this is what I get? I love Grisham. I hated this book. I read it and realized it was good for something -- to cure me of my insomnia. This is why I'm writing in my spare time. I'm tired of picking up a book in hopes of it being decent and finding out it's a waste of time. I mean, it wasn't even fun to read. That's all I ask for, something halfway entertaining. And the sad thing is, the next Grisham book that comes out will be purchased by me again.
Rating:  Summary: Disappointment Review: Grisham disappoints the reader in this drab novel. Too many inconsequential characters, which makes the book choppy to read. Granted, a surprize ending, but not enough to propel the novel into a mediocre book.
Rating:  Summary: Nothing New Here Review: Grisham has experimented with so many styles lately that he doesn't know who he is. I tried but I coundn't find anything new here. This book stinks!
Rating:  Summary: Another Disappointment Review: Grisham is off on another political tirade. He starts off developing a decent plot and then abandons it. He gets off on an anti-Vietnam crusade extolling the virtues of running off to Canada. He focuses on his relationship with a matriarch which, again, diverts from the story line. He treats the solving of final crimes as an afterthought. Grisham has clearly lost it. Where he once wove a tale that meshed from beginning to end, he now appears on an ego trip to stuff his political predjuces down the readers throat at the expense of whatever plot he initiated. I was also disappointed with The King Of Torts for many of the same reasons. This was the last book by him that I shall read.
Rating:  Summary: Great work Review: I believ the negative comments are from those who like CNN and USA Today - they like their stories in sound bites. This is a rich, warmly told tale that is a story, not a mystery, but a story. And a fine one at that.
Rating:  Summary: Grisham's Done it Again Review: I just finished reading The Last Juror and all I can say is it is probably one of the best books I've read this year. The story is simple yet complex, and the characters are beautifully drawn out. If only I could write like Grisham, I too would be a bestselling author (although I'm told THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY is going to be one). If I could write like JOhn Grisham, I'd be reading all the time instead of writing.
Rating:  Summary: Wasn't expecting much Review: I wasn't expecting much based on some of the negative reviews about this book, and perhaps that was why I enjoyed it so much. True, it's not at all like Grisham's thriller genre, but it does have the courtroom element and this, coupled with his styles in "A Painted House" and other great reads of his, makes it enjoyable and fun. The story itself is not that unusual but the masterful telling of it reminds me of "King of Torts. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. Would also recommend "In This Mountain" and a great new book I just discovered: "The Bark of the Dogwood" by Jackson McCrae.
Rating:  Summary: Yawn Review: I am so glad I am done with this book. I have never not finished something I've started, but was darn close with this. Boring. If I wanted to read about segregation in the south I would have chosen a non-fiction book.I was excpecting an exciting, fast paced, "whodunnit" thriller. Boring. The charachters are absolutely forgetfull. I really enjoy reading and developing a "relationship" with well drawn charachters. None hear. So much more could have been done with the offing of the jurors. Just bang,bang their dead? How bout some detail!? Boring. This was the first Grisham novel I have read, and frankly, I was extremely dissapointed.
Rating:  Summary: By far the best in awhile Review: This is so much better than the last few of John Grisham's books. I loved all the characters, especially Miss Callie. This is a must read for Grisham fans and those who aren't yet. Very, very good.
Rating:  Summary: favorite Grisham novel Review: This is not your typical Grisham novel. No powerful villains stalk these pages, and no tangled legal conspiracy reveals itself at the end. Instead unfolds a chronicle of life in a small Mississippi town as seen from the perspective of a once aimless twenty three year named Will Traynor. In the first pages, young Will borrows a little money from his Memphis aunt so he can buy and become the editor of a dying weekly paper, The Ford County Times. His new job leads him into a long and wondeful friendship with the book's title character. She's Calia Ruffin, an insightful, religious black matron who's raised a very unusual crop of kids. For Will it's the beginning of his long overdue "coming of age". This tale is filled with quirky characters and colorful anecdotes that felt authentic. I kept wanting to tell myself that this kind of material couldn't be made up. No, this novel does not meander. Yes, there is a murder trial and a secret. Would it be a Grisham novel without both? But here, the answers lie not in some insidious plot but instead in characters and flaws of ordinary people. Grisham applies his usual narrative skill but adds the self-deprecating humor I witnessed a one of his lunch speaches. I strongly recomend this novel.
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