John Grisham

[Tawren 0]

Last September I went and saw Runaway Jury, great movie so I went and read the book by John Grisham and really loved it. I didn't have any other Grisham books in my house (or so I thought) so I didn't read any of his other stuff until last week when I bought 4 of his books for $8 at a used book store. They were:

 

The Chamber: awesome book, my favorite of the Grisham novels I have read

 

The Summons: strong stuff, not on the level of The Chamber or Runaway Jury, but a nice twist ending

 

King of Torts: halfway through, really good so far

 

The Street Lawyer: haven't read yet

 

 

Thoughts on Grisham and his books?

[Guest frowned]

I've read two Grisham novels (King of Torts and The Rainmaker) and all-in-all I wasn't impressed. I mean - his writing style is nice, clear and easy to read, but the plots just struck me as something ripped from a Made For TV movie... I'll prolly be willing to give one more book a chance, but thus far it's all very unoriginal and lowest-common-denominator, he's gonna have to pull out something unbelievably good to make me change my view point.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I really hate John Grisham. I've never been able to get through a book of his (boring prose! I'm a lawyer! Wheee!) and have no intent at ever trying again.

[Tawren 0]

I really hate John Grisham. I've never been able to get through a book of his (boring prose! I'm a lawyer! Wheee!) and have no intent at ever trying again.

What books have you tried?

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The Rainmaker and The Firm. Got one out of the library when I was 14 or so, picked up the other from my mom's collection during a slow summer. Just couldn't get into them.

 

But, also: I'm a nerdy-ass English major who's revelling in James Joyce and the expatriates in Paris right now, so my opinions of more popular literature are probably unfairly skewed.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The Rainmaker and The Firm. Got one out of the library when I was 14 or so, picked up the other from my mom's collection during a slow summer. Just couldn't get into them.

 

But, also: I'm a nerdy-ass English major who's revelling in James Joyce and the expatriates in Paris right now, so my opinions of more popular literature are probably unfairly skewed.

I'm in the same boat. I once tried my hand at A Time to Kill, and I promptly broke up with the girlfriend who reccomended it to me.

[The Kid 0]

You're kidding me...I haven't found one person until now that doesn't like Grisham. Maybe you should read more than the first 2 chapters because granted, they are boring. I love his books and get really into them. I recomend that you try The Brethren and The Partner, they are both great reads.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

You're kidding me...I haven't found one person until now that doesn't like Grisham. Maybe you should read more than the first 2 chapters because granted, they are boring. I love his books and get really into them. I recomend that you try The Brethren and The Partner, they are both great reads.

Nah. Like I said, I'm probably too critical of popular fiction, especially now. More conventional "here is a suspenseful story with twists!" stuff hasn't really been up my alley for quite some time. In the past three months I've read lots of Joyce, Hemingway, and Nabokov, and gotten probably more ensconced in lit appreciation and analysis of craft than ever before. For all the fun stories he can tell, Grisham's prose is pretty flat by comparison. It's regrettably pretentious, but I can't tolerate most New York Times Bestseller list type stuff anymore. Someone get me a long cigarette and a beret.

 

If I could be reading The Partner or, say, The Sun Also Rises, I'm not going to need much time to make my choice.

 

Related to this, I recommend either The Sun Also Rises or A Moveable Feast as perfect choices for anyone looking to get into Hemingway. Which, really, should be everyone.

Edited February 19, 2004 by Edwin MacPhisto

[Guest thebigjig]

I loved a time to kill... although last time I read it was in 8th grade, so perhaps if I tried it again I wouldnt, but the Chamber still remains one of my favorite books.

 

Grisham annoys me at times though because sometimes it seems like he's a broken record... same styles, same essential characters... all of his heroes are generally liberal alcoholics, etc

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

I had to read "The Partner" for a class once, thought that one was pretty good, but from what I hear, nothing else of Grisham's comes close to "The Chamber".

[Guest bort]

I read his book the painted house and found it to be very good, havent really been able to get into anything else

[Guest frowned]

So I read my third Grisham book, The Brethren and he did somewhat redeem himself - the characters and plot were more original and I generally enjoyed reading it. I get the feeling that I'll prolly invest more time in the guy eventually, but it might be a while yet cos there's a lot of different stuff with a higher priority to be read yet (I wanna read more Dickens and Dumas... they frigging rock).

[Guest The Last Free Voice]

I forced my way through half of Street Lawyer and haven't been able to pick up another of his books. Awfull stuff. I'd rather re-read American Gods or Stardust for the five hundreth time.