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Summary: Grisham is back!
Review: A great read. John Grisham is back to his best form. Couldn't put it down - especially at the end.
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Summary: This may be the best of Grisham's recent novels
Review: Each February, a Grisham novel hits the stores and immediately scores a place at the top of the bestseller list. What ensures this success? Some of it has to do with predictability; some with unpredictability. Cracking the spine of a Grisham thriller, readers know they find themselves submerged in a legal battle. The characters that will be encountered and the social issues that might be addressed are unpredictable. This combined with the effects of law and the legal system on everyman --- and just plain good storytelling --- makes Grisham's books intriguing adventures. THE LAST JUROR does not disappoint at any of these levels.Many readers think Grisham's first book was THE FIRM, but that book was not Grisham's first publication. A TIME TO KILL was his first shot at courtroom fiction. Fifteen years ago, with a press run of 5,000, a small Southern publisher published A TIME TO KILL in Grisham's home state. The book received little notoriety until the popularity of THE FIRM and Grisham's second blockbuster, THE PELICAN BRIEF. After its re-release, A TIME TO KILL reached not only the bestseller list but was also a popular movie THE LAST JUROR is set in the fictitious town of Clanton, Mississippi, in Ford County, which readers may recall was the setting for A TIME TO KILL, Grisham's first book. The events that are the narrative of THE LAST JUROR are recounted through the eyes of Willie Traynor, a Memphis-born and eastern-educated journalist. He comes to Clanton because one of his fellow journalism students advised him that a small local newspaper was in fact a gold mine; in addition to printing newspapers, his presses would make him fast money. After a short-term internship for the Ford County Times, the paper is forced into bankruptcy. Fortunately, Willie has what every young entrepreneur needs to start a business: a wealthy relative. With $50,000 borrowed from his grandmother, Willie rescues the paper from bankruptcy and begins his career as editor, publisher and reporter for the Ford County Times. Potential readers need not fear that Grisham has written a tale of journalists and the woes of publishing a weekly tabloid. Be assured that the Grisham formula of crime, courtrooms and attorneys is still a cornerstone of this novel. In fact, savvy Grisham readers will note that several of the attorneys who they previously met in A TIME TO KILL also are characters in this novel. The crime that forms the foundation of THE LAST JUROR is a brutal rape and murder committed by Danny Padgitt, scion of a powerful outlaw Ford County family. Residents fear Padgitt will use his power and influence to escape punishment for his crime. The trial occupies a substantial portion of the book and reaches an ugly climax when the defendant, upon completing his testimony and leaving the witness stand, turns to the jury and announces, "You convict me and I'll get every damned one of you." One of the jurors threatened is Miss Callie Ruffin. Willie meets Miss Callie as he is writing a local interest article about her unique family. All of Callie's children, save one, have overcome the segregated life of Mississippi in the 1960s to become college professors. Like many blacks in that era, they left the South to accomplish their goals. Traynor goes to Miss Callie's house in order to write about this remarkable woman and the rest, as they say, is fate. Miss Callie is selected to be the first African American to serve on a jury in Ford County. She is the last juror selected in the trial of Danny Padgitt. There is something loving and stirring when John Grisham writes about his native Mississippi. His affection for his home state shows, as he describes not only the people of the South but the lifestyle they have cultivated. As Grisham describes the region during the tumultuous time frame of the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War, he is honest enough to acknowledge both the good and bad of the region. Reading Grisham, the reader is struck by the fact that the South is not as evil as most Northerners often portray, but also not as noble as most Southerners would like to believe. In addition to the historical ruminations about his beloved South, Grisham delivers the twisting and turning conclusion that his readers have grown to expect. THE LAST JUROR may be the best of his recent novels. Just like Miss Callie's comforting home cooking, it is pleasant to have another John Grisham novel on the reading table --- and it's as satisfying to complete this as it is to finish a fine meal of Southern cuisine. --- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
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Summary: This book not the thriller the book description promises
Review: I have been increasingly disappointed in John Grisham's work over the last several years, and this book was no exception. After reading the book description, I thoroughly expected a murder/mystery/thriller story line. Though Grisham's story begins with a bang, the book loses heart in the middle and drags the reader down with a "historical biography" feel. For those expecting to read about Danny Padgitt and his vow of retribution, Grisham focuses more on the life of Willy Traynor and the Clanton community in the South during the 1970s. Of course, since Grisham is a master of legal proceedings, the trial of Danny Padgitt consumes Part I of the book, and he is finally sentenced to prison on Page 168. Danny Padgitt is not paroled and released until Page 291 and the book ends on Page 355! Just as Grisham begins to hit his stride and captivate the reader, the book comes to a startling end. If you are looking for a murder/mystery/thriller book, please try Patricia Cornwell.
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Summary: The dialectic paradigm of narrative and realism
Review: The main theme of Grisham model of the dialectic paradigm of narrative is not theory, but subtheory. However, the stasis, and hence the collapse, of postcapitalist narrative which is a central theme of The Pelican Brief emerges again in The Last Juror, although in a more self-sufficient sense.
The characteristic theme of the works of Grisham is not discourse, as Derrida would have it, but postdiscourse. If the dialectic paradigm of narrative holds, we have to choose between neodialectic rationalism and deconstructivist capitalism. Therefore, the dialectic paradigm of narrative holds that consciousness serves to marginalize the underprivileged.
Marx promotes the use of neodialectic rationalism to modify sexuality. However, the primary theme of Long's analysis of the dialectic paradigm of narrative is not desituationism, but predesituationism. The premise of neodialectic rationalism holds that the State is part of the fatal flaw of consciousness, given that art is interchangeable with consciousness. But any number of narratives concerning realism exist. "Art is intrinsically impossible," says Derrida. The destruction/creation distinction prevalent in Joyce's Finnegan's Wake is also evident in The Last Juror. In a sense, Baudrillard's model of the textual paradigm of reality suggests that reality is part of the defining characteristic of narrativity.
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Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I had really been looking forward to this book, expecting (and hoping for) a return to the great legal thrillers that made me a John Grisham fan. Unfortunately, this book wasn't what I expected at all. The book centers around a young newspaper editor in Clanton, Mississippi during the 1970's. Rather than a murder mystery or a legal suspense book, it is a story about a small southern town dealing with the issues of the day, including Vietnam and desegregation. The murder and trial are only a very small part of the actual plot. They help to explain the town and the people living there and it provides some action to keep the plot moving, but don't expect to be surpised at the ending. All in all, it wasn't a bad book if you're looking for a story about a small southern town, but if you're looking for a good legal thriller, this isn't it.
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Summary: Life and death in a small town.
Review: John Grisham's new novel, "The Last Juror," is set in Clanton, Mississippi in the 1970's. Joyner William Traynor is a twenty-three-year-old college dropout with a background in journalism. His wealthy grandmother lends Traynor the money to buy "The Ford County Times," a bankrupt weekly newspaper. The young man, dubbed "Willie" by the folks in Clanton, is determined to turn the newspaper into a profitable enterprise. When a young widow named Rhoda Kassellaw is raped and murdered in Clanton, Willie reports the crime and the subsequent trial in lurid detail. "The Ford County Times" gains a host of new readers and Willie becomes a fixture in Clanton. He also makes himself the target of some dangerous people. Danny Padgitt is accused of the Kassellaw murder, and his family is well known for bribing public officials and killing people who cross them. The Padgitts are not at all happy with Willie Traynor's coverage of the Kassellaw murder. Danny even has the temerity to tell the jurors that if they convict him, he will get them sooner or later. With "The Last Juror," Grisham is in top form. He beautifully depicts the assorted characters in Clanton, including the corrupt politicians, the drunken reporters, the gun-toting citizenry, and the good Christians who have a personal relationship with the Lord. One of most memorable characters is Miss Callie Ruffin, a black woman who has raised eight children, seven of whom went on to earn PhD's. Willie writes a lengthy and complimentary feature in his newspaper on Miss Callie and her family. He also becomes Callie's dear friend and a frequent guest at her bountiful table. Miss Callie is the first black woman voter as well as the first black juror in Clanton, having been picked to serve on the Padgitt jury. "The Last Juror" has suspense, excitement, warmth, and gentle humor. Without preaching, Grisham perfectly captures the racial tension and the social upheaval of rural Mississippi in the seventies. He tells his story through Willie Traynor with effortless simplicity and with great affection. "The Last Juror" is a pleasure to read, and it is one of Grisham's finest novels.
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Summary: Typical Grisham Story
Review: All of the stereotypes are here in this well-written and entertaining novel.
Jack Bryan
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Summary: MORE THAN A THRILLER...
Review: It's a relief to see Grisham going back to legal nailbiters instead of mundane novellas like Bleachers. Yet, his latest (somewhat annoyingly only available in hardcover!) is more than a thriller. It has a good dose of humor and some pithy social commentary on racism and its aftermath in 1970s Mississippi -- the town of Clayton where the novel is set clearly has larger woes to worry about that the rape + murder of our young protagonist. Yet, for this precise reason, The Last Juror is not a very tight novel. I could weed out page after page of racially inclined banter that lends very little to the overall plot. In fact the title "The Last Juror" -- which refers to the first black juror in the Ford County -- is a little misleading as she remains relatively cursory to the plot. You'll recall from an earlier Grisham called "The Juror" that the title referred to the juror in question, who was the lynchpin of the plot. Here though, I found myself skimming pages, skipping entire chapters etc and comfortably finishing the novel anyway without missing out on any pivotal fact. I wonder if this filler text was Grisham's way of pandering to the town that launched his career (he began as a Mississippi lawyer) or to make up for the very little space this novel would have otherwise occupied... All in all, it's a worthy read, and the writing is fluent and enjoyable as usual, but you've seen more gripping fiction from the ilk of Grisham.
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Summary: best grisham book in sometime
Review: this book reminds me of Pat Conroys "The Prince of Tides". which I consider Conroy's best. Grisham's humor and wit are delightful. I may be a little prejudiced (born and reared in the south). I have known people like the characters in "The Last Juror",especially Miss Callie. Some white people were like that too. One being my mother, who is no longer with us. I have no doubt where she is, if there is truly a hereafter. One never went to my mothers house and left hungry. Also, I and my brothers and sisters were never allowed to go to the "show" or play cards on Sunday. I found it amusing that Miss Callie might administer the death penalty for adultry as easily as she might for murder. My dating days with warnings about how my mother felt about premartial sex would be a good analogy for me.
Our lives have changed so much since her death but I fondly recall her love for us and her many friends. This book awakened many wonderful feelings.
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Summary: Fans will likely love this book despite its weaknesses
Review: Fans of Grisham will no doubt find a lot to like in The Last Juror, especially those well conditioned to the sparse, even lax, writing style that he and others have made very popular. The novel draws us into the adventures of a young man who goes to work, at age 23, for a small town newspaper and winds up owning it in short order. The heart of the story, however, revolves around the rape and murder of a woman living in the small town, the trial and sentencing of the accused. Fast forward nine years, with a few intervening details thrown into the mix, and the accused is out of jail and threatening the town by just being back in the area, even though no one knows what he's up to. The characters in this novel, including the narrator, are not sharply drawn and, indeed, are almost forgetable from one chapter to the next. It is written in a style close to a memoir, forcing the narrator to tell what happened rather than letting it unveil itself in the manner of a good yarn. The "looking back" aspect detracts from the internal drama of the story. In other words, and doesn't call on the writer to expand the drama of scenes, since he, the narrator, already knows the outcome. I was left with the impression of a lot a events passing before me, without much chance to experience them or have the insight that must have come to the narrator living through them. Grisham throws in a thinly disguised version of Wal Mart to give details of what happens to a small town when the big discounter hits the area. This is a worthy effort because he shows how, in fairly short order, local businesses are driven under by the mega competition. Too many people, perhaps, have not considered the impact of their bargain hunting buying habits. Part of the inspiration for the concluding section of the novel clearly came from the Washington, DC, area sniper events of a year and a half ago. Grisham doesn't over play this aspect, however, which is good, for to do so would have overcome the story with artificiality. I had the impression from the closing third of the novel that Grisham was starting to hit his stride. Enriching elements that could have enlivened the earlier part of the book were rushed into the closing section. There was at least one glaring error of internal consistency. It happened in regard to explaining what the character Sam Ruffins had done while on the run from a jealous husband with murderous intent. There might have been other errors of this type that a more careful reader could find. Even though the error I discovered was rather small, it is not something one expects to find in a book by an experienced, best selling writer. This book was not boring and it covers a sweep of southern life late in the 20th century that many will find interesting. The importance of religion in small town life, the easy corruption of small time politics, the lasting impact of racism and segregation are all worthy topics given a breath of life in the novel. Grisham brings out a portrait of a vivid African American woman who overcame racism, something other author's have neglected, or been unable, to do. Her role in the storyline, however, is secondary, except for the friendship between her and the narrator. Still, all in all, for me, this was not a deeply memorable read. Enjoyable at times, yes. I am left with a question: how can something be interesting without being revealing, dramatic without being memorable?
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