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The Last Juror

The Last Juror

List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $32.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not one of his best........boring
Review: I am a big John Grisham fan and have read all his books. I think I only read them out of habit now because I have not enjoyed the last few. This was one of the most boring books I have read in a long time. I think John Grisham should take a few years off and then maybe he would be able to write like he did 10 years ago. I plodded through this book hoping it would get better, not really caring about the characters and finding it very predictable. It never did get better but it did end!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Different can be better
Review: It is true, The Last Juror is a different style than other Grisham novels. But this is not entirely a bad thing. While his early work had fast-moving stories that kept you reading, the dialogue was often stilted, the characters poorly drawn, and the descriptions hackneyed. That said, they were darn good reads.

The Last Juror is a good read too, but if you pick it up expecting him to rehash The Firm, you'll be disappointed, as witnessed by the number of negative reviews. Personally, I was pleased by the developments in his style. I spent Part 1 being sure I had read this book before. And I had; it bears great resemblance to his earlier work. Part 2 is where it becomes poetic, an homage to slow, small-town Southern life, and the improvements in Grisham's actual wordsmithing become evident.

Part 3 is the weakest - it feels rushed to wrap things up, and the ending was fairly dull. But I was entranced by his descriptions and pleased by how rich and clear Clanton became.

Look, if you want to read The Firm, or A Time to Kill, read them. No one will think less of you. But if you want to chart this author's progress, this book is an excellent example.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not up to Par
Review: I consider myself a huge Grisham fan. I thoroughly enjoy his writing but I also notice the decline in substance of his material. Lack of new material? Boredom? The Last Juror is not up to par with his first few published books, notably, A Time to Kill and The Firm, books I enjoyed immensely and couldn't put down. This book I was able to walk away from for days without missing it. It was disappointingly predictable and at times, annoying. I was extremely annoyed by the ease of the main character, Willie's life even though he tried to make us think it was so difficult and painstaking at times. Things just seemed to fall into his lap without much effort. Poor Kid <insert sarcasm>. Willie's relationship with Miss Callie although I applaud Mr. Grisham's attempt to prove racial tolerance and acceptance by his main character, I was annoyed by the blatant stereotypes in which he wrote his black characters. Even though he had all of the Ruffin children earning doctorate degrees, you never saw any of them actually working, especially the women. They were always in the kitchen cooking and their husbands were almost obedient little children. The women always rushed to the kitchen to cook or get food and this is one of the typical Aunt Jemima stereotypes of black women (including being extremely over weight). It was not believable to me that Willie would have been as accepted to the Ruffin family as he was in the book, or that he would have taken the time to be a family chauffer or mediator. Willie laud and loathed Clanton in the same chapter and by the end of the book we really wasn't sure how he felt about living there. Not Grisham's best and it seemed he was reaching for a story here. I think its time for me to retire him.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not My Cup of Tea
Review: For a John Grisham book, I was a bit disappointed with the writing style. It took me at least 100 pages to become remotely interested and even then I still wanted to put it down. The storyline seemed interesting enough: In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. After being sentenced to "life" in prison, "life" in Mississippi doesn't really mean "life in prison". It seemed like it would be an amazing thriller but quite honestly it was a slow and boring read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: they should make it into a movie
Review: the unique thing about this book is that it relies on the operation of the newspaper to make the plot compelling and not so much the murder. A murder in a small town is something that has been done numerous times in other books and movies, so Grisham takes it from the perspective of a 23 year old kid who just started his own newspaper in Tennessee that is responsible for reporting it. The kid went to college for five years and still didn't graduate, and he did an internship after four years at Syracuse. Grisham said that his grades were on a steady decline as he progressed through college. So, for me, this was like reading the story of my life. I've been going to college for journalism for over three years and my grades have been on a steady decline. A lot of John Grisham's books have been made into movies (The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Pelican Brief). I'd like to see this get adapted into a movie. I've only read 50 pages of it so far, but it's pretty solid.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: bad
Review: I enjoy Grisham. The man can tell a story! But this time, it was a slow, boring story. This is even worse than Bleachers. It's predictable, it's uneventful,.....
Very disappointing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Why all the fuss?
Review: Frankly, the dust doesn't seem to be settling over this latest Grisham novel. Has any author, anywhere, anytime, ever created such furor when he changed styles? Surely this is an indication of his talent and popularity. But even so, you'd think that with that many fans, more of them would cut him some slack when it comes to changes in styles and/or subject matter. And THE LAST JUROR isn't that far off Mr. Grisham's regular path! It IS courtroom friendly, and DOES have elements of A PAINTED HOUSE and a few of his other works. So why the big upset? I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes good writing. Forget it's by Grisham--it's just a good read no matter who wrote it.

If you enjoy good writing, like McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or other Grisham books such as A PAINTED HOUSE or KING OF TORTS, you'll like this book. All I can say is, give this one a chance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent new book from Grisham
Review: This is his best yet in my opinion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: people, not characters make this book special
Review: I don't know if the title of my review makes sense to you; it does to me.

Grisham's fast-paced legal thrillers are driven by the story. In these, the characters are second to the story. While these books are enjoyable, the characters are sketched, not developed.

In The Last Juror, I became acquainted with the people of the town. I would like to have met some of them in person. Others, I would have crossed the street to avoid.

Miss Callie, Willie Traynor....if you are ever in my town, stop by for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The worst of John Grisham
Review: Is it one story or a bunch of mini-stories totally un-related. Huge disappointment


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