Rating: 
Summary: Second Worst Grisham
Review: Grisham will probably never write another book as bad as The Chamber, but this is the worst of the rest. As with most Grisham novels it has an interesting set-up, but in The Brethren you never really pull for the characters or care about the ending.
Rating:
Summary: No value for your buck with this Grisham....
Review: Thin, slim and no meat in the 'Brethren'. I like John but he has to slow down a develop a deeper plot with more twists and turns. I think he is too busy trying to work his books into his tax deductible vacations, i.e. Monte Carlo.From now on when I read a Grisham it will have 'Property of the Canal Fulton Library' printed inside. Sorry John.
Rating: 
Summary: Lost it
Review: I've read all of John Grisham's books and this is definitely his worse. I went back to the bookstore to look at another copy, thinking there were some pages left out of my book at the end. The ending was awful. Too many unanswered questions left unanswered. I wouldn't recommend this one. Wait for the paperback to appear in the used bookstores.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing plot; boring execution
Review: The Grisham name once was synonymous with excellent writing and page turner plots. The Brethren has a great plot and sub plot, but they never really were well developed - no real suspense or excitement. The characters were ho hum but could have been very interesting and mysterious. As for the ending I still ask myself "Is this the end?" I feel like I should reread some parts because I must have missed something. So much meaty stuff left unfinished. I hope he isn't planning a sequel because I won't buy it. In the story voters ask frequently "Who's Aaron Lake?" including me who wants to ask what has happened to him? I would have really liked to have read about his bought Presidency and just how he handled the country's affairs and the other situations he was involved in. However, Mr. Grisham thought not to follow through. Now I ask "Where is the "old" John Grisham?"
Rating:
Summary: Where's the rest of it?
Review: Johnny, you're a clever story teller but there's a problem with the ending here-it doesn't have one. Nothing ties together, nothing invites me to keep on playing back the storyline long after I've finished it. For the first time ever, you missed the boat. Where was your editor on this one?
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow but somewhat engaging
Review: Compared to some of Grisham's great books, this was a disappointment. As always, his book had a clever premise, but that's about it. The characters were not likeable and were really poorly drawn in my opinion. There was no believability in the way the plot unfolded either. Having just completed a fantastic book by Nelson DeMille--The Lion's Game, which was filled with excitement from the beginning, Grisham's Brethren seemed a poor offering.
Rating:
Summary: The Bretheren
Review: The book kept me reading it over and over again. I never laid it down and it kept me glued on each of the pages.
Rating:
Summary: The Brethren
Review: Just finished The Brethren minutes ago. Like the other reviewers I am puzzled that he has left his typical formula. His protagonists in most of his books are easy to identify with. Who was that in this book? What was his point this time around? Given that he regularly has a moral ax to grind this bok deviated from that unless his point is that politics are corrupt to the core. With all that said I still liked it better than Street Lawyer or the Chamber. But I appreciate his basic formula...that someone innocent gets mixed up with bad boys and somehow has the wits to get out of it.
Rating: 
Summary: On The Run With Fourteen Feet
Review: Only a master storyteller like Grisham could take historical fact and weave such a compelling fictional tale. Obviously a fan of the famous Blitman Brothers - Siamese quintuplets born in Chicago in 1950 - the author outDoctorow's E.L. Doctorow, sprinkling real life characters Jimi Hendrix, Ed Sanders, Ken Kesey, Ronald Reagan, Ralph Kramden, Bella Abzug and the Checkered Demon throughout this dark, relentless yet hilarious story of five brothers who share a single set of buttocks. Succeeding against all odds, devising never before imagined codpieces, the brothers - Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo, Gekko and HiLo fight their way through unimaginable adversity, performing as a five man band in the smoky, reefer-drenched blues bars of Chicago's South Side by night, selling merkins by day, squirelling away every hard-earned dollar in their quest to open the first boutique to cater exclusively to Multiple People. Heartwarming and heartbreaking, Grisham takes us deep into the brothers' psyches as they endure endless, disgusting questions from insensitive boors concerning their bathroom habits and methods of self-abuse. When Zeppo and Gekko marry Siamese Twins Juanita and Benita - on the run from the INS - the fun really begins. Hounded by the evil Sergeant Erector, the brothers and their wives are forced to flee to Canada, where, posing as a rugby scrum, they manage to slip across the border to safety. Their subsequent "adoption" by a wealthy Canadian sweatshop owner suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease offers them the opportunity to both display their natural nursing qualities and obtain a stake for their dream. The sex scenes, though steamy and mathematically complicated, are handled with taste and charm. This is Grisham's finest work to date, surpassing even the fabulous bookjacket photos of the author with his famous "five o'clock shadow." I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed
Review: When the story got going (after about 100 pages), I thought it was going to take off. While an interesting plot(s), the storyline could have been a real page turner- instead it just dies-and the ending was very disappointing indeed. It leaves you with way too many unanswered questions, and I felt Mr. Grisham was just plain tired of writing, and wanted to end this novel as fast as possible. I've truely enjoyed some of his works in the past, but this one I wish I had skipped.
| 
