The Chamber

Rating:
Summary: Not his best work but still unputdownable.
Review: Perhaps this book does not have the drama or storyline evoked in such titles as 'the client or'the firm' this book is still worth the effort to read. This is not a storyline that will appeal to everybody nor is it a book that everyperson will have trouble putting down, but i believe that this although not his best work is still up there with the best of them , especially in the way that we are left pondering the fate of sam cayhall until the second last page , where it is confirmed that sam will die at the hands of an executioner.

Rating:
Summary: Art doesn't imitate life in Grisham's World
Review: Aside from being slow and fragmented and the characters being just plain shallow, this book is troubling (like all Grisham novels) because it does damage to legal profession's standing in the eyes of the public. Grisham thinks it's OK to have his main characters act unethically and dishonestly (Adam's deception) because the book is about, after all, the death penalty, and who cares about how lawyers and law students are portrayed when he can write on a sexy topic like the death penalty? Dead Man Walking beats the stuffins out of Grisham's book because 1) it's real and 2) Prejean knows what she's talking about, unlike Grisham who boils down the complex world of the law into digestible (and artifical, fictional) bits for the masses. Let fiction be fiction, and don't even try to make it look like reality, lest someone in their Jeep Cherokee in the suburbs thinks this book is for real.

Rating:
Summary: The Chamber was only 600 pages long??
Review: It felt like longer. This book goes nowhere, slow. I would have given it a one, but Grisham actually develops character in this one, for the first time since A Time To Kill. Go watch the movie. It only takes 2 hours, and every plot element is there. The movie isn't that great, but it might keep you from reading the book, a positive thing. Meanwhile, keep waiting for a book as good as The Firm to come out... I just read the Street Lawyer, and I think he's coming close...

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: The Chamber by John Grisham is a compelling, powerful, and totally hypnotic novel. This dark and thoughtful tale is pulsing with moral uncertainties and will leave you thinking long and hard about the death penalty. A thrill ride from start to finish, it is impossible to put down. In Grisham's usual style, this book is well researched and bitterly realistic. He opens up explosive issues, including capital punishment and racism, with ease and compassion. His amazing insight into the human spirit will leave tears in your eyes. The Chamber draws you in and sweeps you up in a whirl-wind of emotion. It will linger on your mind long after you've flipped the last page. The basic principles debated in this heart-wrenching story will spark intellectual conversation and permeate every reader to the core. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is unsure how they feel about legal execution, and even to those who think they have their mind made up. This book exceedes expectations and goes far beyond entertainment. It is definitly one of Grisham's best!

Rating:
Summary: loved this book
Review: i loved the whole story line and everything. the movie isn't as good and the book is awesome. buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: The Chamber is a great book!
Review: This book was one of the better works that John Grisham has done. Not only is it suspenseful and generally well written, but it gets the reader re-evaluating where he/she stands on the death penalty. All of John Grisham's books are great and I can't wait to read his new one

Rating:
Summary: A long,drawn out predictable story.
Review: Unlike Grisham's previous novels, this one is slow paced, and redundant. That is, the lead character spends most of his days going between the prison where his grandfather is incarcerated and back to the home with his Aunt. The Grandfather who is on death row is not a likeable character, and does not even seem to have an ounce of remorse for his hideous crime. This slow moving book could have been written in half the pages Grisham did, and would have been a slightly more tolerable read.

Rating:
Summary: A grind to read
Review: Grisham must've lost his editor in the mail on this one. It's yeoman's work to make us care about a old racist reprobate about to get his just desserts; it's even more difficult when the histrionics (however subtle) go on a hundred pages too long. Combine that with superflouous subplots (the aunt's problems and the dead dad) and you get a seriously longwinded, meandering, unfocused book. Suggestion to Grisham: take two or three good ideas, wrap them around a decent main plot, and interweave them so that they are coherent and relevant to each other.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not his best, but it will make you think.
Review: Maybe if you are expecting to read an thriller book like the client, the pelican brief or the firm, you will feel a little bit disappointed with The Chamber, but I have to admit that I really enjoy this book, because it comes real close to death penalty and all the legal stuff around it, that I'm sure most of us, didn't know it before reading the book. I'm sure this is not the best Grisham's book, it can be a little be "slowly" because you won't find so much "action" as you can find it in other grisham's writtings (for example in the runaway jury), but what I really like about this book is the fact, that it makes me get a second thought about the death penalty. The main character "Sam Cayhall" could be any death row imates that is about to be executed right now!!.

Rating:
Summary: Superb reading material.
Review: I have read many books in my lifetime. This is the first to ever warrant a comment. This book touched me in a way I have never been touched before. Mr. Grisaham's ability to put the reader in a frame of mind to where that reader feels he is actually there is remarkable. Not only did I learn from this book, I also cried. Somehting that has never happened from the 100's of books I have read before. The story was sincere, could have easily have really happened, and made me feel like I was in the chamber with Mr. Cayhall as we went down it. I will not be able to get this book out of my mind as it is such a reality to many who are in prison. This is what happens and this is what these people feel. This was the first Grisham book I have read but it certainly will not be the last.