The Chamber

Rating:
Summary: Grisham Gets Controversial in Unusually Gloomy Story
Review: "The Chamber" is probably Grishams most unusual book (maybe except for "The Rainmaker" who differs because of the light-footed humour). In this story we are forced to think long and hard about the death-penalty. And Grisham does not make it easy: An unsympathetic racist bastard of a Klansman is on deathrow for having killed two kids in a bombing many years ago intended on a Jewish lawyer who defended blacks. The choice is obvious... or what. The description of the life on death row is shocking, touching, emotional, and necessary: it forces us to ask ourselves the question: can the death penalty be justified.While our hero fights time, his client, and all odds to get his Klansman grandfather off death row, the reader has time to make up his/her mind, but it is not easy. I say: Let the man go. Read the story and see what Grisham chooses to do.If this story does not bring tears to your eyes, you have a heart of stone. It is a most human and touching book, with a dark and controversial tone, otherwise unheard of in Grisham novels. Well done Mr. G.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and moving
Review: A friend of mine lent this to me saying it's the best book he's ever read. I can see why some people would think this.
After just finishing The Chamber my first thoughts are that it was compulsive read but also that the ending left me feeling a little flat. It was fast paced, and at times moving (re the lynching photo and Halls thoughts about it). You're left feeling how awful it is to spend years on death row but...the alternatives are never gone into in depth-there is only so much one can do with this I suppose, especially if the authors trying to entertain as well as enlighten. It reminded me of Dead Man Walking where it took the murderers pending death, moments away, for him to be truly repentant. Like that movie The Chamber inspires sympathy and forgiveness for the main characters and shows that people can change. I got a little disinterested in all the legal procedures and ended up trying to flip through these paragraphs to concentrate on the plot and emotion. There were some loose ends but you can't often squeeze life into a perfect little package.
I was very happy with the lack of romantic interest to slow the pace down (Grisham uses an alcoholic Aunt for this) at key moments. And happy that I didn't feel preached to by the author. Even now I'm not sure how strongly, if at all, Grisham is anti execution. He certainly didn't hold back on Cayhalls crimes.
All in all a very good book. Very different to my normal fare and one I would strongly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and moving
Review: A friend of mine lent this to me saying it's the best book he's ever read. I can see why some people would think this.
After just finishing The Chamber my first thoughts are that it was compulsive read but also that the ending left me feeling a little flat. It was fast paced, and at times moving (re the lynching photo and Halls thoughts about it). You're left feeling how awful it is to spend years on death row but...the alternatives are never gone into in depth-there is only so much one can do with this I suppose, especially if the authors trying to entertain as well as enlighten. It reminded me of Dead Man Walking where it took the murderers pending death, moments away, for him to be truly repentant. Like that movie The Chamber inspires sympathy and forgiveness for the main characters and shows that people can change. I got a little disinterested in all the legal procedures and ended up trying to flip through these paragraphs to concentrate on the plot and emotion. There were some loose ends but you can't often squeeze life into a perfect little package.
I was very happy with the lack of romantic interest to slow the pace down (Grisham uses an alcoholic Aunt for this) at key moments. And happy that I didn't feel preached to by the author. Even now I'm not sure how strongly, if at all, Grisham is anti execution. He certainly didn't hold back on Cayhalls crimes.
All in all a very good book. Very different to my normal fare and one I would strongly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Good read - but somewhat disappointing ending
Review: I enjoy the Grisham books for all the legal battle stuff - court rooms, strategy, filing briefs and motions, manuevering, etc.

This book is a real eye opener about what life is like for a death-row inmate. Most of us have rather one-sided views - regardless of whether you favor the death penality or not.

All in all, it is a good book. However, I agree with another reader who suggested that the ending left him feeling rather flat. It seems Grisham could have done more with the final chapter. He kinda leaves you in a funny spot with some unconcluded business.

Rating:
Summary: Very boring
Review: I like all of J.G.'s books except this one. I couldn't even finish it!I thought the plot of the story was slow and it put me to sleep.



Rating:
Summary: Absolutely no plot twist/boring tale
Review: I love John Grisham. I've read most of his work and most of them are excellent. The Chamber has to be his worst book. It's a nice tale about a death row inmate, along very similar lines of "Dead Man Walking" - but there is no intrigue or plot twists, or anything else that makes for a page-turning suspense novel. I kept waiting for something out of the blue to happen, and nothing did. I even had thoughts of things that might happen, trying to guess a potential plot twist, and nothing happened. You are introduced to characters who appear throughout the story, which you expect to become a huge player at the end of the story, only to find them dissapear without a trace. Grisham seems to be building another suspensful, mind blowing story and then 3/4 of the way through the book almost every sub plot disappears never to resurface. When I got to the end of the book I thought I was missing a few chapters because there seemed to be som much left unsaid. I would strongy urge you to stay away from this book - or at least if you read it, don't expect a suspense novel, just a nice description of what someone goes through when on death row.

Rating:
Summary: more understanding of laws and crime
Review: I think that the book was captivating yet disappointing. My favorite part was when the alcoholic aunt disappeared in the last few chapters. Another interesting thing was the story behind Eddie. The intensity between his past which affect his presents. I also got to understand more about death row. I disliked the ending because it didn't turned out the way I thought it would be.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book on death penalty
Review: I think this book has portrayed fairly well on the position against the death penalty. It made more powerful argument than, I'd say, Life of David Gail. It has a more realistic ending as opposed to an happy ending of the most novels. The issue is between forgiveness as justice. Are we supposed to forgive even the worst of the mankind? Is death penalty justified for a cruel bloodthirst racist? The author is toward forgiveness in the novel. Anyways it was a book that makes you look at the other side of the coin if you're for the death penalty, and I strongly advise you to read it and give a second thought on death penalty if you support it. (That would probably include most of our politicians.)

Rating:
Summary: Grisham makes a convincing case against the death penalty.
Review: In The Chamber, we meet Sam Cayhall, initially a less than likable participant in a hateful Ku Klux Klan bombing who finally is convicted after three trials and sentenced to a painful death in the Mississippi gas chamber. However, by the time he is sentenced to die, 22 years after his crime, he is a frail, 70-year-old man. He has spent almost 10 years on Death Row and has become a jailhouse law expert, helping his fellow inmates with their various and futile appeals. Sam's rookie lawyer grandson, Adam Hall, emerges fresh out of law school to champion Sam's gangplank appeals for a stay of execution. Adam has to come to terms with a lot of family issues in the process, especially because he cannot understand his grandfather's motivations for his hateful crimes. Sam gains our pity and even sympathy in the final chapters of this book, as he experiences a spiritual redemption. He harbors a secret which, if divulged, could hurt those closest to him. I will not spoil the ending for those of you who have not read The Chamber. All I will say was that this book draws the reader right into the legal suspense of the courtroom and the tragic atmosphere of Death Row. And, although this book seems to be a plea to abolish the death penalty, Grisham never attempts to justify the horror of the crime described in its initial pages. Read this book -- it is controversial, and maybe you will cry.

Rating:
Summary: Great - but unnecessarily long
Review: Quite interesting topic , that is: a grandson wants to save his grand-father from cruel and unfair execution. But it was too long. If you are on vacation and desperately need something to read, this is it, I wouldn't recommend it for readers who like suspense since they might get bored easily.