A Time to Kill

Rating:
Summary: Grisham Takes Retribution to the Limits
Review: "A Time To Kill" by the talented John Grisham is his first novel, written about a young lawyer who defends a black man accused of killing his 9 year old daughter's 2 white rapists. The story takes place in Clanton, Mississippi. I have read all of Grisham's books and this one far surpasses any of his others. The story is one that is very easy to relate to, because the author poses the question of "What would you do if it was your daughter that had been raped?" throughout the novel and he explores the boundaries of a father's love. The amazing legal writing style far outdoes any one in his field. The question of how far should a father go to protect his young is one that prompts Grisham's main character, Jake Briggance, to take on the case of black man, Carl, after the poor father of 3 murders his daughter's rapists in a courthouse in front of many witnesses. The book leads us through a fast-paced story of legal manouvers and racism in the south, and most importantly the justice owed to a young girl. I strongly reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys an excellent fast-moving novel of the strength of a father's love and what he will go to to protect his young.

Rating:
Summary: Good legal drama but not Grisham's best.
Review: The story in this first novel from John Grisham has enough clichés that the reader knows very early the book's conclusion. Despite appearing at first to be Matlock-type story, there's enough action in both the main and side plots to keep the pages turning. The author clearly knows the rural South. One complaint about this and all Grisham's book is when the plot is over the ends very suddenly. The rush to end leaves several side-plots unresolved or poorly resolved.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily perceptive
Review: Although I've spent most of my adult life in the North (and in foreign countries) I was raised in the rural South many years ago, and can still blend in, all these years later, because I know the customs and manners, the friendliness and suspicions, the respect and tensions and admiration and hatreds and loyalties and betrayals, and the proper way to introduce oneself to a small Southern town where one isn't known, in order to gain prompt acceptance as one of "us" rather than one of "them". I have also served on juries, and know by personal experience the wrenching debates in a jury room when the judge's instructions on the law conflict with the good sense of ordinary people about what verdict is appropriate, given the special circumstances of the case.

Grisham's books sell because they're well written, gripping and entertaining. But I wish to commend two in particular because they portray far better than most novels do the way in which Southern customs work well and the ways they work badly, and because his accounts of grand jury and trial jury deliberations match what I've been involved in.

If you wish to understand the complexities of Southern culture, both good and evil, read "A Time to Kill" and "The Last Juror". How Grisham knows as much as he does, I have no idea, but he portrays details that I know from personal experience, that I have found no other author describing as well.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and boring
Review: As Grisham's first novel this one has a few rough edges, which he readily admits in the preface. In rural Mississippi a ten year old black girl is beaten, raped and left for dead by two white punks. Although she survives the attack she will be mentally scared for life. The town is outraged but before justice can be done the girl's father takes an M-16 into his own hands and ensures that they are put away for good.

Most of the book deals with the implications of having a child raped and of a father's desire to circumvent the "imperfect" justice system. Grisham pits societal forces against one another with KKK members facing off against black families supporting their own (A feature he will use again in The Chamber). The idea throughout is that if the case were reversed and a white father walked into a courthouse and shot to death his daughters attackers he would be found innocent of any crime. I find this truly unbelievable.

My disappointment with this book is Grisham's portrayal of justice as being not justice but survival of the fittest: those with the quickest wits and most able lawyers. Ultimately justice is not done but Grisham leaves you with the feeling that justice is impossible.

Rating:
Summary: A Time To Kill
Review: John Grisham is at his best in this novel. His works have defined the modern legal thriller. In this novel, Carl Lee Hailey's ten-year-old daughter, Tonya, was brutally raped and beaten by two young, drunk red-necks by the names of Billy Ray Cobb and his slightly dim sidekick Pete Willard. Things head south in a hurry when Carl Lee decides to procure an M16 from an old buddy of his from Vietnam. All of a sudden the sleepy little town of Clanton, Mississippi, becomes the media hot-spot of the nation when, in a carefully planned out and calculated act of vengence, the girls incensed father takes justice into his own hands. The entire country wacthes and waits to see what will happen next as defense attorney Jake Brigance attempts to pull off the mother of all acquitals. For the next week-and-a-half, the young lawyer battles against the judges, the jury, and the Ku Klux Klan, to win his clients freedom, and keep him from the gas chamber.

This novel ia a master piece, definitely one of his better works. Recently I have also read The Client and The Chamber, but this book blows them away. His mastery of dialogue certainly ranks up there with the all time greats. His settings and use of vivid sensory details enable you to mentally transport yourself dead into the heart of Ford County. I think what impressed me the most was that John Grisham got the idea for this book from actual events. He is an excellant fiction writer, but some how stories that are based on true events have such a deeper and more personal feel to them. I would highly recommend this book, but consider yourself warned when i tell you that it is not for everyone. I believe that a limited understanding of the legal system is a necessity to fully comprehend these novels, other wise some parts, such as the appeals process or a writ of Habeus Corpus, will fall upon deaf ears.


Rating:
Summary: Bravo
Review: The movie was great, but the book is excellent. Also, please read the novel, LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Rolyat, about a district attorney who finds himself in a web of deceit of lies, betrayal, love, lust, murder, mystery, suspense, romance and sex galore. Is he really the biological father of his wife's promiscuous teenager? Or has he been setup? Read and find out and much, much more! It offers a different, enlightening type read that you're gonna enjoy. Happy reading!


Rating:
Summary: Very direct
Review: This book takes a very direct and open position on race and if a black man has the same right as a white man has. I randomnly picked this book out without really knowing what it was about, but I am glad I got it. It's worth it and you'll read through it quickly.

Rating:
Summary: A Time To Kill
Review: This is one of the best books I have read! It was a book I was assigned in school and I could not put it down. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird the book seemed even better. The characters were well developed and the book was really believeable.
A Time To Kill is the story of Jake Brigance trying to defend Carl Lee Hailey after Carl Lee killed the two rednecks that raped his daughter. Carl Lee was black.
I liked this book because it showes how a father will do anything for his daughter even if it means going to jail, how people care more about what colour someone is then if they really are guilty or innocent, and how even when you think that you are defented you just have to carry on.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes law novels and John Grisham. Also to anyone who is trying to understand more about racism towards black people in the Southren United States.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham's best
Review: Street lawyer Jake Brigance is thrust into the national spotlight when he takes a case defending a black man who has murdered two white men for raping his twelve year old daughter. Brigance is the center of a legion of competing pressures and concerns, including escalating involvement in the case by the Mississippi population of blacks, and by the Ku Klux Klan. We get an intimate look at the legal process, as Jake fights off other lawyers seeking to represent his client, attempts to manipulate the press, the judge, the prosecution, and the jury, and faces problems dealing with practicing law on a tight budget. He walks a fine moral line as the situation escalates, and eventually finds himself hiding out at a friends house while the Klan tries to murder him.
The Good and the Bad:
After reading two or three other novels by this author (including The Firm), I've been talking down John Grisham for years, but this book has made me revise my opinion of him. A preface tells us that this is Grisham's most personal work, and his first; I think that those two factors may be what makes this book stand out to me.
This book has a lot going for it. The pacing is well-done, mixing violence and action scenes in with the also-exciting twists and turns in the legal arena. The book slowly builds to a natural climax with the jury decision, and the obstacles and situations Jake faces are varied and inventive. The language and writing are also very serviceable, with appropriate amounts of description and dialogue (although there seems to be a near-obsessive tendency to include detailed descriptions of every meal and drink consumed by the characters). This writing gives the author the air of a seasoned professional rather than the first-timer he was at the time.
The book also contains enough nuanced ethical considerations to be the focus of a college ethics course. Time and again, Jake is confronted with moral decisions, and his decisions are all over the place ethically. At times, I was impressed with his morality; often, I was shocked at his immorality. The other characters are also instruments of moral dilemmas, not the least of which is Carl Lee's murder of the two rapists.
Another great aspect of the book was the authority with which the legal profession is presented. As a lawyer, Grisham clearly knows the ins and outs of the profession, and his insider view of jury selection, expert psychiatric testimony, and the way that lawyers compete for a desirable case are all fascinating.
On the down side, I have two major criticisms, and they both cropped up so frequently that they inhibited my ability to lose myself in the story. I didn't like Grisham's other novels because I felt that the characters weren't flawed enough to make them interesting. Jake is flawed, all right, and his flaws make him kind of detestable. Detestable might be too strong of a word, but certainly, he was less than sympathetic in many ways. He hungers for media attention, putting it above his client's best interests. He threatens to sever a friendship with a court administrative aid if she doesn't give him a list of prospective jurors that the judge has ordered her not to give him. He flirts with his beautiful legal assistant, and keeps her existence a secret from his wife. In fact, he keeps a lot of secrets from his wife, including the fact that the Klan has burned down their house. He stands idly by while a sheriff literally breaks the legs of a Klan member, and then jokes about it the next day. He seems to use the word nigger interchangeably with black man, and states prejudiced views, such as "nigger are unpredictable, especially when they're in trouble." I could go on, but you get the point. This is a main character that's hard to root for. The other characters are generally interesting, but sometimes cartoonish, especially the prosecutor, a fat political aspirant whose main function seems to be getting blustered at Jake's shot-from-the-hip one liners.
That leads to my other criticism, which is that too often, Grisham turns to the camera and winks, asking us to chuckle or give an affirming cheer. Every time we see Brigance confront Buckley, the exchange ends in Jake getting the last word in, and it infuriating Buckley. Things like this, extending to several plot points, are just a little too pat.
Overall, an enjoyable novel that should help you burn some midnight oil.


Rating:
Summary: Life tragedy made into art ,by Grisholm
Review: A Time to Kill is a masterpiece of interwoven tragedies, ongoing dangers, social injustice, racism, all set to a central theme of one of the most heartbreaking dramas imaginable: an innocent child is viciously raped and left for dead. The crime itself was perpetrated by white men, upon a little black girl living in a racist town. Although racism is a powerful force in the plot, the most compelling conflict enacted in this human drama, is that of the heartwrenching dilema the father of this child finds himself in when the court system fails him and his wounded family. It becomes 'A Time to Kill'.
Although this was one of Grisholm's earlier books, I feel it is his best, simply because of the rawness of human emotion revealed in his writing. A Time to Kill is human drama at its finest.