The Laws of Our Fathers

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Summary: I really tried to like this, but...
Review: While I am an admitted fan of Mr. Turow, this offering almost made me rethink my committment. Yes the characterization and dialogue are first rate, but the work as a whole failed to capture my interest. Every time I started to get intigued, another interminable episode of whinery made me lose any sympathy I might have had for any of the players involved. This is the first book I failed to finish in nearly 14 years

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Summary: Turows characters are beyond good and evil.
Review: In this book the lifes and times of a number of people are portrayed in an very fascinating way. The usual evaluations of the sixties-generation are two-dimensional; you either love them or you hate them. In this book the author really succeeds in showing that people in any period in time are partly caught up in the zeitgeist and can't help themselves but are also partly conscious actors that can screw up their lives and that of others. This insight makes for interesting reading because the reader has to make his own judgement of the people describes and can't simplify

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Summary: No page turner, but nevertheless leaves you contemplative
Review: The book gives you the feeling that Scott Turow has for once tried to take on more, much more than you had bargained for. To be fair, the author excels when he paints the charactars for you, and I had absolutely no difficulty imagining and in certain ways identifying with at least some of the charactars. A slack becomes apparent when you try to connect the charactars in their present predicament and mindset with their past. I felt so especially so for Sonny Klonsky. To sum it all up, the book is not your run of the mill page turner, but rather has a charataristic that leaves you contemplative.

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Summary: This is a compelling story and one of Turow's bests.
Review: For anyone who was in college in the late 60s and early seventies this will be a very compelling read. Next to Presumed Innocent this is Turow's best. He tells the story very well and reminds us all that we have moral obligations and we make moral choices that have consequences. Those who postured spuriously and capriciously in the sixties become victims of their own deceit and myopia

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Summary: I wanted to like this book, but reading it was a chore
Review: There's probably a good 300-page book hidden somewhere in this bloated 500-page tome. The idea of reconciling crimes and causes of the past with those of the present is an interesting one, there are some clever plot twists and the flashback scenes are fun. But every time the story switches to the present, boy, do things begin to drag. The characters bear little resemblence to their former selves, and it is hard to work up much concern about what happens to them. They tend to drone on and whine about themselves for pages and pages and pages. When the end finally comes, you're just glad to be rid of them

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Summary: People's Park Redux
Review: Flashback is a well established device in books and movies. Today its use is trite. But Turow uses it as an expedient to reveal changes of character rather than development of plot. Sure the failings of 30 years ago still influence the actions of today. Yet, people can change. Can a sinner become a saint? It probably depends on the collective bias of one era compared with another. Turow is a fine writer and frequently presents a beautiful descriptive phrase. The problem with this particular effort is that none of the characters gain much sympathy from the reader. Mass Freudian identity crises are not enough to hold your attention. It is easy to put the book aside, and an effort to pick it up again. It would be interesting if Turow used a nom de plume for his next foray. Expectations seem too high and too narrow under his current authorship for him to achieve anything deemed "original"

Rating:
Summary: Good, if you really like to read
Review: Be careful; it ain't TV. If you're looking for just another pageturner, this isn't it. If you can appreciate a finely turned sentence, three-dimensional characters, skillfully selected detail (and a lot of it), complex plotting, and a sensitive look at relationships between the sexes, the classes, and the races, then this is a book to curl up with for a long, lazy weekend. If every book has to be easy and plot-driven, why not just watch MELROSE PLACE

Rating:
Summary: Something for everyone with complex, interesting characters
Review: I couldn't put it down. The characters are three-dimensional people with real pasts and real problems. It was so refreshing to read a book where the author has done justice to the complexity of people. The scenes from the 60s served not only to illuminate the present-day motives of the main characters, but also tied together the themes of social justice and the ambiguity of parent-child relationships. This books works as a mystery, a memoir, and a romance. I recommend it highly

Rating:
Summary: Superb! A fascinating character study clothed as a mystery
Review: Turow's sentences draw pictures for the reader to savor; his characters are richly and fully drawn; the story--really two stories melded into one--is compelling. While Turow uses the genre of a murder mystery to tell his story, Turow's story is more about strength and weakness, morality and immorality, perception and reality--and how those things change over time. Once again Turow has written a popular novel with big words. It is a story told in the present and the past and told from the perspective of two likeable (a new feature in a Turow novel) characters who share(d) those time periods. Told, where appropriate, in the vernacular of the mean streets of Kindle County, the criminal justice system of the '90's, and the anti-establishment radical fringe of the '60's, this book is not an easy read. It is, however, and unlike most of its genre, a worthwhile read. While I would not recommend a novel this interesting or this complex to a casual reader looking for simple-minded page turner, I strongly recommend this novel to any thoughtful reader willing to invest the intellectual capital to work through good literature

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Summary: SCOTT, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!
Review: This is one of the worst books that I have ever read. I was totally surprised by this book, since I enjoyed his previous books. I finally gave up on this one and didn't even finish it, which I NEVER do. I hope his next book is better, but I'll think twice before buying it just because Scott Turow wrote it