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Summary: The Chamber
Review: One of his best. I loved this book.
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Summary: Fascinating Book!!!
Review: It isn't easy for a lover of serious fiction to want to pick up a John Grisham book because of his constant bestseller status. But here, Grisham has clearly written something that ranks with our best serious authors. This book was very informative, gripping and suspenseful. I love the way Grisham got into the mind of the racist South. The passages that describe the gross hypocrisy of Southern racists who commonly slept with African American women (even during the Jim Crow era), while endlessly ranting about African American male lust for "the white woman," were much appreciated. Obviously, their obsession had everything to do with fear that if African American men had the same freedom that they took for granted, then they'd do to the proverbial "white woman" what Southern Caucasian men routinely did to African American women. The complexity of the characters in this book was also very satisfying. This one, at least, is an outstanding example of mainstream fiction.
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Summary: Grisham's Political View: A Novel
Review: You're against death penalty or you are a supporter of this legal murder. This is the book, the good and the evil of death penalty. This Sam is surely very guilty but do killing him justifies?
Did Grisham write The Chamber based on his political view? Sure you can think that yourself.
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Summary: A Terrible Read
Review: John Grisham is one of my favorite authors. I have always been intrigued by all of the John Grisham book I have read. However after reading The Chamber my thoughts have changed. This was by far the worst book John Grisham has written.
The beginning of the book starts off great. Sam Cayhall, a biggot who is a member of the Ku Klux Klan takes his hate toward Jews to the absolute extreme. He planted a bomb in the office of Jewish lawyer, Marvin Kramer, with the intentions of killing just him, but the explosion took the lives of two people, neither of them being Sam's intended target. Instead the bomb severely crippled Mr. Kramer, and he was confined to a wheelchair. The real tragedy though was the death of two five year old twin boys, who happened to be the children of the Marvin Kramer. Once the media caught wind of what happened the story went national. Sam Cayhall was at one time the most hated and the most liked person in the country all at the same time. He was hated by the Kramer family and all the people in their town, but he was liked by the supporters of discrimination throughout the country. Sam was apprehended and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to the death penalty.
Twenty years later a young and nieve man, Adam Hall, graduates from law school and then gets a job working for a large law firm in Chicago, but Adam had a reason for working at this particular firm. The firm Adam works for used to represent Sam Cayhall, and Adam wants to take Sam's case in a last minute attempt of saving Sam from being executed. The firm is bewildered by Adam's vast knowledge and interest in the Cayhall case until they find out his motive for wanting to help. Adam's family changed their name after the Cayhall bombing because they were related to Sam. Adam Hall is actually Sam Cayhall's grandson. After many arguements and much debate the firm permits Adam to introduce himself to Sam Cayhall and offer Sam his services for free. Adam goes down to Mississippi to be reunited with his grandfather and to hopefully save him from the death penalty.
Grisham starts off with a very intense and traumatic murder scence. That part of the book was very exciting but after that the rest of the book is very bland. Grisham spent too much time developing the characters and describing their family and past. There was nothing exciting after the bombing. The book just kept a very steady pace downhill after about twenty or so pages. In my opinion the majority of the book was not based upon saving a man from being executed but helping a young man find out about his past and family. Even though the book was terrible it delivered a strong message to me. It showed that sometimes it takes horrible things to break families apart, but at the same time horrible things can bring families back together in the end.
This was easily one of the most boring books I have ever read, and by far the worst John Grisham has ever written. Anyone interested in law practice might want to read this book though. The law part of the book is very believable, but one might fall asleep after about fifty pages of reading. Overall I would suggest not reading this book, but find something else because most books will be much better than this.
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Summary: LONG WINDED, NO TWISTS, INTERESTING DEBATE AND CHARACTERS
Review: The Chamber is, in my opinion, one of Grisham's worst books. It is long winded and it has no major plot twists. The story is based on Cayall, a member of the KKK that bombs the office of a Jewish lawyer. He is put on death row and his grandson, who is a lawyer, takes the case and tries to run with it.On the positive side, there is plenty of character development and the ambiguity of good and evil is clear in most of the characters. The story is well described, to the point that the reader really gets involved in the feelings of the characters. However, the book just ends without any major occurrences that would make the reader skip a beat, as usual Grisham thrillers do. Another positive is the overall debate over the death penalty. Overall, this is a decent book, not a Grisham.
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Summary: John Grisham's "The Chamber"
Review: I have read many of Grisham's books for the pleasure of reading them and not to critique them or compare one against the other. I found "The Chamber" to be very enjoyable and it made me concious of some arguments against the death penalty. The absolute boredom of those on death row awaiting the appeals after they have been sentenced to death is brought out by the book. Whether or not the gas chamber is humane is argued. I am a strong advocate of the death penalty but the book softened some of my beliefs; however, it did not change my mind. I thought the ending was good although I expected it to be the opposite of what it was. Grisham kept my interest to the end.
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Summary: CAYALL'S LIFE WAS FULL OF BAD LUCK
Review: In 1967 in Greenville, Mississippi, known klan member Sam Cayhall is accused of bombing the law offices of Jewish civil rights activist Marvin Kramer, killing Kramer's two sons. Cayhall's first trail, with an all white jury and a klan rally outside the courthouse, ends in a hung jury, the retrail six months later has the same outcome. Twelve years later an ambitious district attorney in Greenville reopens the case. Much has changed since 1967, and this time, with a jury of eight whites and four blacks, Cayhall is convicted. He is transferred to the state penitentiary at Parchman to await execution on death row. In 1990, in the huge Chicago law firm of Kravitz and Bane, a young lawyer named Adam Hall asks to work on the Cayhall case, which the firm has handled on a pro bono basis for years. But the case is all but lost and time is running out: within weeks Sam Cayhall will finally go to the gas chamber. Why in the world would Adam want to get involved? Good question who wants to even read this long boring novel by John Grisham, I bet not many people. I on the other hand have and it's not good. Sam Cayhall's life was filled with bad luck when he and his terriost friend bombed the law office's of Marvin Kramer, Sam didn't want to kill them, he just wanted to give them a good scare. It was his friend who wanted to kill the little Jewish kids, and he did. Sam got caught and his friend didn't. Deep down Sam was never a hateful racist, he was just raised that way, he has a family past full of hatered. And it just was the miserable environment of the racist south. He was influenced by family and peers. I give this book a one star because it was boring and it dragged on and on. And he got gassed at the end. . I am opposed to the death penalty, I don't think they should of gassed him. I do think people like Sam Cayhall and all the other killers and murders out there, I don't think that they should die but to do hard intense manual labor and suffer physically and mentally for the rest of their lives until they die in prison. Read another Grisham novel all of them are good but this one.
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Summary: An unusual Grisham book
Review: I've read around 6 or 7 books by John Grisham and this one is definetly the most peculiar. I first liked his books because of all the lawyer stuff explanations, about going to courthouses, preparing strategies, etc. Now in this book, the main focus isn't on the lawyer, but on the family of the lawyer. It was a good change, I must say, he does a brilliant job getting deep in the roots of the Cayhall family. The death penalty issue is also strongly emphasized, and it allows the reader to get involved in the debate of right and wrong. The end is not quite what I expected and it let me down. That's why I only give this book 4 stars.
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Summary: Well worth it
Review: This is one of Grisham's longer books, but well worth it. The characters in "The Chamber" are better developed than some of his other books, notably some of his more recent books. As the reader, a bond formed between the main characters and I throughout the book. It was this closeness with the characters combined with a well-written story and thoughtful dialogue that provided me with the opportunity to contemplate something I had never really thought about before - the death penalty. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed any of Grisham's other books.
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Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I liked this book but I dont believe its as good as some of Grishams other books.
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