The Appeal by John Grisham Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Appeal
Book Review: 3/4 is trite filler - Wouldn't sell if it weren't Grisham
Summary: 1 Stars
What happened to Grisham? This seems like something churned out by a kid in a week. Nothing happens that's unexpected (except maybe the bad ending). After the start, at least 3/4 of the book could be summarized in a page and you would lose nothing.
You could dream up the plot line yourself in less than 10 minutes. Real life is more interesting than this. So my advice: don't read this book--you'll get more enjoyment out of just about any other activity.
Book Review: A "tweener" -- some good, some bad
Summary: 3 Stars
With The Appeal, Grisham is back with another legal "thriller." As was the case with King of Torts, Grisham again presents the issue of tort law, this time from the perspective of judicial elections and the attempts by various parties to influence these elections. Throughout the story, Grisham attempts to present the motivations of both sides of the issue, though he clearly shows favor to the "companies and executives are bad" and "lawyers are virtuous and good" perspective. So, depending on your own personal perspective, you will find yourself nodding your head in agreement or shaking your head in dissent. Ignoring the political perspective, however, I found that Grisham kept me turning the pages as the pace built throughout. That said, I felt that some of the characters were too stereotypical and over-the-top in their portrayal. In addition, the book's ending seemed to be fairly predictable, thus taking some of the thrill out of the thriller. In the end, this is a "tweener" - I'm not upset that I took the time to read it but I also think it fell far short of Grisham's best works.Book Review: A 350pp Brief for Trial Lawyers
Summary: 2 Stars
I've enjoyed several of Grisham's novels--most notably The Partner-- but this one is different, very different. After a promising beginning including a number of humorous takes on New York's moneyed aristocracy, the novel veers off into a bad place: Agenda-Land. If you are somehow gratified by cardboard characters who scream "Big Business Is Evil" or crusading small practitioners who whisper "We Are Noble," you might be able to make it through without cringing so many times your shoulders ache. And in case, by some slim chance, you might miss the really (really, really) obvious point of this whole exercise, the author will help you along by making every case anecdote a tort lawyers dream.Book Review: A Civil Action
Summary: 2 Stars
A Civil action with John Travolta. Forms the plot of about 80% of this book.Book Review: A Disgusting Tale of Cooking the Books, Dirty Elections, and Unrepentant Greed
Summary: 3 Stars
Unless you are dying to read about some of the most disgusting, greedy people who have ever walked into a novel, you can skip this book.
The book has several messages:
1. Don't let judges be elected; appoint them instead.
2. Conservative voters are easy to mislead into voting for candidates who will favor business over consumer interests.
3. Plaintiff attorneys are less slimy than rich business people because they occasionally try to help someone in trouble.
4. Politicians who need campaign funds are in the pocket of a handful of rich business people, whether the politicians realize it or not.
If that information doesn't make you feel good, consider that you'll also read about a lot of people dying and suffering from a fictional company polluting the water supply to increase its profits.
I thought that the book was well written, interesting, and full of good ideas for how to steal elections.
But I didn't need to read this book. I don't think you do either.