The Appeal by John Grisham Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Appeal
Book Review: An engaging novel that sacrifices character and story for the sake of a political issue
Summary: 3 Stars
John Grisham returns to genre he made famous with the legal thriller, The Appeal. This is a book with a lot of good qualities and a book I wanted to like, but in the end I was disappointed both in the direction the plot took, the overall message of the book, and the quality of the writing.
Jeannette Baker has had a miserable life. Living in Bowmore, Mississippi, she and her family drank the tap water when the city and the EPA assured her it was safe. Her family kept drinking even when the water began to stink and change colors. Then her husband and son came down with cancer and died. Then a lot of people came down with cancer. Wes and Mary Grace Payton took Jeannette's case and sued Krane Chemical for illegally dumping toxic chemicals into the soil. The trial concludes and the jury awarded Jeannette $41 million.
Krane CEO Carl Trudeau is devestated as the stock in his vast portfolio of companies plummetts. After a few days, Trudeau finds a possible solution to his problems. He will appeal the verdict all the way to the Mississippi supreme court, In Mississippi, supreme court justices are voted on by the people. The court is split 5-4 against him. He hires a firm that guarantees they can get a candidate sympathetic to his cause elected to the court in time to hear the appeal. Everything is done in secret. No one knows that Carl Trudeau is funding the canidacy of Ron Fisk to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Fisk is a good, decent, Christian conservative who believes the people asking him to run have honest motives, but soon he too is overwhelmed by the amount of money being spent. In spite of her trial lawyer friends, current justice Shiela McArthy faces an uphill battle. Meanwhile, the entire town of Bowmore is on edge. Hundreds of people have been affected by the criminal negligence of Krane and hope for a big legal settlement.
Grisham obviously wrote this book to make a statement. I just have a hard time figuring out what it is. He portrays Krane Chemical as such an obvious evil company that you have no choice to root against this "big business" company. Then there are the corrupt senators, the gun lobby, the vast array of groups that unite to elect Ron Fisk so they can have a pro-gun, pro death penalty, anti-gay marriage, and of course pro business/anti-trial lawyer justice on the supreme court. It seems Grisham recently wrote King of Torts to slam the lifestyle and the methods tort lawyers use to generate mass judgements using faulty science. In this book, they are the good guys. I know from first hand experience that there are many frivilous lawsuits put forth against medical professionals who did nothing wrong. Grisham's effort to paint with such a broad brush and describe trial lawyers as good and big business/big medical/big insurance as bad is wrong. He does succeed however in making the point that having judges run for election is a system ripe for corruption. This book is full of issues that you might be for or against, but I don't think any of it will detract from reading the novel. You just might have to choose to ignore parts of the novel that stray into political commentary.
If I had the time, I would go back and read Runaway Jury and Rainmaker. At the time, these were two of the best novels I had ever read. Now, after reading The Appeal, I wonder if Grisham has changed a lot, or if I have? Is The Appeal that much worse than those novels? The Appeal is told in 3rd-person omniscient point of view, meaning the point of view character changes from paragraph to paragraph. This made the story hard to follow at times. Also, with so much to cover in the novel, Grisham basically tells us the story instead of showing and allowing the reader to get involved in the lives of the characters.
Grisham has written a compelling story here. He has the down on their luck laywers, Wes and Mary Grace. The pathetic victim, Jeannette Baker. The evil corporate CEO, Carl Trudeau. The naïve pawn, Ron Fisk. But everything happens so fast that we never really get to know, or care for, any of the characters. The only thing I cared about while reading was whether or not the appeal would succeed. Since this novel seemed to be about the issue of electing judges, trial lawyers and big corporations, I guess that is how Grisham wanted it.
In the past, Grisham would have written about the trial against Krane Chemical and ended with the verdict. This novel begins with the verdict and goes from there. Fans will enjoy this novel, as I did. But I think it is a far cry from some of his best novels.
Book Review: Another Good One from Grisham
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't normally read novels, preferring historical non-fiction instead but John Grisham is the true modern-day master of the novel. His stories are well researched and given to real world facts more often than not. This book is no different, telling the story of a huge corporation against a backwoods Southern town. The problem with the story is the ending. I won't give it away but I will say that it left me with wanting a sequel, a follow-up, even a satsifying epilogue. Was the ending happy or unhappy? I won't say but it left me wanting something.Book Review: Another Great Grisham Book
Summary: 5 Stars
The Appeal is another in the long line of Grisham books that I would say are "must reads". I have been a fan since reading The Firm, and A Time To Kill. I even liked Playing for Pizza!Book Review: Another Grisham Bestseller
Summary: 4 Stars
Grisham knows how to write great legal fiction. He has set the bar very high for himself. We know and expect that he will tell a tale that even those of us who work in the trenches of the legal system will find believable. We also know that his books will be a great read.
Any fan of Grisham or legal fiction should enjoy this book.
Book Review: Another Grisham waste of time
Summary: 1 Stars
Once again I have foolishly bought a Grisham novel. This one is ponderous like many of his novels and unsatisfying, never really getting to a point.