Customer Reviews

The Appeal

5 star:		(132)
4 star:		(112)
3 star:		(116)
2 star:		(162)
1 star:		(197)

 

 

I've just finished reading more than 250 pages of filler with nothing worth mentioning at the end of it all, except that the ending "majorly" sucked.

Essentially a sordid tale of big business and politics vs. big verdicts and class action lawsuits, it begins nicely, and gathers steam, then proceeds to continue blowing hot air at the reader until the unsatisfactory quickie ending.

While there's some food for thought regarding how the legal, political, religious and business arenas may all be connected, there's more garnish than meat in a story which could have been cut by about 100 pages of the filler, and sweetened with about 50 more pages of conclusion for dessert.

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS)

1. Large company dumps chemicals in rural community
2. Water changes color
3. People get sick
4. Some die
5. Small law firm files lawsuit
6. Large verdict awarded
7. Big business takes over
8. Money talks
9. Once again, Grisham gets tired of his own rambling and wraps up story in indecent haste leaving most of his ends dangling
10. His ends aren't pretty

I'd like to sue for 50% of my money back, plus loss of productive time, legal costs and mental trauma, and also for punitive damages, but I guess I'd lose on appeal.

Rated: 2.5 stars for half of a good book

The Innocent Man


Amanda Richards, March 21, 2008

Grisham has written some wonderful books. Unfortunately, The Appeal is not one of them. He has a point which is that elected judges create a problem and an opportunity for abuse. We all agree. By the way so do appointed judges.

The plot has been described by others. My issue with this effort is that everybody was predictable. The good folks were perfect. Plaintiff lawyers who will bankrupt themselves for a case they believe in. Not like many plaintiff lawyers who I have run into. The company and its owners are completely bad. When a character such as the general counsel of the company looks to be a little interesting he is ignored.

Grisham in my view has always had the ability to develop believable characters who were interesting. All the leading characters in this book were boring and too much of a stereotype.

I picked up a copy of "The Appeal" to make the 8 hours I had to wait in the airport go a little faster, and it served its purpose. The time went by quickly. I enjoyed the book very much. Then, I got home and decided to sit down and finish it, and that's where things got ugly.

The end of this book and even the message from John Grisham himself at the end of the book leave the reader to only one conclusion: "The Appeal" is not a legal thriller. Instead it is a propaganda piece that has big business involvement in politics between its crosshairs. I'm not saying I don't agree with the point Grisham makes here, but I bought this book to be entertained. At the end of the day, the actions of the heros end up meaning absolutley nothing and make the reader feel like they just had 400 pages of their life wasted.

I want to remember The Firm, The Broker, The Trial Lawyer ....they were engaging and objective, without any obvious political bias.
However the latest work by Grisham is basically full of political propaganda with some plot around it.

If you think that trail lawyers are white knights and underdogs, unions have no political power, and businesses exist only to pollute and abuse workers - pay for 350 pages that have little else. I was bored with it after the first 50 pages... too bad, I have been a Grisham's fan for decades.-

Evil uncaring chemical baron Carl Trudeau's company has been poisoning the city of Bowmore's drinking water for years. After people start coming down with cancer and related ailments, the company cuts and runs to Mexico leaving hundreds of people ill and dying and the ground water contaminated. A scrappy altruistic attorney couple(the Paytons) sues Krane on behalf of a widowed client and wins a sizeable settlement. Carl Trudeau chooses to fight back, using his deep pockets and political connections.

I wanted to like this story, but I felt the good guy characters-particularly the attorneys -(the Paytons), were annoying. They were a little too perfect, a little too altruistic... It was very saccharine. The Paytons were both such Mary Sue's I didn't identify with them at all. Ironically, I liked the antics of the evil villains more because at least their plots and plans were entertaining.

Overall this was a decent book, but I found the simplistic character development aggravating.

John Grisham will be ending his absence from the New York Times Best Seller's List (fiction) with the arrival "The Appeal." Grisham's first legal thriller since the Broker (2005) is a gripping and compelling read that will be hard to put down. It is also timely since it highlights the underbelly of today's election politics.

The story centers on a small Mississippi law firm who wins a big verdict over a chemical giant, Krane, that has spread carcinogenic pollutants. Krane, fearful that this verdict, if not overturned, would set a precedent that would eventually destroy it, goes into action. It files an appeal that will find its way to the state supreme court, and hires a "dirty tricks" firm to unseat a sitting justice believe to be unfriendly. This is a viable strategy since Mississippi elects their Supreme Court justices and 69% of its voters know little about the court's candidates.

The "Appeal" provides a believable primer on how to rig an election - pick a victim; promote an unknown candidate with no visible record; and ambush the victim by painting him/her as a extreme ideologue (this liberal judge will destroy the family). Done well...and the election process is subverted.

This is Grisham's thirteenth legal thriller since "A Time to Kill" which was published in 1989. He has been a master at putting urgent moral issues on center stage for all to consider. He has succeeded again in "The Appeal."

I'll start this review by stating that I didn't finish this book. I got about half way through, and was so irritated by his characters that I looked at the ending to see if it was going to go the way I thought, which it did. Off to the "basement" pile it went. It seems like every other Grisham "novel" is merely an editorial statement on his political views regarding the hot button issue of the day. I know some reviewers liked how realistic this book was, but I think most fiction readers want to escape from reality; I know I do. This book isn't worth the time it takes to read the plot summary on the back cover. Spend your money on his older books, don't waste it on this one.

I've followed Grisham's career for years, enjoying everything from his legal thrillers to his novellas. Sure, some of his more recent legal outings have faltered ("The Brethren" was awful, for example), but I've hung in there. Recently, he released "Playing for Pizza," and I thought this might be his attempt at regaining a second wind by doing something offbeat. Offbeat, indeed. I cannot recommend that particular book to anyone, based on the milquetoast lead character and his refusal to learn, change, mature, or give a decent story.

With the arrival of "The Appeal," I once again let my hopes soar. I heard some good feedback from a bookstore owner. I bought the book, and--to my thorough amazement--breezed through the first hundred pages in one sitting. The old Grisham was back, I told myself. This might be one of his best in years. All the pieces were in place for a great story.

Although "The Appeal" is nothing original, I was hooked by Grisham's portrayal of David and Goliath characters. The giant: Carl Trudeau, owner of a company that has illegally dumped chemicals into Mississippi waters and earth, resulting in cancer, leukemia, and the lost lives of many local townspeople. The midget: Payton & Payton, a law team of husband and wife who have risked everything to bring about justice. Grisham paints both protagonists and his antagonist with skill and empathy. Trudeau and his shallow trophy-wife were the villains you love to hate. I kept turning the pages.

As usual, Grisham takes issue with something in our legal system and makes a moral or political point. Here, he mixes familiar ingredients from "The Firm" (manipulation), rants from "The Chamber" (capital punishment), and bits from "The King of Torts" (huge settlements). Where he falters is in his shifting of focus from David and Goliath to a host of other participants in the drama. What starts as great fiction turns into a mishmash of thinly veiled non-fiction. After page 120, I could've sworn I was wading through portions of "The Innoce nt Man" (a decent non-fiction title, by the way). I wanted a novel, though. Sure, I had expected a "message" from Grisham, but I'd also hoped to follow strong characters from first to last page.

My verdict, like the supreme court in this book, hung in the balance to the very end. Maybe the climax (never a Grisham strength) would redeem the faltering storytelling. Maybe I'd be swayed back to the fondness I felt for the first third of the story. Instead, Trudeau, the love-to-hate villain, turns into a cartoonish character ("he laughed and rubbed his hands together"...an actual quote). Then, Grisham throws in an uncharacteristic deus ex machina to tease, then trick, the reader.

I have to give the book two stars for pointing out huge flaws in the election system, regarding campaign funds and the ability, in essence, to purchase a judge--a fact that still remains in over thirty states. All of this makes readable non-fiction. And for many pages, I thought that's what I was sifting through, because it had strayed so far from the norms of good fiction.

Will I get my hopes up again? No. Will I buy the next Grisham? I think not. He apparently has forgotten how to care about his characters for more than half a book. In so doing, he has left me feeling the same.

It is hard to believe that this book was written by John Grisham. I found it to be agonizingly slow reading and devoid of Grisham's wonderful sense of humor. By the time I finished it I was sorry that I hadn't followed my initial urge to put it aside and read something else.

This predictable and tedious novel redefines the legal thriller. Apparently, plot twists and interesting characters are no longer required in this genre. All you need is a cliche plot, an evil company, some innocent victims, an oppressed do-gooder lawyer or two and some legalese. Put them all together, shake, stir and pour. However they spill out onto the page is just fine.

I wouldn't consider myself an overly discriminating reader, but Grisham has fallen so far from the days of The Firm and A Time to Kill that it just renews my disappointment every time he cranks out a mediocre book like this.

You will not be surprised by anything in this book; not the plot, not the characters, nothing. It was a chore getting through it and I wouldn't have made it if not for a long layover during my holiday travel. Not worth the purchase. Not even at a half-off store. Not even worth checking out from the library.

If you're new to John Grisham, go read anything he wrote more than 10 years ago. Since then, he's been in mass-production mode, cranking out as many books as he can to cash in. I don't blame him, but I hate him for it.