Customer Reviews

Ford County: Stories

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(39)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

John Grisham is a storyteller. For all the flack he takes for being a "pop" author, this man knows how to tell a tale. The only thing this book was missing was a rocking chair and a porch. These are stories that might have been told on a lazy Sunday evening while sitting on grandpa's lap listening to the cicadas playing a tune composed by Mother Nature. These stories run the gambit from touching, to sinister, to the unthinkable, to heart-wrenching to, "yep that's what you get", to my favorite... the "illegal yes, but I'll bet it felt so good"!
Until Grisham's `Playing for Pizza', I avoided his non-lawyer novels. Well, I ended up enjoying that one and I really enjoyed this one. Like I said earlier, John is a mesmerizing storyteller and, although these stories are not related in any way, they flow like they are.

My favorite story, by FAR, was `Fish Files'. (Think of the movie `Falling Down' without the violence and caffeine). Maybe it's because I wish for this sort of thing to happen to me or maybe because I love living vicariously through a story. Whatever the reason, I really enjoyed reading about Mack because he didn't hesitate when opportunity kicked down his door. Be a good man... bah! Sticking with good southern values... whatever! Doing what your Sunday school teacher said... yeah ummm... I think I'll pass. I simply loved this story!!

`Casino' came a very, very close second. Each one of these seven stories creates a different feeling, gives birth to a unique memory, speaks to hidden emotions, and, in a small way, enriches the human spirit. His pop success made him famous, but it's his ability to grab and never let go that makes his books unforgettable. As a book lover/fanatic, I really enjoy authors' who have that ZING it takes to grab my attention and that indescribable POW that keeps me reading. This is a wonderful, classic, short story collection.

America's greatest contribution to literary forms is the short story. Just refer to a strange looking gentleman named Poe. So why is it that so many prominent American writers today seem to have forgotten the short story?
John Grisham to the rescue! His recently published collection of short stories, "FORD COUNTY", is one of the best books of 2009.
The book is composed of seven beautifully written tales from Grisham's roots in Mississippi. Each story is a gem! The mostly contemporary plots range from hilarity ("Blood Drive") to heartache ("Michael's Room"). By the end of the last selection ("Funny Boy"), the reader wishes there were seven more.
This is a great writer at his best, and one hopes that in the future Mr. Grisham will bring us more tales from Ford County. Get the book and enjoy every word. "Ford County" is superb!

BRUCE SPERBER

Wow! I was at the bookstore this morning to check out the new releases and this was on a display so I picked it up. You know those books that you pick up out of curiosity and then read a page or two? And then another couple pages? And pretty soon you are all the way through the first story? This is one of those. I had to buy it because I'd gotten engrossed in Raymond's story, an inmate on death row who has written his memoir. I went home(the kids are sick today) and settled in with the book and started over from the beginning.

Clanton, the town where Grisham's first blockbuster "A Time to Kill" takes place is now the setting for a number of unique characters, something a bit of an island of misfit toys. The book is a composite of seven stories- and yet, maybe because of the setting and the writing style, the stories flowed into one another and gave me a sense of a bigger picture than just a collection of individual stories.

I haven't felt terribly compelled by Grisham in recent years, yet, these stories are good- really good. They felt warm and comfortable. His writing style reminds me of pulling on a pair of well worn jeans. His characters are robust, real and sympathetic. The themes are common and even if one can't relate to all of the characters, you will find something for just about everyone here.

Some of the scenes are a little far-fetched and yet, I think it is the characters and the sense of humor with which Grisham write that makes me not just believe, but want to believe. You can almost hear the drawl of the South and the world slowing down as you get deeper into the stories.

Plenty of intrigue and, of course, what Grisham is so well-known for- writing about the law and those who exact it. I don't think his usual legal thriller readers will be at all disappointed even if the pace is a bit slower- the writing is compelling enough to hold. A good collection in a somewhat neglected genre of short-storytelling, I recommend it wholly. I think it is some of his better work in recent history.

FORD COUNTY is just "okay." Two of the stories stood out more than the others for me.

I enjoyed the humorous "Blood Drive" that features three Ford County lads that embark on a trip to Memphis to donate blood. They allow themselves to get distracted a few times between home and the big city with hilarious results.

There is nothing funny about "Funny Boy," a story featuring an AIDS victim that returns to his boyhood home in the south for his final days. This story about prejudice and fear is ready-made for a weepy Movie of the Week.

All of the stories are easy to read, but none of them are exceptional. None of the tales are page-turners, but they do make for an afternoon of enjoyable, light reading.

This book contains seven new short stories by the legendary John Grisham. All are built around Ford County Mississippi where the novel that launched his career "TIME TO KILL" was set. While Grisham's recent novels have been met with mixed emotions... I found these seven stories interestingly mesmerizing. As a reviewer it's a little tougher to give potential readers an overview of short stories as compared to a full Grisham novel because the reviewer has to be more careful not to give away key spoilers... which in a short story is very easy to do. What I found compelling was the ability of the author... even with the limited pages for each of the stories... to create quick... detailed... enthralling character studies... seemingly with the "flick" of his wrist... despite not having his normal availability of a full book's canvas in which to paint his characters nuances.

It's within these character depictions that the author deftly... and almost intrinsically... is able to tug at the reader's heart and have tears begin to form one minute... then lightly chuckle as he quickly carves out ludicrous delineations that frame the lesser hanger-ons that dot society.

Within all these stories there seems at first to be numerous good versus evil scenario's... but at times... the evil and good can't be separated in such a black and white lens. A sampling (in random order) of some of Grisham's plots include rumors growing and changing... trips to a blood bank that starts off with the best of intentions and yet winds up in a bloody strip club brawl... a kidnapping of a lawyer who is forced to see the result of his defense work from the wretched side of the victim... a family trip to an execution... a marriage gone bad and the bending of the legal system in an attempt to turn a nightmare into a dream... a character in a nursing home that allows larceny and empathy to exist in the same soul... a husband scorned who starts playing his "cards" right which leads to a serendipitous turn of events... and a look back at a dying 1980's AIDS patient and his effect on a Mississippi town.
The titles and page lengths of the seven stories are:

1. Blood Drive (44 pages)

2. Fetching Raymond (50 pages)

3. Fish Files (46 pages)

4. Casino (36 pages)

5. Michael's Room (34 pages)

6. Quiet Haven (54 pages)

7. Funny Boy (43 pages)

The communicational power of Grisham's words that target and hit the bull's-eye of life's characters quickly and adroitly... lead me to believe that despite the short nature of these stories... a number of them can easily be made into full length motion pictures.

"Ford County" is quite simply proof that John Grisham can write. Obviously, he gets a lot of grief from those who dismiss his work as plot-driven fluff. But there is and always was more to his work than that. Writing in the more confined forms of the short story--where intricate plot twists and long-built tension are impossible--Grisham shows us he can be as entertaining with tools such as interesting characters and truths about human nature we can all recognize.

It's also his funniest work. I'm glad he wrote it. Not that it will change the literati's impression of fiction that is meant to entertain an audience (heaven forbid). But I can practically guarantee that, had Grisham used a pen-name for these stories, the critics would have hailed an important new voice in Southern literature. Go figure. Good for you, John.

This is a book I couldn't put down. An excellent read and I highly recommend it. This would be a great book to read on a plane. Not too heavy and exactly the light reading I enjoy when I travel.

This is a wonderful book of 7 short stories and another example of John Grisham's great imagination and/ or perhaps life experiences.
These stories take place in Ford County and in Clanton in Mississippi and they deal with various contemporary issues of these denizens, and range from funny and comical to serious and as a pathetic reminder to our messed up world. They are the stories of simple folks, some of whom face their challenges with the only way they know.
We laugh at the hilarious story of the incompetent blood donors, who were forced into action, as well as the story about the retirement home escapades. We marvel at corrupt small town lawyers, a negligent doctor, whose unchallenged incompetence has lead to serious birth defects in a child and we confront death penalty at the 'big house' Parchman which is familiar to Grisham readers. There is casino gambling on 'indian tribes' territory, with a man who 'beats the bank', and corrupt lawyers and insurance companies anger us and finally we see the effects of AIDS on a community, family and victim. He tells the stories of very believable people, sometimes strong people, who do the best they can, and shows the often terrible chasm that exists between the legal world and the rest of the world and how often there is very little understanding and that many people live lives of quiet desperation.....a very readable and enjoyable book.

In an episode of the TV show, 3rd Rock From The Sun, the Soloman's are sitting in a living room reading books, Dick asks what the others are reading, they reply, the "new John Grisham about the idealistic young lawyer" and they all switch books. That's the way I've felt about John Grisham's novels, they're fast paced, keep the reader turning the pages, with a chase followed by an explosion, there wasn't much depth to the characters, and the books will entertain you for an afternoon, but after you're done there's not much left to hang onto, they were interchangeable. With Ford County, Grisham plants those literary roots and takes hold, trading fast food for a feast.

In Ford County Grisham doesn't stray too far from his legal roots, most of the characters are lawyers, plantiffs, defendants or people suffering repercussions of the legal system. The difference from his other novels, he adds depth to the characters. The plots of the stories in Ford County are all character driven and Grisham adds dramatic tension and emotion of the characters. and the situations which might at first seem to have simple answers don't seem as easy as when you started the story.

All of the stories in Ford County have their own attraction. Blood Drive gives an altogether different meaning to the phrase and shows how the best of intentions can go all to hell in a short amount of time. Fish Files posits the theory that for lawyers, divorce is the way to realize all your dreams of success. Fetching Raymond and Michael's Room are two stories that the characters are really well drawn and create their own tension. And they'll really turn your head around and leave you thinking because the situations at the end aren't as easily resolvable as at the beginning and leave you wondering who is right and who is wrong in the situations the characters find themselves in.

Am I a literary snob? Yes. So is Grisham. He's cited William Faulkner as an influence for years, but his novels haven't lived up to the literary standard he wants to emulate. In the last story, Funny Boy, Grisham challenges those ideas and seemingly takes on Thomas Wolfe's dictum "that you can't go home again." Funny Boy shows that bigotry hasn't disappeared but has evolved. It's not the bigotry of race but of ignorance, and the main characters discover they have some things in common they might not have otherwise realized. Grisham invokes Faulkner in the story, and the understanding and empathy the characters discover in each other are worthy of the Faulkner allusion.

I don't think John Grisham's fans will be disappointed with these short stories, although, the stories are slower paced than his novels. And people who heretofore avoided Grisham will be pleasantly surprised at the discovery of the writer within John Grisham.

See numerous summaries above.
Okay, I normally don't read short stories, but when I saw Grisham's name on this one and some advanced reviews I decided to give it a shot. Didn't short stories usually have some sort of surprise at the end? While these seven shorts were easy and entertaining enough to read they didn't give me any "Wow!, I didn't see that coming" surprises. Quality writing and interesting characters chronicling a county in Mississippi gave this a passing review.