Personal Injuries [Hardcover]

Scott Turow (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (1980)
• ASIN: B000N75EB0
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (233 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Scott Turow was born in Chicago in 1949. He graduated with high honors from Amherst College in 1970, receiving a fellowship to Stanford University Creative Writing Center which he attended from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1975 Turow taught creative writing at Stanford. In 1975, he entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors in 1978. From 1978 to 1986, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, serving as lead prosecutor in several high-visibility federal trials investigating corruption in the Illinois judiciary. In 1995, in a major pro bono legal effort he won a reversal in the murder conviction of a man who had spent 11 years in prison, many of them on death row, for a crime another man confessed to.

Today, he is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal an international law firm, where his practice centers on white-collar criminal litigation and involves representation of individuals and companies in all phases of criminal matters. Turow lives outside Chicago

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, compelling, moving - Turow is a master, November 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Personal Injuries (Scott Turow) (Hardcover)

Scott Turow does not write John Grisham novels. Many of us who read Turow read him because he doesn't churn out the the lowbrow, predictable pablum of other popular genre writers. Personal Injuries is magnificent - filled with complex, multi-faceted characters who are never entirely good or evil but, like most of us, somewhere in-between. The character of Robbie Feaver kept surprising me and challenging my initial perceptions (kinda like some of the people in my own life, how 'bout that!). I found the plot involving corrupt judges to be absolutely compelling and helped immeasurably by Turow's obvious experience with similar circumstances. I finished the novel last night and couldn't help but weep while reading the final 20 pages. Not only did I find the conclusion moving but the novel and the challenges of its characters left me with questions about my own life to think about. Now, what more could I ask of a piece of fiction?

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful read, February 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Personal Injuries (Scott Turow) (Hardcover)

It is amazing how many people missed the boat on this one. The very first review says it all. "Personal Injuries" isn't about plot or story line or fast pace or excitement or courtroom drama.

As I read the book I kept waiting for something to happen until I realized that something was happening. I was watching an author create a cast of characters who peopled any room I read this book in. Exquisitely drawn and beautifully built as seen through the eyes of not the first person narrator but the main character Robbie Feaver (pronounced "favor" as he tells us).

Further, Turow's portrayal of ALS and its effect on family members as well as the victim is heartbreaking. Such sadness!

Turow also leads us into the dark world of witness protection, the FBI and the battle of jurisdiction, political ambition and political medelling, etc.

Well done, Mr. Turow. Some of us understood where you were going and what you were doing.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A legal thriller based in reality, May 28, 2000

By 

Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Personal Injuries (Scott Turow) (Hardcover)

Do you like legal thrillers, but are you somehow haunted by the belief that John Grisham doesn't really know what it's like to be a lawyer? Are you a patient reader? If the answer is yes to both questions, then this book is for you. The book, which involves a federal investigation into a corrupt judiciary scheme takes place in Turow's fictional Kindle County. We meet Robbie Feaver as he is coerced into cooperating with the investigation. The book takes off slowly and at the beginning, I confess I really did not like the book all that much. It was a little dry and sometimes had the look and feel of a legal memo (which are not that exciting, and if you've never read one, trust me on this). There was something that kept me reading and I am glad I did. I think it may have simply been the fact that the characters and what they do are truly realistic. As the book continues, Turow throws in some interesting, and yet still believable plot twists. His characters, at least the main ones are fairly multidimensional and the world they live in not all black and white, good and evil, but shades of grey. Robbie is not the most likable character, but is ultimately sympathetic. His choices, like those of the other characters, were not always good ones, but he is human. All in all this is an enjoyable novel if you have the patience to stick throught the first 100 pages or so.