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42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Its about Time!, July 25, 1996
By A Customer
Finally, A Time to Kill, John Grisham's first novel, is a feature length movie. I just read this book, but I knew it was realeased in 1989. I'm only thirteen, and this was my first Grisham book.
In this story, Grisham hits us with a subject that most might not like to discuss: child rape. Ten-year old Tonya Hailey is brutally raped and almost killed by two drunken rednecks; perhaps the saddest and hardest part to get through with the addition of little Tonya's dream of her father running to get her. After this horrid crime is committed, Tonya's father, Carl Lee exacts vengeance on the two rednecks, and kills them. He is put on trial, and lawyer Jake Brigance is introduced to us. He takes Carl Lee's case and must face his hated enemy, Rufus Buckley, in court. The days leading to the trial are filled with KKK threats, riots between blacks and the KKK, and several other chills and spills. Finally, the trial comes and the small town of Clanton, where the trial is held, is occupated by journalists, soldiers, KKK members, and thousands of blacks, as they all wait for the verdict on the edge of their seats..
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your Eyes Will Bleed as You Pour Through the Pages, August 26, 2008
Gwen Hailey calls her husband Carl Lee at work, tells him their daughter, ten-year-old Tonya is missing. Carl Lee isn't all that worried though, because his wife tends to be, well a little protective. However when he gets home he's met with the news that Tonya has been raped by a pair of redneck types named Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. Tonya had been left for dead and Carl Lee is seeing red. He's African American and does not believe the rapists are going to get what they deserve. Though they're arrested, Carl Lee knows how it goes in the South, so he goes to the courthouse and blows away those young good old boys, then he gets himself a lawyer.
Attorney Jake Brigance takes the case, which gets plenty of media attention right from the get go. It also draws the attention of the Clan, who do their best to intimidate both Jake (they burn a cross on his yard) and the jurors. Carl Lee is looking at the gas chamber if he's convicted and many want it so, however, there are many who believe Carl Lee had been justified. Tension is running high in the Mississippi town of Clanton. Jake's wife is afraid for their daughter Hannah. His secretary is afraid, too. The town doesn't need this, but it's got it.
And you may not need the tension in this book, nor the graphic scene detailing what happened to Tonya, but you should read this book. This is John Grisham's best work, it's his first novel, too. Everything John Grisham writes tops the bestseller lists and they should, but this book, well they need a whole new list for this book. John Grisham puts you in the South at a tense time and paints a picture so true it'll make your eyes bleed as you pour through the pages. He's written a book about a time in the South that the South would love to forget about. We were a different people then, thank the Lord we're changing. We're not their yet, but we're getting there.
Reviewed by Vesta Irene
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Way Better than Killing Time Watching TV, August 7, 2000
Jake Brigance is a small-town lawyer with a small-town law practice, taking nickel & dime cases to make ends meet. A young attorney in Clanton, Mississippi, Jake's future as a big-time criminal defense lawyer is incredibly turned down a frightening path in which he encounters the desperate and grim face of racism at its worst. Because of his skill in defending Lester Hailey, Jake is hired to defend Carl Lee Hailey in hopes of obtaining Carl Lee's freedom, despite Carl Lee's admittedly pre-meditated murder of two white men, Billy Ray Cobb and Ernest "Pete" Willard. The rape of ten year old Tanya, Carl Lee's daughter, by Billy Ray and Pete, has to be one of the most torturous events in fiction that Grisham has written; to even imagine that two men could perpetrate such an act on so young a child is absolutely horrific and incredible. Throughout, Grisham plays strongly on the premise that people who have children know exactly what they would do, were they in Carl Lee's shoes - to avenge the horror of such despicable actions in the only way such men would understand - violent death. When I first read this novel, I was angered and irritated by the depth of hatred that exists within racism. I was angered that had Carl Lee been a white man bent on avenging his daughter's suffering, he would never have had to face trial. Grisham in fact, points this out several times throughout the novel, and this becomes a rallying point for Carl Lee's supporters. Whereas vigilante justice is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination, Grisham appeals to the emotions of parents - black or white - and succeeds in winning us over. In fact, this is exactly how the jury decides Carl Lee's fate, rejecting the pressure of the Klan, as well as the black community who thronged the courthouse chanting, "Free Carl Lee!". A Time to Kill is a disturbing novel, aside from the raping and killing that opens the tale. It is not possible to look at our justice system the same way, especially from the viewpoint of the black community in the South - even today. It seems that although we have come far since the 1960's and Dr. King, Grisham would have us believe that not much has changed for the better. Peace Out.
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