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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I just didn't like this book, and I don't quite remember why. It made me not want to read anything written by John Grisham ever again. I really just didn't buy the plot twists. It felt overly contrived, with weakly defined characters. I know it was a huge bestseller, but it just didn't do anything for me.
«En bok alle unge menn må lese» sa fetteren min. Sitter ikke nødvendigvis igjen med akkurat den følelsen, men jeg likte den! Easy read, selv om det tok meg en drøy måneds tid.
I read "The Firm" back in the nineties and remembered it as a fast-paced diversion that did not require too much thinking. So eager to read something not overly complicated, I picked it for a reread.
The story in a nutshell: Mitch (handsome, smart, ambitious) is hired by the firm. The firm is evil. The FBI wants to bring down the evil firm and requests Mitch's help. He and his wife are in terrible danger and need a way out.
What can I say... As far as I remember, this book kickstarted the Legal Crime Thriller. At the same time, it aged badly. Then again, it provides some marvelous insight into the world of white, successful men in the 80ties and 90ties, so I continued reading. Over the course of the story, I discovered sexism, ageism, homophobia, and dashes of racism, not to forget consumerism.
Now some of that is intentional, i.e. the expectation that women should get pregnant asap and then stop working comes from the evil firm and Mitch's wife Abby does not agree with it.
Lots of this is not intended, however, it just shows how society ticked 30 years ago.
Personally, I found the homophobic scene extremely grating: Mitch goes to see a private detective who's on the phone with an upset father. ("trying to convince a poor old man that his son was in fact a homosexual. A very active homosexual.") The detective has photographs as proof and these he shows to Mitch. - That's the scene and it serves no purpose at all in the grand scheme of the story. Well, it would serve a purpose if Mitch decided at this point that Eddie, the detective, was not trustworthy, but that doesn't happen.
The ageism, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud. It's just so ridiculous. Here's Mitch talking about his wife: "She was beautiful, much more so than when they were married. At twenty-four, she looked her age, but the years were becoming very generous."
Oh yes, those ancient twenty-four-year-old women... They can be so very glad when time is generous and does not add too many wrinkles to their faces.
There are more scenes like that concerning a forty-year-old ("somewhat attractive for her age"), and the hero's mother who is ancient at fifty-one with grey hair. We also get this bit of info about her: "She was frail and much thinner. Almost too thin. The black-and-white uniform fit snugly and squeezed her tiny waist." Okay, she's old and thin, but despite this fits snugly into her waitress's outfit? I have to admit that I found this description cringeworthy, especially as the description comes from her son.
Sexism is everywhere, e.g. the firm only hires elderly, unattractive women as secretaries. Otherwise, those poor lawyers can't concentrate, but constantly stare at them and need to have sex with them.
Breasts are described in abundance - these breasts frequently get rubbed over male forearms, because this is what women do, men drool over red shoes or red toenails, over tight-fitting sweaters (breast alert!) and short skirts.
At times, women's clothing is used as pars pro toto and we get amazing sentences like this:
"He headed for a table ... where two string bikinis had just sat down."
I assume that the string bikinis are worn by women; I also imagine penning an analog sentence. How about: "The two ladies sat down next to a g-string."
Women are used to men ogling them and find that somewhat flattering or have at least become used to this. Have some thought of Abby, Mitch's wife: "She walked rapidly through the airport, catching stares but ignoring them. They're just the usual stares of admiration and lust, she told herself. Nothing more." ... "A young father with a pretty wife and two babies kept staring at her legs, but no one else noticed her."
Actually, these scenes are spot on, because yes, the world I grew up in was very much like that. Men assessed you and occasionally whistled, and we women were supposed to take that as a compliment, not as an intolerable crossing of lines.
What I liked about the novel was that in some cases the focus on the female body works against the men: Mitch gets nearly black-mailed after sleeping with a woman planted by the firm; Tammy traps one of the evil lawyers with the promise of sex.
And yet, the scene of Mitch betraying his wife really, really pissed me off. Mitch's wife at this time in the book is a perfect wish-fulfillment-wife anyway, very beautiful, regularly having sex with her husband, always following her husband's lead. But when Mitch sees this woman on the beach he just can't help himself. After all, this woman has "large breasts" and with these, she will touch his forearm, I kid you not: "Her breasts, much larger now, lay on his left forearm." So yeah, needs must and all that, and Mitch has sex with her and the evil firm takes pics of that event. However, nothing ever comes of that. Mitch's wife, Abby, is only sent an empty envelope and never the actual pictures; Mitch never tells her what he did nor does he appear to feel all that guilty.
Then again, Mitch never feels all that much. He sometimes says that's he scared, but I never really felt it. Writing-wise, feelings are mostly "tell, not show". Surprisingly enough this was actually relaxing, because, hooray for an angst-free book! :-) [Sidenote: Perhaps that lack of emotions is one of the reasons for the novel's success; I imagine that many male readers prefer action over emotions.]
All in all, the characters are very much stereotypes: Mitch, the super-lawyer, handsome and oh-so-clever. Abby, his wonderful wife who goes along with whatever he suggests. Ray, tough brother of the hero. The character I enjoyed the most was Tammy who starts out as this woman with too much makeup and too short a skirt (Mitch has to look at the skirt a lot) and too tight tops, but who turns out to be extremely smart and courageous. I remember liking her a lot when I read "The Firm" back in the 90ties. Unfortunately, she doesn't have many scenes.
The evil lawyers don't really feel very individual: Nathan Locke has super-black, super-evil eyes, De Vasher is bald and fat and evil, Avery drinks too much and has too much sex, Lamar is kind of sad when some of his colleagues die. That's pretty much it for characterization.
The FBI agents are similarly non-specific. They are just there and naturally not as competent as Mitch the Hero!
So was there anything I liked?
I enjoyed that the reader initially always knows a bit more than the hero. We know the danger he's in even when he's unaware. This trick works remarkably well. Oh, and about half-way through, Grisham changes that trick: Suddenly, Mitch and his close helpers will know more than firm, FBI, and the reader. This means, we the reader, will wonder what trick Mitch will have up his sleeve.
Another plus is that Grisham is a fast-paced writer: With only a few words he can shape a new setting. At times, his descriptions are gritty and real, at others, they are too stereotypical. Still, I enjoyed his lightning-quick style.
Even Grisham's stereotypical characters have a certain pull at times: Precisely, because they are cardboard it's easy to identify with them for a little while.
Last but not least, I liked the weird journey back in time. It made me notice that in many ways the world did change for the better in the last 30 years. :-)
The story in a nutshell: Mitch (handsome, smart, ambitious) is hired by the firm. The firm is evil. The FBI wants to bring down the evil firm and requests Mitch's help. He and his wife are in terrible danger and need a way out.
What can I say... As far as I remember, this book kickstarted the Legal Crime Thriller. At the same time, it aged badly. Then again, it provides some marvelous insight into the world of white, successful men in the 80ties and 90ties, so I continued reading. Over the course of the story, I discovered sexism, ageism, homophobia, and dashes of racism, not to forget consumerism.
Now some of that is intentional, i.e. the expectation that women should get pregnant asap and then stop working comes from the evil firm and Mitch's wife Abby does not agree with it.
Lots of this is not intended, however, it just shows how society ticked 30 years ago.
Personally, I found the homophobic scene extremely grating: Mitch goes to see a private detective who's on the phone with an upset father. ("trying to convince a poor old man that his son was in fact a homosexual. A very active homosexual.") The detective has photographs as proof and these he shows to Mitch. - That's the scene and it serves no purpose at all in the grand scheme of the story. Well, it would serve a purpose if Mitch decided at this point that Eddie, the detective, was not trustworthy, but that doesn't happen.
The ageism, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud. It's just so ridiculous. Here's Mitch talking about his wife: "She was beautiful, much more so than when they were married. At twenty-four, she looked her age, but the years were becoming very generous."
Oh yes, those ancient twenty-four-year-old women... They can be so very glad when time is generous and does not add too many wrinkles to their faces.
There are more scenes like that concerning a forty-year-old ("somewhat attractive for her age"), and the hero's mother who is ancient at fifty-one with grey hair. We also get this bit of info about her: "She was frail and much thinner. Almost too thin. The black-and-white uniform fit snugly and squeezed her tiny waist." Okay, she's old and thin, but despite this fits snugly into her waitress's outfit? I have to admit that I found this description cringeworthy, especially as the description comes from her son.
Sexism is everywhere, e.g. the firm only hires elderly, unattractive women as secretaries. Otherwise, those poor lawyers can't concentrate, but constantly stare at them and need to have sex with them.
Breasts are described in abundance - these breasts frequently get rubbed over male forearms, because this is what women do, men drool over red shoes or red toenails, over tight-fitting sweaters (breast alert!) and short skirts.
At times, women's clothing is used as pars pro toto and we get amazing sentences like this:
"He headed for a table ... where two string bikinis had just sat down."
I assume that the string bikinis are worn by women; I also imagine penning an analog sentence. How about: "The two ladies sat down next to a g-string."
Women are used to men ogling them and find that somewhat flattering or have at least become used to this. Have some thought of Abby, Mitch's wife: "She walked rapidly through the airport, catching stares but ignoring them. They're just the usual stares of admiration and lust, she told herself. Nothing more." ... "A young father with a pretty wife and two babies kept staring at her legs, but no one else noticed her."
Actually, these scenes are spot on, because yes, the world I grew up in was very much like that. Men assessed you and occasionally whistled, and we women were supposed to take that as a compliment, not as an intolerable crossing of lines.
What I liked about the novel was that in some cases the focus on the female body works against the men: Mitch gets nearly black-mailed after sleeping with a woman planted by the firm; Tammy traps one of the evil lawyers with the promise of sex.
And yet, the scene of Mitch betraying his wife really, really pissed me off. Mitch's wife at this time in the book is a perfect wish-fulfillment-wife anyway, very beautiful, regularly having sex with her husband, always following her husband's lead. But when Mitch sees this woman on the beach he just can't help himself. After all, this woman has "large breasts" and with these, she will touch his forearm, I kid you not: "Her breasts, much larger now, lay on his left forearm." So yeah, needs must and all that, and Mitch has sex with her and the evil firm takes pics of that event. However, nothing ever comes of that. Mitch's wife, Abby, is only sent an empty envelope and never the actual pictures; Mitch never tells her what he did nor does he appear to feel all that guilty.
Then again, Mitch never feels all that much. He sometimes says that's he scared, but I never really felt it. Writing-wise, feelings are mostly "tell, not show". Surprisingly enough this was actually relaxing, because, hooray for an angst-free book! :-) [Sidenote: Perhaps that lack of emotions is one of the reasons for the novel's success; I imagine that many male readers prefer action over emotions.]
All in all, the characters are very much stereotypes: Mitch, the super-lawyer, handsome and oh-so-clever. Abby, his wonderful wife who goes along with whatever he suggests. Ray, tough brother of the hero. The character I enjoyed the most was Tammy who starts out as this woman with too much makeup and too short a skirt (Mitch has to look at the skirt a lot) and too tight tops, but who turns out to be extremely smart and courageous. I remember liking her a lot when I read "The Firm" back in the 90ties. Unfortunately, she doesn't have many scenes.
The evil lawyers don't really feel very individual: Nathan Locke has super-black, super-evil eyes, De Vasher is bald and fat and evil, Avery drinks too much and has too much sex, Lamar is kind of sad when some of his colleagues die. That's pretty much it for characterization.
The FBI agents are similarly non-specific. They are just there and naturally not as competent as Mitch the Hero!
So was there anything I liked?
I enjoyed that the reader initially always knows a bit more than the hero. We know the danger he's in even when he's unaware. This trick works remarkably well. Oh, and about half-way through, Grisham changes that trick: Suddenly, Mitch and his close helpers will know more than firm, FBI, and the reader. This means, we the reader, will wonder what trick Mitch will have up his sleeve.
Another plus is that Grisham is a fast-paced writer: With only a few words he can shape a new setting. At times, his descriptions are gritty and real, at others, they are too stereotypical. Still, I enjoyed his lightning-quick style.
Even Grisham's stereotypical characters have a certain pull at times: Precisely, because they are cardboard it's easy to identify with them for a little while.
Last but not least, I liked the weird journey back in time. It made me notice that in many ways the world did change for the better in the last 30 years. :-)
Wanted to re-read this book before listening to the long-awaited sequel. Definitely a page-turner, although the massive amount of characters became confusing toward the latter half.
I found this book to be incredibly dense and slow. Normally I don't mind a slower pace, but it took so long to get to anything interesting, and by the time I did I felt like reading was more of a chore than anything
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
You will like this book if you are stuck on a plane and it is your only option for entertainment. You will like this book if you are a 50 - 60 something white man who always thought they were a little smarter than they were given credit for. Definitely smarter than your boss. And those dumb politicians. You will like this book if the mention of a “low interest mortgage” gets your heart thrumming.
Entertaining, but at times a little slow. When I read suspense, I prefer it to move a little faster.