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The beginning of the story was captivating. It isn't often that I read a plot line that involves war-torn African countries and refugee camps. The hope of turning a budding talent into a better life for one's self and family is a draw.
I realize with a sport being the way out of poverty the book is going to have to cover some games, but good lord the blah-blah-blah describing the intimate details of a bunch of overtall men running back and forth in a rectangle after a round ball was excruciating. There was so much sportsball lingo that even when I tried to read those sections I couldn't tell what was going on. Is a "bomb" a good thing or a bad thing?
Back to the real plot. The twist at the end was sad and from there the book got stuck in the typical John Grisham rut: characters snap their fingers and things just happen that should get bogged down in logistics, brief descriptions of richness and power and fancy lunches and the world bending to the will of good. I realize that the elements of his writing that I can overlook or enjoy in a vintage book like The Firm don't age well here. In particular the casual misogyny of all or most of the characters being powerful men and women being relegated to inconsequential roles described only by their looks or sexually servicing men. The 18 year-old males of the sportsball team are "men" while the 20s females who hang on at the parties are "girls". It feels like he tries with the Miss Ida character but then falls back into unthinking 1950s gender roles as soon as the plot focuses on other things. It took me until this book to realize that I just can't overlook that anymore by telling myself the sucker was written 20 years ago.
I realize with a sport being the way out of poverty the book is going to have to cover some games, but good lord the blah-blah-blah describing the intimate details of a bunch of overtall men running back and forth in a rectangle after a round ball was excruciating. There was so much sportsball lingo that even when I tried to read those sections I couldn't tell what was going on. Is a "bomb" a good thing or a bad thing?
Back to the real plot. The twist at the end was sad and from there the book got stuck in the typical John Grisham rut: characters snap their fingers and things just happen that should get bogged down in logistics, brief descriptions of richness and power and fancy lunches and the world bending to the will of good. I realize that the elements of his writing that I can overlook or enjoy in a vintage book like The Firm don't age well here. In particular the casual misogyny of all or most of the characters being powerful men and women being relegated to inconsequential roles described only by their looks or sexually servicing men. The 18 year-old males of the sportsball team are "men" while the 20s females who hang on at the parties are "girls". It feels like he tries with the Miss Ida character but then falls back into unthinking 1950s gender roles as soon as the plot focuses on other things. It took me until this book to realize that I just can't overlook that anymore by telling myself the sucker was written 20 years ago.