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A review by jenbsbooks
The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham, John Grisham
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
DNF at chapter 16, 30% of the way in ... it just wasn't grabbing me, and I was struggling to keep track of the timeline and the characters. While the blurb sets up the expectation of a story of two boys ... (Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco) it jumps back to give a full history of their fathers, and grandfathers. No chapter headers or anything to help me differentiate when the timeline was jumping back and forth. I got lost in the backstory ... and I just didn't really care.
It was all presented similarly to Erik Larson's non-fiction books, feeling very factual ... but this is fiction. I guess I just expect a little more ... flow, more emotion, description. It's been ages since I read (and really liked) some of Grisham's earlier works (The Runaway Jury sticking in my mind). [book:Sooley|56844943] was a more recent read, and finished it, but didn't love it, and it had a similar feel (of "is this fiction?")
I associate "law/trials" with Grisham, I guess based on his earlier work. In the 130 pages I got through, there was one little trial, I can't remember if it was in the grandfather or the father's timeline. I'm assuming there was a trial playing a more prominent part later in the book, but I was looking at the time left on my audiobook (I also had it in Kindle and physical format, I had tried turning to reading to see if my brain would "get it" better that way, but no ...) and 12 hours left? So many books! So little time! Not worth forcing myself if it's not something I'm enjoying.
3rd person/Past tense
Four parts with simple headers: The Boys, The Crusader, The Prisoners, The Row, 59 chronological chapters running throughout. No proFanity.
It was all presented similarly to Erik Larson's non-fiction books, feeling very factual ... but this is fiction. I guess I just expect a little more ... flow, more emotion, description. It's been ages since I read (and really liked) some of Grisham's earlier works (The Runaway Jury sticking in my mind). [book:Sooley|56844943] was a more recent read, and finished it, but didn't love it, and it had a similar feel (of "is this fiction?")
I associate "law/trials" with Grisham, I guess based on his earlier work. In the 130 pages I got through, there was one little trial, I can't remember if it was in the grandfather or the father's timeline. I'm assuming there was a trial playing a more prominent part later in the book, but I was looking at the time left on my audiobook (I also had it in Kindle and physical format, I had tried turning to reading to see if my brain would "get it" better that way, but no ...) and 12 hours left? So many books! So little time! Not worth forcing myself if it's not something I'm enjoying.
3rd person/Past tense
Four parts with simple headers: The Boys, The Crusader, The Prisoners, The Row, 59 chronological chapters running throughout. No proFanity.