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A review by gbliss
The Broker by John Grisham
1.0
To begin with, I'm not really "Finished," as in "I read the whole thing" Finished.
I'm "Finished," as "I am done with this dull as dishwater time suck."
Now that we have cleared that up, let's talk about what's wrong with this book that I abandoned about halfway through.
Everything.
Want me to be more precise?
Imagine a "page turner" where there a whole passages that are Italian vocabulary lessons. I kid you not. You see, the problem is that or "hero" has been transported to Italy by the CIA so (spoiler alert) someone other than the CIA can kill him*. This of course requires our English-only hero to learn Italian because God forbid he be granted a degree of facility with the language before. Nope. We get Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Yeah. Riveting stuff.
I was ok with the first twenty, and then the first fifty pages being all premise, setting up the rules on which a exciting plot could be hung. But, alas, half way through and the most exciting thing is the question of whether our "hero" will get to speak English or have to speak Italian at lunch with his tutor.
Now, about that *. Remember this fact: Our hero is removed from prison and transplanted to Italy so one of his many international enemies can kill him quietly and the CIA will not have their fingerprints on the kill. That is like the whole damn premise of this book.
Well guess what happens, about 100 pages in? The CIA quietly arranges to kill another US citizen in London who was NOT in hiding, NOT using an assumed name, NOT having endless Italian lessons, etc. And the guys dies without anyone suspecting the CIA.
Gee, why couldn't they do this for the main guy?
Well, that would have meant poor John Grisham wouldn't get an extended, tax-deductible or expense account sojourn to Italy. Yup. That is what this book feels like. Grisham essentially admits this in the acknowledgements. He says he "threw a dart" at a map to decide where to place our hero in hiding. He also states his eyes were open and that he loves Italy. Yup, John "More Money Than God" Grisham just wanted an excuse to hang out in Bologna for a few months on someone else's tab.
Nice work of you can get it. And he did!
And here's the thing. I love Italy. No, I really LOVE Italy. Heck, I picked up this book because it's set in Bologna and I'm going there in a few months. Gonna read me some Bologna-based fiction, I said. Grisham? He's exciting, I said.
I was expecting something a tad more scintillating than: Marco ordered "Un panini prosciutto e formaggio." A ham and cheese sandwich.
Thank heavens I got this from the library. I didn't waste $12 on this. Just a few hours I will NEVER GET BACK.
Ciao. (Bye)
I'm "Finished," as "I am done with this dull as dishwater time suck."
Now that we have cleared that up, let's talk about what's wrong with this book that I abandoned about halfway through.
Everything.
Want me to be more precise?
Imagine a "page turner" where there a whole passages that are Italian vocabulary lessons. I kid you not. You see, the problem is that or "hero" has been transported to Italy by the CIA so (spoiler alert) someone other than the CIA can kill him*. This of course requires our English-only hero to learn Italian because God forbid he be granted a degree of facility with the language before. Nope. We get Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Yeah. Riveting stuff.
I was ok with the first twenty, and then the first fifty pages being all premise, setting up the rules on which a exciting plot could be hung. But, alas, half way through and the most exciting thing is the question of whether our "hero" will get to speak English or have to speak Italian at lunch with his tutor.
Now, about that *. Remember this fact: Our hero is removed from prison and transplanted to Italy so one of his many international enemies can kill him quietly and the CIA will not have their fingerprints on the kill. That is like the whole damn premise of this book.
Well guess what happens, about 100 pages in? The CIA quietly arranges to kill another US citizen in London who was NOT in hiding, NOT using an assumed name, NOT having endless Italian lessons, etc. And the guys dies without anyone suspecting the CIA.
Gee, why couldn't they do this for the main guy?
Well, that would have meant poor John Grisham wouldn't get an extended, tax-deductible or expense account sojourn to Italy. Yup. That is what this book feels like. Grisham essentially admits this in the acknowledgements. He says he "threw a dart" at a map to decide where to place our hero in hiding. He also states his eyes were open and that he loves Italy. Yup, John "More Money Than God" Grisham just wanted an excuse to hang out in Bologna for a few months on someone else's tab.
Nice work of you can get it. And he did!
And here's the thing. I love Italy. No, I really LOVE Italy. Heck, I picked up this book because it's set in Bologna and I'm going there in a few months. Gonna read me some Bologna-based fiction, I said. Grisham? He's exciting, I said.
I was expecting something a tad more scintillating than: Marco ordered "Un panini prosciutto e formaggio." A ham and cheese sandwich.
Thank heavens I got this from the library. I didn't waste $12 on this. Just a few hours I will NEVER GET BACK.
Ciao. (Bye)