The Last Thrill?
I just finished reading John Grisham’s The Last Juror. It is a great and easy read, the biographical sketch of a man’s life in a small Mississippi town as the publisher of the town’s sole newspaper for a decade. Some of the characters come alive in the various scenes, too.
The biggest weaknesses of the novel? It was billed as a thriller, where a rapist-killer stalks a jury as he kills them one by one, and the newspaper publisher is powerless to do anything but watch. Yet, the rapist-killer isn’t set loose for revenge until the final 80 pages, and I won’t reveal the ending, but the plot summary is misleading.
There are also times when Grisham just has the narrator tell us what the town is feeling, or otherwise state things matter-of-factly. There really isn’t a lot of time spent on visualization of certain subplots or emotions. And this might be because he’s spending more time trying to cover the decade that was his narrator’s life, rather than focus on the central plot point. (We don’t even realize the narrator is getting tired of being a reporter until he says it out right near the end of the book.)
But my summation is this: I think Grisham’s publisher is misrepresenting the kind of stories he writes. Others (like The King of Torts) were also labeled as thrillers when they all seem closer to fictional biographies, or character stories.
There certainly wasn’t much thrill in this so-called thriller.
That said, if you like character stories, definitely feel free to read this otherwise very good book.
Susan Henriques, former independent candidate for Student Body Treasurer, will be hosting a debate between the remaining candidates for Student Body Treasurer tomorrow, Monday, March 6, 2006, at 2:00PM in the Reitz Union Auditorium.
Henriques, who captured 23% of the vote in last week’s election, is hosting the debate for her supporters and other interested individuals to find out more about the Swamp Party’s Ryan Moseley and the Unite Party’s Lola Bovell. Both candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves, answer questions from Henriques, each other and the audience.
The run-off election for Student Body Treasurer will take place this Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
For more information, please visit http://www.susan4treasuer.com/
In other words, back to SG, you crazy fool! π
And here I thought people didn’t like seeing an alumni like myself interfering with the election… π
We don’t. Not all of us worship you.
But you do read and comment on a rather obsecure part-time blog of mine, don’t you?
I could careless what you think of me; I’ll post what I want when I want. For the last few weeks, SG elections were foremost on my mind. Now, not so much. Please continue to read if you wish.
If you are interested .. The video of today’s Treasurer’s Debate can be found at http://www.Susan4Treasurer.com
This is a lot of comments about SG for a post about John Grisham. LOL.