I have once more sat down to try and end this stacking up of read books. Most likely this has something to do with the fact that I have told myself that I am not allowed to start reading another book until I have done the reviews for the ones I have finished... and that have been finished for some time now.
Now that I have finished my jigsaw and have seriously fallen out with my cryptic crosswords, the only other chore to do is the dusting of the living room and the cleaning of the bathroom I am finding myself strangely well motivated to start the job at hand.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
This was the first Grisham novel I have ever read. It was a nice initial encounter and by a happy accident it was also the first novel Grisham ever wrote. It is a good first novel.
The start of the novel almost made me put it away again as it starts with the brutal rape of a little girl, however, bear with Grisham as it does serve its purpose and it does set the scene for what happens afterwards. I think Grisham succeeds very well in getting you to the place that you need to be at to understand what motivates daddy Carl Lee to do what he does. It seems that the expectations that Carl Lee has of his state's justice system are so low that he decides to take the law into his own hands. So, from the start we know who has done what in this one. We know who raped the little girl, we know what her father does to revenge this. At the same time you feel that in the Southern USA things are never quite as simple as they seem to be.
Jake Brigance is the local lawyer that is hired by the accused, Carl Lee. Jake is a young gun, a bit on the ambitious side but underneath he seems to have a good heart and a sharp mind. He has a lovely wife and a little girl and is able to get by pretty well in the little town of Clanton. The place itself seems like a nice enough little town. People seem to get on well enough with one another although I do get the feeling at times that it would not take a lot to set things off!
Jake gets involved in the case early on and he helped by a team of crack assistants.... not really. There is his old mentor and friend Lucien. Lucien has seen the inside of many a whisky bottle but I like him as he seems to what he very damn well pleases. Not to mention he has a keen legal mind and a few bob tucked away to bribe those who do not see things his way. Then we have Harry Rex, Clanton's divorce lawyer who has been taken to the cleaners himself a few times. Also not a stranger to the beer or whisky vendors of the state he is one of the few that decides to help Jake out with the trial and stick with it. Then we also have Ellen... the magical intern that seems to be way too clever for her own good but still a very nice character with it. I am not sue I see the reason for the suggested sexual tension between her and Jake but maybe Grisham just wanted to her to have something else to do but research cases and file away files. the story sure does not need it as there is plenty going on. Together they for Jake's defence team and boy does he need one. I think that even Jake at times does not believe he is going to win this one or even get a draw. What starts out as a local case soon becomes way too big for its boots and ends up drawing in all sorts of opinionated journalists and radicals from all over the South. the black community pulls together and organises protests and collections. Although it takes some doing before Carl Lee and his family get to see any of the money collected for them. The scene where they confront the reverend about the money collected is one of the best ones in the book! Stupidity and sanctimony are strange bedfellows and do not ensure good judgement.
Even the KKK makes an appearance in the little town of Clanton to ensure their side of the story gets attention. They do their usual; wear stupid outfits, incite a few arguments and then stand back, burn a few crosses, point fingers, get fingers broken (Go Ozzie!) and in the end cry off.
Once the trial starts you see that Jake does his best for Carl Lee but at times it really seems that it will all come to nothing. Jake's star witness is reduced to nothing, his best intern gets attacked by the clan, Jake's house gets burned down and everyone seems to become real friendly with the inside of a booze bottle. The more the trial continues the more sorrows are drowned and not talked about. It is a kind of David and Goliath struggle. Jake, the slick, young local lad against the machinery of the state represented by the slick mr Buckley. As a reader you kind of know that Jake will win in the end but from the way the court case goes it seems by no means a dead cert.
In the midst of all of this you do get a very good insight into the workings of law processes and procedures and this is where it sometimes gets a bit lost. It seems to want to tell the tale of one man an his fight against the justice system and it sometimes makes the justice system more the star of the show. I found it a bit hard to sympathise with the Justice System... I had much more sympathy for Carl Lee, Jake and those who worked in it, with it and against it to ensure justice was served.
There were a few things that were strange and annoying. For one, when Ellen gets attacked it is almost as if Jake does not care or does not have time to think about it. She is kind of sidelined and you never hear fro her again.. not even after the trial. then there is the neat little wrapped up present of how the jury reached the decision they did. To be honest I would rather not have known this. It is like getting to see the what happened next that looks really really awful and not in character with the rest of what has happened so far.
The book has a good pace, it sell written, clear and precise. It has great characters in it.. I personally will vote for Lucien if he ever decides to run for mayor! You go through a lot with the main characters and they are a nice lot to spend a good few hours with.
Title: A Time to Kill
author: John Grisham
738 pages
Arrow Books
ISBN# 978-0-099-55816-3
Books to be read: 151
No comments:
Post a Comment