This was the first John Grisham book that I ever read. A friend recommended Sycamore Row and sent me an e-book to read. E-books are not my favorite format. I prefer paper. But I liked what I managed to read of the book. Here was an author who knew how to keep the reader's interest.My interest was piqued and I tried to look for the book in my library. I failed to find it, but I wanted to read something else by John Grisham and picked up The Last Juror.As it turned out, the plot of the novel was indeed eyeball grabbing. Willie Traynor, a young college graduate, armed with a degree in Journalism, arrives in the fictional town of Clanton, Ford County, Mississippi, in 1970s, to work for a newspaper that barely prints a thousand copies. Soon after his arrival, the owner is served a bankruptcy notice.The paper is up for sale, dirt cheap. Traynor has a rich grandmother who is prevailed upon to invest in the paper, and Willie finds himself, at 23 years of age, owner of a small-town newspaper. He works himself to the bone trying to turn a losing proposition to a winning one. He is unexpectedly handed a publicity bonanza when a young woman is found murdered in the outskirts of the town. Her murderer, Danny, nabbed almost immediately, is scion of the infamous Padgitt clan.A trial starts and the whole town suddenly sees the need to buy Willie's newspaper. He fills the paper with not always impartial, often opinionated news, but he makes it a selling proposition once more. In the process, he falls in love with the small town and its people, and he fights hard to maintain the integrity of the town.This novel is practically un-put-down-able. I neglected my housework in a bid to turn the next page and find out what happened next.Like the hero of the novel, John Grisham also lived in deep south in a small town. He was a trial lawyer though, not a newspaperman. After working for years as a successful lawyer, John Grisham took to writing novels. His career graph (professional to author) reminded me of another favorite author of mine, A.J. Cronin, who became a successful author after years of being a medical practitioner. It is not surprising that several of John Grisham's books have been turned into Hollywood films. His plots are imaginative and rich, his characters are dramatic and memorable and his story-telling is powerful and evocative.
SPOILERS AHEAD:Longstory short:Did I like the story? Yes.Did it miss a lot of opportunities? Yes.But is it worth the read? Yes.Would you read it again? Got better things to do.Would I recommend it? Probably.OKAY, now the spoilers.Is nobody going to talk about Ginger? The she was written off just like that?I have so many things to say about this book but I don't have the time and I'm really hungry so I'm gonna make this short.The book was... okay. I mean, I adored Miss Callie and the Ruffin Family, but there were some points in the story that had direction but their potential was evidently ignored. Plus the Hank Hooten thing was far too obvious. I have so many questions! How are Rhoda Kassellaw's children? I mean the killer of their mother had been rumored to be killing the jurors! That was 9 years AFTER the murder! The kids, who are probably a little grown up by then, talking about the jurors getting killed or whatever could have added a little more substance to the story. Also, did they KNOW Hank Hooten? And if so, how well did they know him? And of course, Ginger, Rhoda's sister, who, while grieving the death of her sister had slept with the news editor like some sort of wish-fulfillment scenario, disappeared after all that.The "Hank Hooten did it" bit was so obvious. So there wasn't much of an "OH MY GOD" thriller factor there. Imagine of Ginger was brought in as a suspect for the murder of the Fargarson and Mo Teale murders because perhaps she was distraught that the man who murdered her sister was never brought to justice. Or whatever, I didn't write the book so, But nonetheless, it was good read. The narrative is fast-paced but it doesn't bore you. Plus the main character is likeable and Clanton, Mississipi was well written even though it is set in the 1970s. The problems back then were acknowledged and the contrast between the city-boy mindset and the Clanton mindset is a very effective way of integrating the realization that whatever those people believed in were wrong then and are still wrong even more so now.The book makes me want to visit Mississipi today.Did I like the story? Yes.Did it miss a lot of opportunities? Yes.But is it worth the read? Yes.Would you read it again? Got better things to do.Would I recommend it? Probably.
What do You think about The Last Juror (2006)?
I think this was the most overrated - over written- over plotted of any Grisham I have ever read. To be fair, I didn't read it in a book. I listened to it on tape. I liked Willie Traynor, the protagonist and Narrator, who bought a small town weekly newspaper and became a 23 year old celebrity in the town. There was a murder, of course - a vionent murder. Danny Padgit, the murderer was not sentenced to death. So far so good - but the title is "The Last Juror" We expect that the jurors will die one-by-one at the hands of this dreadful killer. But before we get there, we take numerous side trips - it took me so long to finish it that I forget some of them. Most significant was the relationship he built with Miss Callie over lunch every Thursday. He wrote articles on her seven children who had all graduated from college with PhD's and were all professors. Not too shabby for a black family in the 70's in Mississippi. He sidetracked to more than was necessary about racism in Mississippi in the 70's. He sidetracked about Viet Nam. Knowing the history of the Padgetts did nothing at all to further the plot. And in much the same way that Willie Traynor got tired of writing and sold the paper, I expect Grisham got tired of writing and before we got to the last juror, Miss Callie died. End of story. Huge disappointment.
—Joan
Everyone has an opinion on Grisham, and if you don't like him, feel free to skip my review! I read a ton of his books when I was travelling regularly for work (I'd pick one up in the airport book store and leave it when I landed on the other side), but haven't read one in a while. It was good to come back to him with this one! Yes, it was about a trial, and yes, it was in the South, but this time the narrator is the local newspaper's editor/owner. Definitely a different tack, and one I enjoyed. The lawyers in this one explain things to him, but aren't central.I loved his descriptions of people in this one. I could actually see and hear them talking. And the descriptions of the food! oh dear! This book shouldn't be read when hungry. One section I marked to go back to is Miss Callie's pot roast. It sounded good enough that I'm going to try it.Here's the excerpt:"As usual, I confessed that I'd never had a pot roast, so Miss Callie described the recipe and the preparation in detail. . . . It was her simplest dish, she said. Take a beef rump roast, leave the fat on it, place it in the bottom of the pot, then cover it with new potatoes, onions, turnips, carrots, and beets; add some salt, pepper and water, put it in the oven on slow bake, and wait five hours. She filled my plate with beef and vegetables, then covered it all with a thick sauce. "The beets give it all a purple tint," she explained.Yum! Talk about comfort food.
—Antof9
After reading the reviews I completely agree this is a novel that does not follow the blurb. Instead of being a book with lots of time in the courtroom or about redemption for an evil killer it is simply following the life of a young white middle-class educated male who bought a local paper is Mississippi. As expected it was not an epic or entirely gripping read, rather it was an easy read and some parts I found interesting, gripping and page-turningly exciting but the majority of the novel is a slow burner.
—Elliot Black
