John Grisham Laws of Novel Writing:
Law No:1 - The lawyer shall always arise from a very poor background
Law No:2 - If there is a courtroom drama, it shall be pervade the whole novel
Rainmaker is at its best towards the area where Grisham concentrates on the Courtroom struggle.
The story is very simple - the hero is out of college & loses job (because of the buyout of his employer) and takes up a couple of cases, one of which is a dead duck and the other is a explosive Bad Faith Case involving the non payment of Cancer surgery charges by a Insurance Firm. Hero takes up the case and guess who fights for the Insurance company? the company that tookover his employer !!!!!
Will he win? Obviously ....
SO can I Skip the novel? Definitely NO ....!!!
This novel makes a departure from the normal Grisham Style where the novel proceeds in highs & lows. In this novel, the climax is steady built from the beginning. The start is dull, drab and very slow. The story moves at snails pace and picks up after the first 50 pages or so ....
and then the novel starts getting interesting towards and the middle and then the icing on the cake ... the courtroom drama ....
Some Issues
Life of a rookie Lawyer: Grisham has presented the tough life of a rookie lawyer. Though he is proceeding on the Insurance case, he is always left hungry as he has no big cases to fight .... he is a lawyer in the real world. He has also to look & take up petty and ’’paper moving’’ cases ... absolutely great picturization of the hard life of a lawyer
Rudy’s Romance: The romance between the hero and a abused wife of a local baseball player is quite a story in itself. I felt, that for once, Grisham has done justice to the romace angle in his novels. This touch was lacking in Street Lawyer, Firm and Testament
Courtroom Drama: The essence of the story. When reading this part, I felt like Rudy himself. Whenever he has a reason to snigger at his opponents, I see myself sniggering. The best part is the pages when he interviews VP of Great Benefit., one Mr. Evverest and how he keeps going to imagining how his former assistant Jackie will screw them in her surprise deposition. The way he handles the Section U of the manual is spectacular. But the best and what I give the most credit to Grisham is the particular scene where the jury laughs at a defence witness ..... I thought that scene was amazingly creative and good...
The participants: Judge Kipler, though being very partial does not evoke anger and Mr. Leo Drummard - the defence head has been well characterised.
What should I say about the ending .... Yes., Rudy wins the case ... hey you cannot guess the outcome of the novel .... the ending is superb and quite a twist in itself. I did not like the ending of The Partner but in Rainmaker, I think the ending will come a close second to the courtroom drama ....
The novel is worth reading once but the courtroom brawl is worth reading again and again ....
go gran your copy ....