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Laura PourMeADrink

(42,770 posts)
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 08:06 AM Feb 2015

Yikes - Has John Grisham lost his touch?? Gray Mountain.

I have read 30 out of 33 John Grisham books and I loved every one of them until now. I am almost finished with his latest Gray Mountain.

Is anyone else reading it?

I just have to say - it is the worst of his books by a mile. I wonder if he has lost his
touch? Typically, I can't put his books down - this one, I almost have to
force myself to finish.

Grisham always tends to make his protagonists "too good" to me. No grey - just black and white, good and bad. But, he goes so far off the scale in this book - the lead character, a young female
attorney, is totally unlikable. I don't even care what bad things might happen to her - which is a very bad thing for an author to do. He evokes zero empathy.

The good part of the book is that it will incense you about strip mining coal and make you wonder how real the horror of raping the land truly is and how much the coal companies run rampant.

My favorites:
The Confession
A Painted House

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Yikes - Has John Grisham lost his touch?? Gray Mountain. (Original Post) Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 OP
I haven't read a lot of Grisham's books but those I have I have enjoyed. TexasProgresive Feb 2015 #1
Interesting. thanks. Haven't gotten to the government collusion with the Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2015 #2

TexasProgresive

(12,275 posts)
1. I haven't read a lot of Grisham's books but those I have I have enjoyed.
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 08:51 AM
Feb 2015

I do know what you mean about caring for the characters in a novel. There was a book or series that is so forgettable that I don't remember title or author. I need to feel something for the characters in a book, movie or TV show for me to care about the plot. I wouldn't write of Grisham for one turkey.

Here's a review from Amazon that seems to agree with your take:

http://www.amazon.com/Gray-Mountain-Novel-John-Grisham/dp/038553714X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423057446&sr=1-1&keywords=Gray+Mountain
Retired teacher
By Reader on October 21, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
Always a fan of John Grisham for his finely etched characterizations and ability to draw the reader into the courtroom drama of which his books are based. This book reads more like a docu drama. I did not like Samantha the female protagonist, who seemed a flat cardboard person who is self absorbed and shallow....bored with her job in a big law firm until she is unexpectedly let go due to the stock market crash. Then she is introduced to a world of the Appalachian "real people" through her volunteering at a free legal clinic and consequently becomes aware of many issues involving hardcore poverty and the huge environmentally devastating coal mining industry. Do not expect an armchair reading the usual Grisham novel generates....I put it down several times tired of the characters and being preached at about a thinly veiled attempt to spread the word of governmental collusion with the coal industry.

 

Laura PourMeADrink

(42,770 posts)
2. Interesting. thanks. Haven't gotten to the government collusion with the
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 09:46 AM
Feb 2015

coal companies - but won't be against it

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