gallag's review against another edition
4.0
A fictional story with potentially quite a bit of truth about a big chemical company that makes a small Mississippi town into "cancer county" for illegally dumping waste into the ground. They go to trial and lose. The appeal process documents how they "buy" a seat on the supreme court to try to overturn the verdict. A page-turner that made me despise the Republican party (even more).
cnorbury's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointing on several levels. The premise is good--a small legal firm wins a huge settlement against a corporation that polluted a communities groundwater so badly as to cause rampant cancer. The billionaire owner of the company decides to appeal to the state supreme court and goes about changing the balance of the court in his favor by electing a sympathetic judge. A solid David-vs.-Goliath story. But the execution falls flat.
As seems typical with best-selling authors in recent decades, The Appeal suffers from a serious lack of editing for length. Topics are beaten to death. Scenes are drawn out. Too many details are forced onto the reader that, while they add interesting background information, don't ultimately add to the reader's understanding of the characters or story outcome.
The story would have been stronger if the focus had remained on the most compelling characters--the small husband-and-wife legal firm that won the multimillion-dollar verdict for a poor woman whose husband and son died from cancer. They dominated the first part of the book and I wished they would have remained relevant.
The antagonist, Carl Trudeau, was a decent foe, if not somewhat stereotyped as being greedy and power-hungry for no other reason than being greedy and power-hungry. But the weak link was Ron Fisk, the hapless lawyer who ended up on the state Supreme Court mainly because he was well-spoken and looked good on TV ads. His story took up far too much space because every detail of how he was elected seemed to be included in the narrative. That section could have been cut in half with no loss of impact.
The ending was disappointing too mainly because it was anticlimactic. Trudeau won, then set his sights on doubling his billions, while the small law firm more or less shrugged its shoulders and said, "Eh, we gave it a shot." Lip service was given to filing an appeal with the US Supreme court, but that was all. Considering the egregiousness of the crime committed by Trudeau's company, someone should have stepped up and tried to right this wrong by pursuing other legal means to bring justice to the community that was so negatively affected by the pollution. Has Grisham not heard of the EPA Superfund for the worst toxic waste sites in the US?
The liberal vs conservative trope also seemed stereotypical and had little nuance other than Ron Fisk seeing a little bit of the light when his son is injured by a defective product and he sees the human side of all those "nuisance lawsuits" by ambulance-chasing lawyers trying to suck money out of big corporations with frivolous liability lawsuits.
As seems typical with best-selling authors in recent decades, The Appeal suffers from a serious lack of editing for length. Topics are beaten to death. Scenes are drawn out. Too many details are forced onto the reader that, while they add interesting background information, don't ultimately add to the reader's understanding of the characters or story outcome.
The story would have been stronger if the focus had remained on the most compelling characters--the small husband-and-wife legal firm that won the multimillion-dollar verdict for a poor woman whose husband and son died from cancer. They dominated the first part of the book and I wished they would have remained relevant.
The antagonist, Carl Trudeau, was a decent foe, if not somewhat stereotyped as being greedy and power-hungry for no other reason than being greedy and power-hungry. But the weak link was Ron Fisk, the hapless lawyer who ended up on the state Supreme Court mainly because he was well-spoken and looked good on TV ads. His story took up far too much space because every detail of how he was elected seemed to be included in the narrative. That section could have been cut in half with no loss of impact.
The ending was disappointing too mainly because it was anticlimactic. Trudeau won, then set his sights on doubling his billions, while the small law firm more or less shrugged its shoulders and said, "Eh, we gave it a shot." Lip service was given to filing an appeal with the US Supreme court, but that was all. Considering the egregiousness of the crime committed by Trudeau's company, someone should have stepped up and tried to right this wrong by pursuing other legal means to bring justice to the community that was so negatively affected by the pollution. Has Grisham not heard of the EPA Superfund for the worst toxic waste sites in the US?
The liberal vs conservative trope also seemed stereotypical and had little nuance other than Ron Fisk seeing a little bit of the light when his son is injured by a defective product and he sees the human side of all those "nuisance lawsuits" by ambulance-chasing lawyers trying to suck money out of big corporations with frivolous liability lawsuits.
kaydeeyaleni's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
crimsonpermanentassurance's review against another edition
3.0
Despite being written with all the subtlety and nuance of a sledgehammer, was actually a good listen.
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
2.0
Finished reading: May 6th 2014
“The Senator did not know who owned the jet, nor had he ever met Mr. Trudeau, which in most cultures would seem odd since Rudd had taken so much money from the man. But in Washington, money arrives through a myriad of strange and nebulous conduits. Often those taking it have only a vague idea of where it's coming from; often they have no clue. In most democracies, the transference of so much cash would be considered outright corruption, but in Washington the corruption has been legalized. Senator Rudd didn't know and didn't care that he was owned by other people.”
Spoiler
I usually enjoy books written by John Grisham. Why do I say usually? Because this one disappointed me. Big time. The end just made me want to throw my mobile (e-book) against the wall, which would have been painful (and expensive). I'm not sure what he was thinking, but it looked more like a political statement than the typical legal thriller. And I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way. It's really a shame since I'm used to Grisham writing solid stories, but now I'm not so certain anymore... I'll pick up the next book with great caution for sure.
The story is about a big company situated in Mississippi dumping toxic waste close to a small town's water supply, and therefore after a few years turning it into a town suffering from cancer, death and undrinkable water. The company tries to hide the evidence and moves its business elsewhere, but they cannot escape justice... Or can they? There is a big line of people wanting to sue the company, the first in line being the poor Jeanette who lost her husband and little boy to cancer. A small law firm owned by the Paytons is taking the case, almost bankrupting them in the process. Surprisingly they win the case, but the enormous 41 million verdict is worth nothing as the company directly appeals.
The owner of the company feels the Mississippi Supreme Court isn't friendly enough, and he decides to buy a seat in order to save his company. We then see a election race between the supposedly liberal acting Justice and a new conservative and unsuspecting candidate named Ron Fisk. Fisk is being modelled into the perfect candidate, supported by and supplied for by big business. You can say they almost brainwash him into thinking whatever they want, and Fisk doesn't even suspect anything... After a lot of mud throwing he wins the race, and even a terrible accident insolving his son cannot change the way he feels he has to act... And he does the unthinkable.
Like I said before, the ending completely ruined The Appeal for me. The story itself wasn't that bad, although Grisham was too political for my taste in some of the opinions expressed in this novel. All in all this definitely belongs to his best work and I would recommend picking up a different title if you want to read his work; he has plenty of books to choose from.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
ryanjamesburt's review against another edition
3.0
More like a typical Grisham novel. Good with a twist at the end. Seemed a bit slow for me. But knowing it was Grisham was waiting for the twist. Twist left me with a bit of a disturbed feeling.
artsymusings's review against another edition
4.0
The Appeal was my first law-related book by John Grisham. I bought it like more than a year ago but never felt like I was ready to read it. Anyhow, I wasn't disappointed with the book when I finished reading it. 'Course I had figured it out what exactly is going to happen; it was the way it was going to happen had me reading the book.
The theory was simple yet effective and the book had all but one interesting point. It wasn't as thrilling as I supposed it to be and at times, it felt like the book was talking too much about the difficulties associated with the Bowmore case.
Moreover, I am not that aware of the US judicial system and although, this book was a great insight in to it; I was still enraged at the allowance of hunting and gun owning as something to take so casually.
John Grisham wrote a good book and even though, at times I found it dragging; it was true in the sense that it was reflecting the worst that could happen in such matters.
The theory was simple yet effective and the book had all but one interesting point. It wasn't as thrilling as I supposed it to be and at times, it felt like the book was talking too much about the difficulties associated with the Bowmore case.
Moreover, I am not that aware of the US judicial system and although, this book was a great insight in to it; I was still enraged at the allowance of hunting and gun owning as something to take so casually.
John Grisham wrote a good book and even though, at times I found it dragging; it was true in the sense that it was reflecting the worst that could happen in such matters.
mororke's review against another edition
4.0
I've always enjoyed John Grisham's books, and The Appeal was no different. The story telling is intricate and complex. In the story, which reminded me a lot of Erin Brockovich, a chemical company has poisoned an entire community with toxic waste. The very small law firm, which can barely pay it's bills, much less it's employees, has won the case, and a very large settlement. Of course, the nice guys can't always have a big one, and the lawyers for the corporation quickly files for an appeal.
In the book, there is so much corruption from jury tampering and racial tensions, that it could be a page out of American History. I was appalled by the lengths that the corporate lawyers went through to ensure the appeal was in their favor.
The characters are a bit simple, but it doesn't detract from the story because it is so complex. The story is fast moving and will keep you turning pages to find out how the verdict will fall.
Like my review? Check all of them out at the-pink-moose.com.
In the book, there is so much corruption from jury tampering and racial tensions, that it could be a page out of American History. I was appalled by the lengths that the corporate lawyers went through to ensure the appeal was in their favor.
The characters are a bit simple, but it doesn't detract from the story because it is so complex. The story is fast moving and will keep you turning pages to find out how the verdict will fall.
Like my review? Check all of them out at the-pink-moose.com.