I keep trying to find a Grisham book I actually like, but so far, not much luck. This one was among the better ones I've tried, though, in that the plot kept me sufficently interested and the Brazilian jungle setting was fascinating. (Rachel's endless religious babble, on the other hand, made me want to throw something.) The thing with Grisham is, I just can't deal with his characters. The ones well enough developed to actually have a personality I usually end up despising - this book was no exception to what rather seems to be the rule from what I can tell. I don't mind flawed characters (on the contrary, they're usually far more interesting), but I just can't connect with any of these people, which in turn makes it hard to feel at all invested in their fortunes and thus the plot. Ah well... I've got a couple more Grisham novels currently borrowed from the library, so the search continues.

Great read

Grabs your attention from the start. Good pace, legal jargon not hard to follow.
Good moral to the story. Would recommend.

My granddad recommended this book to me, saying that it was one of the few books he ever read that he just couldn’t put down. They were listening to it on audiobook one time while driving to visit our house and they got there in the middle of a chapter, so they drove a few loops around the neighborhood to finish it up! I don’t think I can give a better recommendation than that.

I loved so much about this book. A large chunk of it took place in the Pantanal, a swampy region in the west of Brazil the size of Colorado which I knew nothing about until reading this. A primary character is a missionary, working with unreached tribes deep in the forest. Another primary character has a really incredible character arc as he struggles with alcoholism, and I loved the way the author wrote about his journey and the way it intersected with his faith. And apparently John Grisham is a magician because he made the brass tacks of Virginia estate law and probate court interesting (at the low, low cost of $11 billion).

In all, I think the only complaint I have about this book is the pace. I just came off reading a 1000 pages on the building of a cathedral in Middle Ages England, so maybe it’s just the difference in writing style from one to the other, but I would’ve loved slightly more description of setting, especially in the gateway city of Corumbá. He included plenty for me to be able to imagine it, but I think that may only have been because I live in Brazil so I know the general appearance of cities here.

Age range: 16+
Main character is a recovering alcoholic, going through some ugly stages with it. Potentially jarring suicide scene, but it’s very quick and not too visceral. Legal jargon sections could definitely get boring for younger readers.

Another great legal crime story which goes wrong beginning to be a John Grisham fan and look forward to reading his next book

One of the best Grishams I've read. Loved the characters here and the story of redemption is heart-warming and challenging. Just a shame that there's no real legal battle until page 350...

SPOILER WARNING!
One of the best books I have ever read. Grisham does a great job of blending the law genre and the adventure genre. Nate O' Reilly, the main character is a lawyer fresh out of rehab, for the fourth time. Nate travels to South America to find out more about Rachel Lane, mysterious illegitimate heir to Troy Phelan's 11 billion dollar will. Out of Troy's 3 marriages, dozen's of children, Rachel Lane gets it all. Nate travels to Corùmba, Brazil in hopes to find Rachel Lane, a missionary working in the Patanal swamp. Not only does Nate find her, he befriends her. But, she is unwilling to receive the 11 billion dollars. Nate finally leaves to come back to D.C when he contracts Dengue Fever, and almost dies. He is sent back to the states after recovering, but misses Corùmba. Rachel was able to show him the ways of god and help him quit alcohol and drugs. Nate decides to reinvent himself and visit the family from his broken marriages. First stop is Salem, Oregon where he visits his young children. Next he travels to Detroit to visit his older son, who had flunked out of college. When he gets back he is ready for the trial. Two Weeks after, the dispositions all done, it was time for the official trial. Afterwards Nate travels back to Corùmba to get Rachel's signature on the papers. Only to find out that she contracted Malaria and died. She had left a holographic will of herself, taking the fortune she received in the will of Troy Phelan and putting it in a trust that Nate was in charge of. The book ends on Nate's journey back to the states. John Grisham

Let this book be a warning to me. I read it 20 years ago and loved it, but upon revisiting it, I would just say it was entertaining and leave it at that.

There's a lot of heavy handed preaching and simplified characters that would be worthy of a a junior high student.

I've changed who I was 20 years ago from when I first read this book, and the country has changed along with me. The paradigmatic insidious world we were thrown into 20 years ago are not who we are today. I, for one, think fiction needs to make us better than who we are and the flaws inherent in the author's non-transcending of 'the they' (Heidegger's 'das Man') of his time period that he was thrown into fails at that.

The NYTs in the 1930s had an article on how the books from 20 years ago weren't reflective of who we are today (in the 1930s). I was entertained by this book both times I've read this book, but I am happy that I see it now for the mindless excursion it is. I give it 4 stars because it made my daily treadmill routine easy, but I must say I don't feel good with myself for liking this tripe!

It was okay, a lot of the characters are cliches. No "whore with a heart of gold", but close enough. My first Grisham novel and I'm disappointed.

I felt it was a pedestal for Grisham to push his views out to people that largely already agree with him. I'm going to guess a largely conservative crowd. I found it annoying how he idealized christianity over the tribal religion. And how he idealized the missionary at all. She really was a cliche of the dedicated missionary, the matriarch and virtue of the poor heathen pagans. Come on.

The description of the "punk teenager" is a humorous cliche, bordering on offensive. That kid has tattoos and piercings, he must be a dumb MTV zombie.

Not impressed, maybe I'll try one of his other classics.

I had read this book when it first came out, and I really loved reading it again. The characters are so well-developed, and I feel like I can picture the Pantanal and the Brazilians he meets there. Only wish I'd read it in a hammock on the deck of a boat.

The Testament, by John Grisham
Grisham is always good, and he has a marvelous way of weaving an intricate plot. This one begins when an aging, irascible multibillionaire, Troy Phelan, decides to bedevil his three ex-wives and six children one last time; he sets up a situation whereby he will be examined by psychiatrists selected by them to establish that he is of sound mind, after which he publically and on camera signs the attorney-created will that gives them each a billion or so … and then, as soon as they leave, he signs a holographic will that says all previously signed will are invalid, directs his estate to pay their outstanding debts as of that date, requests his attorney not to tell them the contents of the will for a month, directs that they will not get anything if they contest the will, and gives the remainder of the estate to an illegitimate daughter that no one knew about -– and then jumps out of his penthouse, hitting the ground before all his pseudo-heirs get to the ground floor. The main plot of the novel is the interaction between the lawyers representing the various claimants and Phelan’s longtime attorney-friend, Josh Stafford, who feels that his function is to protect the estate.

An engaging subplot involves Nate O’Riley, one of Stafford’s junior partners, who currently is enjoying his fourth month in his fourth rehab clinic; Stafford gets him out and sends him off to search for the missing heiress, who is believed to be serving as a missionary somewhere in South America. Nate clearly is in danger of relapse; he gets blind stinking drunk the first night out of the clinic. Moreover, finding a missionary in South America turns out to be more of an adventure than he had anticipated, as he and a couple native helpers must trek out into the Brazilian Pantanal during flood season. What’s more, the missionary, when he finds her, turns out to be something other than what he expected.

I’m not going to spoil the book by telling what happened. Sufficient to say that it was such a good read that I put aside work and other things I really wanted to do in order to finish it, once I had gotten halfway through. Atty. Grisham is not very complimentary to his fellow attorneys in this book -– which has been the case, really, with just about all of his books. I find that my interpretation of the intrigue and game-playing of the legal profession is somewhat colored by my own experiences with various lawyers and also by the fact that one of my brothers has a law degree and one of my daughters is a practicing attorney in one of the wickedest cities in New England, but the behind-the-scene looks at how lawyers deal with each other and with the people they “serve” is always fascinating.

Había leído antes a John Grisham, pero hace mucho tiempo y con un libro que además de todo se ha hecho icónico gracias a su película, tenía ganas de leerlo otra vez y me decidí por este, la verdad es que tiene tantos que prácticamente lo he escogido al azar y la verdad es que no me ha defraudado en absoluto.

Es verdad que la historia es bastante sencilla, no es para nada un libro tipo thriller, tampoco tiene una historia trepidante, lo que sí tiene es un ritmo espectacular en su narrativa, lo que hace que sea muy fácil de leer, también es que la forma en que Grisham expone las situaciones, la manera en que describe escenas, su forma de contarnos esta historia que, incluso, podría resultar trillada, de manera tan natural, tan entretenido que al final no pude evitar engancharme.

Otra cosa que me ha encantado es la manera en que me ha hecho poder ver tan claramente a todos los personajes, desde el más insignificante hasta el protagonista del libro, lo que ha hecho que me fuera muy fácil identificarme con cada uno, ser empática, por lo tanto terminas comprendiendo las razones de todos, comprendiendo las personalidades y también las motivaciones de por qué hacen todo lo que hacen.

El libro básicamente nos cuenta lo que sucede con el testamento de un multimillonario después de que este se suicida, de hecho, la situación radica en el modo en que este hombre hace las cosas, por supuesto su legado de 11 mil millones de dólares no es poca cosa y por lo tanto los herederos pretenden impugnar la última voluntad de este hombre.

Gran parte de la historia se ubica en las amazonas brasileñas y tengo que decir que aún y cuando no conozco la zona, el autor hizo un trabajo estupendo describiendo no solo los paisajes, si no la situación social de los lugareños, me ha resultado algo muy interesante de leer y de conocer.

En general el libro me ha gustado mucho, lo he disfrutado y además me ha parecido muy fácil de leer, sobre todo en esta época donde no tengo tanto tiempo para dedicarme a la lectura, sin embargo, el final me ha dejado con ganas de más, si bien es cierto que la historia se cierra en su totalidad, cuando me di cuenta que había terminado, me dieron ganas de buscar las páginas faltantes, incluso pensé que a mi libro le habían faltado páginas, se termina tan de golpe que me ha dejado un mal sabor de boca.

Por lo demás es un libro realmente entretenido

This was a riveting story if you appreciate adventure. It moves quickly, but sort of forces an emotional angle that doesn’t seem totally necessary. Other than that, very entertaining.