A rich old man is dying,leaving behind an eleven billion dollar fortune.He doesn't want his ex-wives or his children to inherit it.But the one he wants it to have,doesn't want it !

The setting is exotic,and memorable, in the Brazilian jungle.It is a thrilling adventure.Grisham spent time in Brazil himself,and gives a fascinating description.

One of Grisham's best.

Who even am I anymore lol. Loved this

An overly preachy and hastily written Grisham novel with his typical battle of big money versus the good of heart. I am always drawn to Grisham for a good rainy day read and the premise sounded pretty good, but from page one this one is a waste of time. Too many characters bogged the story down and it dragged on and on, especially when Grisham started getting preachy. By the end of the book, it felt like Grisham had tired of the story himself, and just threw something together to be done with it.

Think of me what you will, but I don't like missionary work, and it bothers me that the protagonist here is painted saintlike (perhaps that is a poor choice of words) because she chose this occupation in order to hide from the world (the idea of God is just an afterthought). Even though I am a Christian, I don't like to assume that my path is the only way to know God, and missionary work feels more selfish than selfless because of this assumption. Go into the jungles and deserts of the world and give out medicine and build houses without trying to put another notch on your belt for Jesus, and instead teach about the goodness we can all do for one another, and then I'll approve of the mission. Until then it's not going to happen, and I was very annoyed with Rachel's character and the way in which she was exalted for what to me were shady motives.

I saw Rachel as no less selfish than the other characters, even if there was a different motivation and product. Even without the let-down of an ending and the overabundance of obnoxious characters, the idea of the missionary as the protagonist in the good-of-heart role would have turned my stomach enough for a poor rating on this book.

A billionaire dies and instead of bequeathing his wealth to his money hungry children from three different marriages, he gives his entire fortune to his illegitimate daughter who is a missionary in South America. The battle ensues where the legitimate children and their lawyers all want a piece of the money pie.

The plot of the story was intriguing and the novel started out strong, until the story turned away from the courtroom battle and about 2/3 of the book was focused on the long, arduous journey in finding the heir and preaching about religion. The Testament felt like more of a travelogue to the remote, untraveled Pantanal region around Bolivia & Brazil than the legal courtroom drama I was expecting from Grisham.

I enjoyed it. Grisham writes well. The story is original.
I read much of the book while on airplanes and airport layovers. It held my interest. By the time I was more than three-quarters through, I really wondered how things could be resolved.
The only odd thing is that the first two chapters are written in the first person. Why, I wonder? The rest of the book is in the usual third person.
I picked up this book in a charity thrift store. I'd choose Grisham again.

Now this was the book I just could not wait getting to read when I decided I wanted to read all of John Grisham's novels (from the very first book and in order). I have read quite a few of his novels many many years ago, but not all of them and this one was the one that I remembered the most and since reading it the first time had kept it on my favourite books of all time list ever since. On second reading, I enjoyed this even more than the first time I read it - if that is at all possible!

Although the overall story in this book is that Troy Phelan dies leaving billions to an unknown daughter and we follow what happens next, we do follow each of the other sons and daughters of Troy that when he was alive he viewed as disappointments.

My favourite part of this book was following Nate, who is a lawyer but has suffered from drug/alcohol problems and had, until recently, been in a rehab facility. He is called upon by his firm to go and find this unknown daughter who just so happens to be in Brazil, in the middle of nowhere, living as a missionary. Not only do we follow Nate's journey, we learn more about Rachel (the unknown daughter) right from her past, present and hoped future. This part for me was both addicting and heartbreaking in places.

Even though I found this story to be slow paced, I just could not put it down and read it almost in one entire day! If you have not yet picked up a John Grisham novel, this would be a good one to start at (and then follow it with A Time to Kill and go from there).





For more reviews, please check out the link below:
Debra's Book Cafe

Debs :-)

Troy Phelan, orang nomor sepuluh paling kaya di Amerika Serikat, melompat dari lantai empat belas gedung kantornya di kawasan McLean Virginia. Ia bunuh diri. Tanpa ampun tubuh tuanya yang renta terhempas di lantai batu. Ia mati dalam genangan darahnya. sendiri Kematian yang tragis.

Sebelumnya, lima menit yang lalu, ia baru saja bertemu seluruh anggota keluarganya yang terdiri dari : tiga orang mantan istri dan enam orang putra putri beserta para pengacara mereka, membicarakan masalah warisan sebesar sebelas miliar dolar. Dengan matinya ia, para calon ahli waris itu mulai menghitung berapa besar bagian mereka. Paling sedikit para anak akan mendapatkan seperenam bagian dari keseluruhan harta ayah mereka.

Namun semua impian dan hitungan di atas kertas itu buyar seketika berbarengan dengan dibacakannya surat wasiat Troy yang dibuat dengan tulisan tangan dan ditandatangani sesaat sebelum ia terjun bebas. Dalam surat wasiat holografis itu, Troy memberikan seluruh hartanya pada Rachel Lane, putrinya yang dilahirkan di luar nikah dari seorang wanita bernama Evelyn Cunningham. Sementara keenam anaknya yang lain hanya akan dilunasi utang-utangnya yang dibuat sampai tanggal 9 Desember itu. Untuk para mantan istri ia bahkan tak mewariskan apapun, sebab mereka telah menerima bagiannya pada saat perceraian.

Segera saja surat wasiat tersebut menuai gugatan dari pihak-pihak yang merasa paling berhak sebagai ahli waris. Merekapun lalu menyewa sejumlah pengacara handal untuk memperkarakannya. Namun, Josh Stafford, pengacara Troy Phelan selaku pelaksana surat wasiat itu, tak mau tinggal diam. Dengan cepat ia mengerahkan orang-orang terbaiknya guna menyelamatkan harta sebelas miliar dolar tersebut agar tak jatuh ke dalam tangan yang salah. Stafford kemudian menugaskan Nate O' Riley untuk mencari keberadaan Rachel Lane yang menurut petunjuk Troy ada di salah satu sudut di Brasil. Di sana, putrinya itu bekerja sebagai seorang misionaris katholik.

The Testament (Surat Wasiat) ini menjadi asyik sebagian karena pengisahan petualangan Nate menemukan Rachel di tengah-tengah hutan bersama-sama para Indian primitif. Perjalanan Nate menjadi daya tarik tersendiri kisah ini. Menelusuri sungai dan rawa-rawa di pedalaman Amerika Selatan yang penuh aligator serta anaconda dan reptil-reptil lain. Menikmati pesona keindahan alam liar Brasil yang nyaris tak pernah tersentuh "peradaban". Mengenal sedikit kebudayaan Indian yang hampir punah oleh keserakahan manusia yang menyebut diri mereka "modern". Tokoh Nate yang kacau - alkoholis, menikah dan cerai dua kali, terkena kasus penggelapan pajak - adalah daya tarik lainnya. Tentu saja Nate haruslah juga seorang pengacara cerdas dan tangguh bersilat lidah di ruang sidang.

Ya seperti banyak karya Grisham lainnya, The Testament ini juga bicara soal hukum. Komentar-komentarnya yang sinis tentang pengacara-pengacara rakus dan selalu mencari berbagai cara agar memenangkan perkara tergambar melalui sosok Hark Gettys dan rekan-rekannya. Sungguh kotor bisnis di balik ruang-ruang sidang yang katanya tempat mencari keadilan itu. Sikut-sikutan, tendang-menendang, suap-menyuap serta jual-beli kesaksian yang semuanya bermuara pada uang dan uang saja. Seorang teman lulusan fakultas hukum pernah berujar, "Jika ingin kaya tanpa perlu punya perusahaan , jadilah pengacara!"

Novel setebal lebih enam ratus halaman ini cukup menghibur sebagai sebuah kisah fiksi. Humor-humor cerdas menyegarkan yang terselip di banyak dialognya membuat kita terhindar dari rasa bosan selama menamatkannya. Seperti nonton film Hollywood. Hal yang jarang kita jumpai dalam novel karya penulis-penulis Asia.

It was a quite enjoyable read.

n  The Plot:n
So, this story is about, An American billionaire named Troy Phelan. He's an 80years old man with three divorced wives and six heirs. Troy suffered from his illness so he decided to commit a suicide ( he's kinda crazy man). After his death, all his heirs and his wives wanted to read his will, his testament, (I know you're thinking about all his money and his lucky heirs but you have to read till the end!!) And all his money was left to his Illegitimate Daughter (Rachel Lane) I told you he's a crazy man but wise at the same time.
Rachel Lane is a missionary of world's tribes, she lives in somewhere in Brazil with the Indians, she knew just a little about her biological father.
Troy's lawyer decided to find Rachel and inform her about her father and his will, but he couldn't risk his life in the third world, so he sent his an old friend (Nate O'reily) to find Rachel.
Will Nate find Rachel in a middle of nowhere? And will Rachel Accept this will?

n  My Opinion :n
This is my first John Grisham's book reading. Actually, my teacher of oral expression gave us some recommendation of books and told us to read one of them and it will be your exam mark, so I chose this book, and I really enjoyed it.
The story was kinda boring at the beginning, it was hard for me to remember the names of the characters, especially Troy's heirs and wives and their lawyers but when Nate went to Brazil, The fun began!!!


Nate was my favorite character in the story, he was an adventurous, funny, and good man. His life was a mess but he really knew how to fix it.

Oh, Oh!!! and Braziiiiiil!!! I'm in love with this country!! I hope one day I'll make an adventure in Pantanal river just like Nate did and meet the alligators, the piranas, and the Ipicas.
The author did a really great job describing this amazing place in the world when I was reading I felt like I was there with Nate in the canoe, discovering a new dangerous place, I felt excited and afraid, afraid to get lost or eaten by the alligators.
Huuh, All these words can't describe what I felt when I was reading this amazing book.
Thank you, My Teacher, for recommending me this amazing book.

This is the kind of book we all hope to read. Excellent story right from the start to the very last page.

Well...that was interesting. I wasn't expecting the ending but it works. I found it comforting how Nate's faith stood strong once he believed, completely and fully.
It's been awhile since I've read any John Grisham books. There is a good bit of legal lingo in them which for the most part is easy to understand.
I really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed the religious/spiritual aspect of it. The way Nate believed was so refreshing and to see him stand strong despite the temptations.
Even though Rachel's physical appearance in the book was small her impact was great.

Rating: PG -just some adult topics, a swear or two
Language: a swear word or two nothing major
Recommend: yes!

I really enjoy this book. It has a bit more of a heartwarming feeling to it than Grisham’s other legal thrillers tend to have. I also really like that the majority of the book is spent in the jungles of South America and really doesn’t spend any time at all on a courthouse. This Grisham novel feels like a departure from his normal formula of writing these thrillers. Departures are risky and sometimes don’t work out very well, but this one works very well. It is a fascinating read.

"I own the tall glass building in which I sit, and 97 percent of the company housed in it, below me, and the land around it half a mile in three directions, and the two thousand people who work here and the other twenty thousand who do not, and I own the pipeline under the land that brings gas to the building from my fields in Texas..."

Thus begins the short introduction to billionaire Troy Phelan, his three ex-wives and six children, and the monkey wrench in this story - the seventh child, born illegitimately and a secret from all the other heirs, gathered for a new will before Troy's imminent death.

While usually the courtroom theatrics enthrall me in Grisham's stories, this time it's our protagonist Nate O'Riley. Nate is a black sheep lawyer in and out of rehab and on the IRS's list of getting spanked. His job is to head to Brazil to legalize Troy's heir, a missionary who's been evangelizing the Indians in the jungle. Time for redemption.

Adventures in the rain forest commence, and it's almost as dangerous a place as the courtroom is.