Sí, estimados lectores. El verano da para muchas incursiones lectoras en la literatura kleenex de "pasar un rato entretenido". Y este verano yo me he forrado con John Grisham. Mi planning diario durante los meses de julio y agosto ha sido doce horas de tesis y dos de lectura. Y el resto, pues tiempo libre.
John Grisham escribe bien. Entretiene. Es capaz de crear una trama creíble (más o menos) y luego desarrollarla sin que el lector se aburra. A mí me gusta. En esta ocasión, un tipo multimillonario casca y sus seis hijos, balas perdidas todos ellos, se abalanzan como escualos sobre la pasta. Pero el viejo ha nombrado un heredero sorprendente. Y allá que se van los albaceas del testamento a intentar encontrar al heredero para ver qué opina sobre haber heredado once mil millones de dólares. El final, como siempre. Muy a lo Grisham. En tonos pastel, vaya. Mi nota: Entretenido.

I wouldn't call The Testament a legal thriller. Instead, it's a rather preachy story that paints broad strokes on money and morality. Despite its 400+ page length, nothing much happens, due in large part to archetypal characters. A billionaire leaves his will to an unknown daughter, Rachel, leaving his many broke ex-wives and children in the dust. A lawyer, Nate, just a couple months sober, finds the illegitimate child in Brazil, and she wants nothing to do with the will. Rachel's comfortable living as a missionary, with primitive medicine, minimal clothes, and Native Americans as friends. It's all very stereotypical. I understand some believe the love of money is the root of evil, but she doesn't consider how using the will can benefit her missions. The plot is hastily slopped together, and the adventures in the jungle feel forced. With minimal court scenes, Nate's redemption and success are unbelievable. Known for exploring the dirty grays of the law, I'm disappointed by Grisham's The Testament.

Actually I do remember reading this one, but somehow never entered it. I'm leaving the stars blank here, because although I remember it, I don't remember it well enough to rate it. It seems to me that the bad guys got what was coming to them -- of course -- it's an earlyish Grisham, so not like some of his later, lesserly gets-what-coming works.

I'm just guessing at the date I read it.

Though different from many of his other books, I think The Testament goes down as one of my Grisham favorites. Troy Phelan, a self-made billionaire, jumps to a spectacular death after signing a will leaving his fortune to an unknown daughter, Rachel Lane, and spurning his six other children by three failed marriages, all of whom are circling like vultures waiting for their lucky day to finally arrive. The wrinkle is that Rachel is a missionary in a remote part of Brazil, and is totally out of touch with the Western world except for two phone calls a year. So Josh Stafford, Troy's long-time lawyer, dispatches one of his associates, Nate O'Riely, on a mission to find Rachel.

Nate is fresh out of drug rehab (his fourth trip), and is coming to terms with the wreck his life has become, with a failed marriage and kids he doesn't stay in touch with, on top of federal charges that jeopardize his law practice and good intentions but little hope of true sobriety and recovery. Josh sees this little trip as a chance to get Nate back on his feet, and also keep him away from trouble for a little while. So Nate is dispatched to Brazil to venture out into the Pantanal, a vast region of rain forest on the Brazil-Bolivia border with little contact with the outside world. Rachel Lane is a missionary there with World Tribes Missions, a group that seeks to evangelize unreached peoples by sending missionaries in to live with tribes permanantly and to get to know them and earn their trust. Nate, with the help of a couple local guides, finally tracks Rachel down in a remote village, only to learn that she doesn't want the money. This to Nate is of course shocking, and as he spends a few days with Rachel, he comes to see the deep contrast between her contentment and his own searching and floundering.

While in the jungle, Nate catches malaria, and narrowly escapes death after convalescing in a Brazilian hospital for a number of days. Once back in the States, he begins acting as Rachel's lawyer, in defense of the will, since the other Phelan heirs are contesting the will and seeking their own share of the vast estate. In the end, a settlement is offered to the other heirs, solving the legal troubles, except for the need for Rachel's signature. When Nate makes a return trip to Brazil, he learns that Rachel died of Malaria. But before her death, she signed the necessary papers, giving Nate control over the vast fortune in the form of a trust to benefit World Tribes, the spread of the gospel, and the betterment of the people of Brazil.

This book has the legal intrigue of Grisham's other books, with some comical but also interesting heirs and their lawyers battling for control of billions of dollars. But it is in the characters that this book excels. Grisham shows the devastation that money and greed can bring in the lives of the three ex-wives and six heirs-apparent to the Phelan fortune. And he does a great job of contrasting this with the contentment that can be found elsewhere (namely in peace with God). Rachel is a very authentic character, and adds great depth to the book. But the best character proves to be Nate O'Riley. His journeys to Brazil parallel the searching in his own life, and his encounters with the Phelan heirs and with Rachel cause him to refocus his own life. His journey shows how painful the past can be, but also how liberating God's truth and forgiveness is. The journey isn't easy for him, but Grisham has cast it just right, to make it authentic without being shallow and moralizing or preachy.

In short, I loved this book. The setting was fun and different, the legal maneuvering is vintage Grisham, and the characters bring the story to life. And, best of all, it is a great "testament" to the source of true meaning in life, none other than God and the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ.

Naprosto mi to padlo do noty. Ani ne čistě detektivka, ani soudnička, ani ne dobrodružná, od každého trochu.

This is a re-read for me after almost 19 years. I didn’t remember much of it, though I did remember there was an adventurous trek through the Brazilian jungles.
The plot is very similar to that of Sycamore row. In this book too, there is a billionaire, who commits suicide, leaving behind a surprise will, without giving anything to his children. The deceased man doesn't evoke sympathy as he was never much of a father, had multiple wives and mistresses and a wicked sense of justice. There is a lawyer, who is very focused on upholding the dead man's wishes.
While the benefactor of the will in the 'Sycamore Row' was known, here nobody knows about the illegitimate daughter's existence.

I am very forgiving when it comes to John Grisham's books. If this was by any other author giving such long winded details of the Phelan kids, the American judiciary, the trek into the jungles, the religious sermons, I would have got irritated and given a 2 *. But with Grisham's writing, the story flows smoothly, every detail is interesting. The dramatic scene leading to Troy Phelan's death was entertaining. The discovery phase was extremely lively, when Nate thrashed all the witnesses.

I got a little bored when the Phelan kids' wasteful lifestyle was repeated, and I found it difficult to keep track of which kid he was talking about. The religious propaganda was also overdone.

3.5 ⭐️

"Cuando los testigos inventan mentiras, a menudo pasan por alto lo obvio."

El libro nos trae la historia de Troy Phelan un multimillonario que luego de firmar su testamento decide suicidarse. En su última voluntad decide repartir su legado, nada menos que aproximadamente 11 mil millones de dólares; a una hija no reconocida, de la que nadie tiene conocimiento, dejando atónitos a sus exposas e hijos que esperaban sacar una buena parte. Y así inicia un drama legal y una carrera por la impugnación de la última voluntad de Phelan.

Es una novela que pone de manifiesto cómo el dinero es capaz de transformar a las personas (exesposas, hijos y abogados), convirtiéndolas en avariciosas y sin ningún tipo de principios y escrúpulos; narrada dentro de una intriga judicial y enmarcada en las selvas de Brasil.
Se lee fácilmente gracias al dinamismo que le imprime a su estilo, y aunque hay mucho tema legal, no te abruma o te pierdes en ella.

Los personajes están más o menos delineados, unos más que otros, sin embargo el mejor desarrollado es para nuestro protagonista Nate O´Riley, un personaje con muchas sombras, padre dos veces divorciado quien ha olvidado a sus hijos hace años, alcohólico que ha entrado y salido de rehabilitación; pero emprende un viaje en la búsqueda de la hija ilegítima, y se encuentra en un camino que le lleva a la curación y al autodescubrimiento.

Mi principal contra fue que la historia empezó muy bien, y se fue diluyendo a mitad de libro, algunos momentos me resultaron innecesarios por ser repetitivos, y el final te deja un tanto en el aire.
Sin embargo es destacable, que gran parte de la historia se ubica en el Mato Grosso brasileño y y aunque no conozco la zona, el autor hizo un magnífico trabajo describiendo no solo la vegetación y animales, si no la situación social de los lugareños, las tribus que allí habitan y el trabajo de las misiones humanitarias.

En definitiva, es un libro entretenido del que me esperaba algo más, con un final que aunque queda abruptamente cerrado, me ha dejado con ganas de un mejor desarrollo después de tantos dramas en la familia.

“La gente vive en un estado de frenesí permanente. Trabaja sin descanso para ganar dinero con que comprarse cosas para impresionar a los demás. Se la mide por lo que tiene.”

Troy Phelan, een miljardair, maakt zijn testament en pleegt dan zelfmoord. Omdat hij in dit testament alles nalaat aan zijn onwettige dochter, van wiens bestaan niemand op de hoogte was, vechten zijn 6 andere kinderen dit aan.
Josh, de advokaat van Troy, stuurt er zijn vriend en vroegere collega Nate op uit om de wettige erfgename, Rachel, te gaan zoeken in een onherbergzaam gebied in Zuid-Amerika, waar ze als zendelinge werkzaam is. Na een zeer hachelijke tocht vindt Nate Rachel bij een indianenstam, maar ze weigert de erfenis, en weigert de papieren te tekenen, ze wil er niets mee te maken hebben. Het is nu aan Josh en Nate om ervoor te zorgen dat de laatste wil van Troy toch kan uitgevoerd worden, ondanks alle tegenstand van zijn kinderen en hun advokaten.
Ik weet niet goed in welke categorie ik dit boek zou plaatsen, in het begin kon ik mij echt samen met Troy verkneukelen als hij dacht aan hoe zijn kinderen zouden reageren als ze ontdekten dat hij ze in het ootje genomen had. Dan weer was het spannend om over de tocht van Nate te lezen, en mismoedig om zijn gevecht tegen de alcoholverslaving te volgen, maar toen hij moeizaam uit dit diepe dal klauterde, las het boek weer als een roman.
In elk geval, het was een boeiend boek, en aangenaam om te lezen.

A legal fiction by John Grisham published 1999.

3.5 stars
This is a typical Grisham version of the David and Goliath story.

Before taking his own life billionaire Troy Phelan makes a new Last Will and Testament in which he leave to his legitimate offspring next to nothing. He leaves the bulk of his estate, all of 11 billion dollars, to an unknown illegitimate daughter that only he knows anything about.
This of course goes down like a lead balloon with all the legitimate heirs and it’s not long before the legal profession is up to its collective necks in it trying to right this heinous act of vindictive cruelty.
The major problem facing the late Troy Phelan’s lawyers is finding the lost daughter, who as it turns out, is living in the Brazilian jungle bringing the grace of God to the lives of the local Indians, wither they want it or not.
To find this, now fantastically wealthy, daughter the legal firm sends one of their staff members, who just happens to be a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, off to the wilds of Brazil with the intentions of finding the daughter and giving her the good news.

Up to this point I was really enjoying the story. The ferocity of the legal battle for the billions at stake, the journey into the Amazon wetlands and the plight of the local Amazon Indians were all well told and highly entertaining.

But from here on in it all begins to sound a bit like a born again Christian revival meeting. Which is all well and good for the believers amongst us but, personally speaking, being hit over the head with a bible is not my idea of fun.

An entertaining tale well told but for the afore mentioned.

I prefer Grisham’s hero as a rascally conniver, rather than as a reformed drunk who has found Jesus. Nate, in The Testament, is the latter so the story lacks the edge that glosses many of Grisham’s novels with a saving caustic humor. The sections describing the interior of Brazil and Nate’s journey to find the missing heiress, missionary Rachel, moves like a slow and somewhat boring travelogue, despite the addition of storms, alligators and dengue fever. Grisham’s books often serve me as diversions, but this one was a drag.

This book absolutely blew me away. It had depth, heart, humour, and faith. Amazing. The ending was perfect. I loved it.

John Grisham is an extremely popular author, and I’ve been meaning to read one of his books for a long time. After reading The Testament, I’m desperate to go and read more.

Although slow at points, The Testament had plenty packed into it. Some will be disappointed as things are never truly resolved, but it’s a story that shows the possibilities. Sure, some details are predictable, but the details get you thinking and curious to see how everything comes together. It grips you, leaves you desperate for the details, which ensures you’re happy to continue reading until you have all the information.

I confess, this isn’t a full four-star rating – it’s a rounded up three-star-rating – but it more than hooked me and has me eager for more of the author’s work.