The Brethren:::: Writer’s Block of John Gris. Review on Brethren, The - John Grisham

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time. -- George Bernard Shaw

================================================

INTRODUCTION

John Grisham (JG), is by far one of the most successful novelist of contemporary fiction. He is one of the best ?thrill? plotters and a writer who infuses a moral value whist having a creative vision. He brings in multiple facets of the socio-economic system, entangled in a legal thriller. Being a lawyer himself, he knows about law in a way far better than many of the other novelists. He is a great writer or sorts for he does not go for prose styling like many of the authors but is after simple words and interactivity.

Saying this, I am an ardent fan of JG. Though I need to read couple of novels more from his portfolio, I can say that I adore his books like anything. This is a second review by me on a JG book. This ought to tell you something. But with great degree of sadness I must say that JG was suffering from his own attack of writer?s block whilst writing this book.

This book has many to offer to the JG fans (Hence the rating). If you are an ardent fan of JG, you are somewhat let off because your expectations are so high. It is very difficult to accept a cropper from someone we like immensely.

Saying that let me delve into the review

================================================

PLOT

The Brethren revolves around two threads of fiction. On one side there is this minimum security prison (trumble) in Florida where three former justices are serving time for various offences. As they know the judicial system, they run legal advice service inside the prison and finally go for defrauding people. Amongst many scams they go for one high-yielding scam of blackmailing rich, closet gay people. They run their fraud with the help of their lawyer. They run it with great degree of perfection and get high returns. They are focused on leading a rich and peaceful life after their release.

On the other hand you have this aging CIA director who wants to get more recognition for his agency. He brings in a congressional representative as a presidential candidate stating that the military of US should be strengthened and Russia is increasing its strength and all. He says he can run Aaron Lake?s political campaign and suggests that he would create all the background noise. He agrees to run a successful campaign for him in return of excess military spending. He enacts bombing of US embassy in Cairo and death of 80 americans etc to bring Lake to fame. Lake emerges as the potential presidential candidate and the CIA director Teddy Maynard is happy.

All this is until Aaron becomes a victim of the scam run by the brethren. What happens next is somewhat of an anticlimax of an end. I shall preserve it for your reading pleasure, if you should read it sometimes.

================================================

ANALYSIS

JG gives a lot to offer to the reader, as he always does. You get your own share of thrills and pleasure turning pages. You definitely lose some steam at many places and this book turns out to be a reference book of sorts. You do not see a JG touch. JG is known well for his law thrillers. Many places can make this book seem like a cartoon, although it is fiction. Such as a CIA director causing death to 80 Americans to get more money for his organization. Stating that US should spend more as Russian Mafia and ex-army is increasing their arm strength and all. Some statements and facts seem so illogical in this book. You are left wondering whether you are indeed reading a JG book or not

Some great things about this book are how JG brings out the loopholes of the advanced judicial system US has. How the presidential campaign is kind of skewed and how political lobbying decides the president of the country than the common people. It also portrays the might of media and it can play the role of ?Wag the Dog? concept. It also states how the common people in US pay attention to the prime item of debate that is of importance to them. When you have everything you need, you need to have interesting things make life interesting. That?s the problem many advanced nations face.

You also see how the presidential candidates can become pawns of someone else?s game-ploy and how campaign finances can be misused and gotten with strong lobbying. JG shows his mastery in these but he couldn?t tightly control the flow of things, like he does always.

JG brings in the brilliance of lawyers and how they can find a way about anything and everything. Unlike other books, this book lacks a strong character. Most of the JG books have more than one prime character and they are all portrayed strong enough. Here the characters sketched alright but not as strong as the other books.

I felt lost for a while, whilst I was reading this book and it is not a page-turner, according to me. The drama and thrills in this book is average and it gives some good thinking exercises.

At the end of the day, you are definitely left wanting for more. This is not atypical of JG. You want more than what he gave you in this book. I felt so.

Paperback: 464 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.25 x 6.85 x 4.13

================================================

CONCLUSION

This book is necessary for die-hard fans. You get your own share of joy, reading your favorite author. Casual readers can give it a skip. There are many excellent JG novels at bay. You can go for them. Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Partner, The client, The Pelican Brief and The Chamber are some of the great novels JG has penned. This would not meet the other novels JG has written.

My recommendation is SKIP it. Go for it only if you are a die-hard JG fan

I Hope you liked the review. Do comment.

KALIL

================================================

The dirty work at political conventions is almost always done in the grim hours between midnight and dawn. Hangmen and politicians work best when the human spirit is at its lowest ebb. -- Russell Baker

================================================