September 29, 2009
October 31, 2007
Lusting For Money
A review of The Testament a novel written by John Grisham
Eighty-year-old Troy Phelan jumps out of his wheelchair, practically runs across the room out onto the terrace and dives from the top floor of his 14 storey building to his death. The sick, sad, lonely self made multi billionaire knew that he wanted to die, knew that his family wouldn’t mourn him much and wanted to cause them as much grief as he could by setting the scene for the last act of his life.
A short time before his death Troy who was one of the richest men in the USA was examined by 3 notable psychiatrists and pronounced sound in mind. Then he signed a 90 page professionally prepared will sharing his billions out equally amongst his 6 children from 3 broken marriages. All of who were in the room with their individual lawyers at the time of the examination and signing. His families, their lawyers and the psychiatrists then left the room totally satisfied with the filmed proceedings.
Camera still running, and with just 3 others remaining (Josh Stafford, a partner in the law firm and Troy’s gofer Snead) Troy shredded that will and produced and signed an handwritten 1 page will revoking all others and leaving his billions to illegitimate daughter Rachael Lane. Only Troy knew of her existence and nobody including him had more than a vague idea where she was.
In a letter to Josh he ordered the contents of the will not to be disclosed until January 9th, one month after his death. In that final testament all he left his 6 legitimate heirs was payment of any debts incurred before the reading and that would be only on condition that none of them contested the will. Immediately after signing the will he jumped to his death leaving behind a great deal of controversy and uncertainty.
His slick lawyer Josh Stafford was faced with the problem of finding Rachel Lane. All he had to go on was that she was a trained doctor and a World Tribes missionary in Brazil working for a religious outfit who had been sworn to secrecy about her. As far as his 6 children were concerned they were his heirs and had no idea that the final will had cut them out. Their problem was in getting enough credit to buy the expensive things that they desired and would be able to afford once they inherited the money.
At this stage I pondered on the fairness of a man that can play games with his children and detest them so much that he can disregard the security of their futures yet leave a massive fortune to a daughter that he had only met once and 20 years earlier. We learn that he had little interest in them as children and that each had received a trust fund of $5,000,000 on reaching 21, excepting for his weird 14 year old son Ramble whose money was waiting in trust for him. The 5 who had received their trust funds had gone through most or all of the money and some were in debt. Troy had worked hard for his money and was certain that his incompetent children and their partners would fritter the fortune away. I can understand that point of view but heck what’s the point of having money if you live austerely as Troy did and don’t enjoy it.
Josh decides rather strangely to send 48 year old food litigation lawyer Nate O’Riley to Brazil to look for Rachael. At the time of Troy’s death alcoholic Nate is drying out in a rehab centre for the umpteenth time and hardly the most suitable choice for the task and the temptations on the way. With 2 failed marriages and children that don’t like him, Nate’s excess baggage includes self-pity and to a certain extent the self-delusion of an alcoholic who has often stumbled at the hurdles of reform.
Nate travels to the Brazilian jungle while the Phelan heirs and their many legal advisors wrangle greedily over the inheritance. The book swings back and forth between both aspects of the story but my favourite parts were the descriptions of Nate sailing down an alligator infested river in a storm and the settlement of hostile semi-naked Ipica Indians and their surroundings.
I won’t say any more about the plot except that the will was read 2 weeks instead of a month after Troy’s death as he specified. I found that rather odd and there was no real reason given for not carrying out Troy’s last wishes, certainly not enough to affect the plot.
I haven’t read anything by John Grisham before and only picked this book in the library because of reading enthusiastic opinions about some of his other books. I wasn’t disappointed in my choice and found the storyline interesting enough to want to read to the end and find out what happens although it didn’t totally absorb me to a point where I couldn’t put the book down. I found some of the plot implausible but it seemed to strengthen rather than weaken this piece of fiction.
The main character Nate was well described and it was quite easy to build up empathy with him, but in parts I wanted to give him a big nudge with an extreme part of my anatomy. Part of the implausibility of the book was the speed in which Nate managed to travel to a remote part of Brazil called the Panatel, have some adventures and find Rachel with little information to go on.
When Rachel finally comes into the story I found it hard to find any empathy with her. She’s a good woman, dedicates her life to her religion and caring for natives in a remote part of the world with little access to what we call civilisation. Suffers unimaginable hardships every day stoically. A tough lady yet disappointingly little of her personality is exposed.
My favourite character was Jevy, Nate’s guide and translator in Brazil. Jevy had lived in the USA for a while and one day wanted to go back there. He came across as a caring, loyal, humorous and intuitive young man and was used in the story to keep Nate’s feet on the ground. I would liked to have seen the character expanded upon and explored more.
The Testament drew to a satisfying conclusion, leaving me with lots of things to think about. We all have to die sometime but wouldn’t it be awful dying knowing that the uncaring vultures waiting to pounce on what we leave behind are our children and the ones that we would most want to mourn us. It made me think about the lives of children with rich parents who spend time making more money instead of loving, raising, guiding and enjoying their children.
I learned something about the perils of the jungle and the way primitive tribes still live even now. I thought about the value of missionaries who apart from bible bashing offer invaluable medical care and knowledge making a not always welcome good and real difference to the existence of people from remote areas.
Greed was the motivation of many of the characters in the book, including some of the lawyers. You learn that those who uphold the law are not always honest when millions are at stake and hope that the storyline isn’t too true to life. Once the scenes with the lawyers came in I expected to find the book boring. I didn’t, I found myself curious to know how the Phelan heirs would react and just how low they and their lawyers would stoop. The switches to the jungle adventure were perfectly timed to stop me from ever feeling bored.
Although classed as a thriller it wasn’t thrilling, just a well told story with adventure, a hint of romance, a delve into the lives of spoilt filthy rich, an insight into the mind of a reforming alcoholic and the amount of money that lawyers can make out of other peoples deaths. Not the best book that I’ve ever read but still eminently readable and recommended for long winter evenings curled up in front of the fire. I shall certainly read more of John Grishams work in the future.
The writer of this review Patricia Jones owns her own article directory http://.BB-Articles.com
and several other websites, which include http://bb-space.co.uk
and http://ebook-world.co.uk
Big Girls Are Sexy Too
A review of Good In Bed a novel written by Jennifer Weiner
Cannie Shapiro is overweight and her size makes her feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. When she goes to the beach she covers the rolls with a sarong. Sounds familiar, we are conditioned to think that thin is beautiful and fat should be hidden.
At the beginning of the book we hear that 28 year old Cannie is a journalist, writes a column about the famous for the Philadelphia Examiner. She had ended her 3 year relationship with writer Bruce Gruberman 3 months earlier by saying that she wanted a break. She is fine with that until she picks up a copy of Moxie, a popular women’s magazine. There she reads an article by new columnist Bruce called Loving A Larger Woman.
The first sentence of the article says: ‘I’ll never forget the day I found out my girlfriend weighed more than I did’. He goes on to let the readers know that he never thought of himself as a chubby chaser. Cruel you think until you read further and see that he understands that her hefty 5’ 10” well covered body makes her feel bad when really to him big is beautiful. He ends the article by saying:
‘Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in this world, and maybe it’s even an act of futility. Because, in loving C., I knew I was loving someone who didn’t believe that she herself was worthy of anyone’s love. And now that it’s over, I don’t know where to direct my anger and sorrow. At a world that made her feel the way she did about her body – no, herself – and whether she was desirable. At C., for not being strong enough to overcome what the world told her. Or at myself, for not loving C. enough to make her believe in herself’.
I included those sentences from the book because they struck a chord with me. Some people can live happily with being overweight but for many every extra pound means miserable self-consciousness and guilt trips – straight to the kitchen cupboard usually! The bigger you get the less desirable you feel and you start to believe that is the way that others perceive you. I wondered if any of my partners had thought loving me an act of courage at the times in my life that I’ve been overweight.
Cannie is very hurt that Bruce could discuss her size with the huge readership of the magazine. She knows that people who know her will read the article and realise that it’s about her. Cannie cries her heart out, gets drunk and cries a lot more. She rings Bruce in anger but then ends up missing him and wishing that she hadn’t ended the relationship.
Her mother Ann calls round to Cannie’s flat to offer her comfort and advice. Not welcome because she has a problem with her mother. Ann came out of the closet in her mid fifties and is living with Tanya who Cannie resents too much to give her a chance to get to know her properly. Cannie’s father a plastic surgeon who was very critical of her, walked out on the family when she was twelve. He disappeared from her life leaving her with much insecurity about herself.
Her only consolation is her little dog Nifkin, named after a naughty part of the male anatomy. Nifkin had never really got on with Bruce – dogs know you know. Before the article Cannie and Nifkin were drifting along quite happily, but suddenly her life was in turmoil and her insecurities came to a fore. She tries to get her life back on track by deciding that she wants to get back with Bruce, pesters him with phone calls which he always ends and becomes increasingly distant. She blames her size on a lot of her misfortunes and decides to join a fat clinic where some humour is introduced.
Good In Bed is described as ‘wildly funny and surprisingly tender’ on the front cover. I have to disagree with it being wildly funny. I found the book amusing in parts but never found myself laughing out loud. I grinned when I read about Cannie going to a New York hotel to interview film star Maxi. The interview was cancelled by an over zealous agent who was afraid that Cannie would ask awkward questions that would expose the real Maxi to her fans. She got her interview after a touching meeting in the ladies toilets and a drunken girlie night out where the over protected film star was allowed to be herself for once and not act like the image built up for her.
Surprisingly tender, yes it is. The story is set over a year and each month a new article appears to hurt Cannie. She reads how Bruce misses her but then gets a blow-by-blow account of how he moves on. I found the book true to life in that I could identify with the emotional turmoil felt at the end of a long-term relationship. You end things for the right reasons and are jogging along quite happily with your life then a few weeks or months down the line something happens or you suddenly miss your ex partner and put yourself through the emotional grinder wondering if you made the right decision. Usually you have but sometimes you have a re-run just to make sure. Will Cannie? I’m not telling.
I enjoyed reading Good In Bed but I found it an interesting read rather than compelling. I was able to put it down easily but always looked forward to reading a bit more the next night. Perfect for me when I am tired and just want to read a little to help me relax before going to sleep. There isn’t tons of sex as the title and front cover might suggest, but that would have spoiled the book for me anyway. Instead of finding it wildly funny I found it an amusing, thoughtful read. It was well written enough for me to be able to visualise Cannie’s world and understand her feelings and turmoil while she comes to terms with everything that is happening around her.
The ending was unexpected but it wasn’t one of those books where you are trying to figure out the outcome from word go. It is a story that takes you through a period of lots of big and unexpected changes in Cannie’s life and you learn how she deals with them. Not always well but it’s nice to read about somebody who isn’t perfect – just like the rest of us.
This is the second book that I’ve read recently with an overweight heroine and what a refreshing change it is to read about characters who aren’t the stereotyped skinny beautiful heroines that you often find in novels. Unfortunately both were classed as humorous – we big girls don’t just do humour but it’s a good job we can laugh.
Good In Bed was Jennifer Weiner’s first novel, published in 2001. Jennifer is a staff writer and columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. It is said that it’s always best to start writing about something you know and Jennifer gives a real feel of what it’s like working as a journalist, adding a great background to a pretty good story. I will certainly look out for her second book ‘Get In Her Shoes’.
The author of this review Patricia Jones owns her own article directory BB-Articles
and several other websites, which include bb-space
and ebook-world
