The Testament

John Grisham

Definitely a page turner for me. I loved the idea of this fantastically wealthy man teasing his wretched family by leading them down the garden path and then crapping all over them! Sorry, no other way to say it!
Of course, towards the end of the book Grisham helps us to see that maybe the old geezer was unkind to do what he did as he laid the blame for much of the family's misery at his door.
I thought that some of the Pantanal narrative was too long, I was too keen to read how the family was going to react to the Testament once it had been read out.
The jungle dwelling doctor could have come a bit closer to giving herself to Nate, I thought, as Grisham had them sitting with their knees touching each other, after all.
I was worried about half way through the book that we were going to get a sermon on the mistreatment of the Brazilian rain forest, Amazon Indians and the like. Don't misunderstand, I feel strongly about the rape of land and people; but I don't buy and read novels for their political content.
I've read four or five of Grisham's tomes now and I've enjoyed them all. Overall, I liked the general story and the treatment of just about everybody in the book. I suppose I even like the return(?) to God of Nate, the rehab prone lawyer.
In the final analysis, though, I felt with this book that it was the story rather than the writing style that kept me turning the pages.

© Duncan Williamson

25 August 2001