Been AWOL for a while but hoping to get back to reading/writing lots of reviews....
Been AWOL for a while but hoping to get back to reading/writing lots of reviews....
Member since:11.05.2005
Reviews:56
Members who trust:23
John Grisham, as most people probably know, is the highly successful author of a string of legal thrillers, many of which have been made into high-profile films – among the best known of which are The Firm and The Pelican Brief.
Grisham, an ex-lawyer (no surprise there) is probably the best-known and most successful, though certainly not the only, exponent of this genre. However, his first novel, A Time to Kill, which was first published in 1989, did not originally attract that much attention. It wasn’t until the success of his second novel, The Firm - and the film starring Tom Cruise - that the first one gained a wider readership. A Time to Kill was also subsequently made into a film starring Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L Jackson and Sandra Bullock.
An interesting introduction to this edition of the book by Grisham provides some insights into the background to how he came to write it, and his feelings about it now.
A Time to Kill (original working title “Deathknell” – probably a bad idea, although I’m not sure “A Time to Kill” is much better) is based in the fictional town of Clanton, Ford County, Mississippi – a location which also features in a number of Grisham’s subsequent works – a community where black
and white residents live in relatively peaceable, but sometimes uneasy co-existence. The novel opens with a harrowing account of a horrific crime – the rape, physical assault and attempted murder of a 10-year-old black girl, Tonya Hailey, by two drunken white men, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. Despite their best efforts, however, the little girl survives, and her attackers are arrested. Tonya’s father, Carl Lee Hailey, overcome with grief and rage, decides the law cannot be trusted to deal with the two men adequately, and takes matters into his own hands.
The first chapter, with its description of the brutal attack on Tonya, is an uncomfortable and distressing read, but there’s nothing gratuitous about it, for it is on this that the rest of the plot hinges.
Racial tensions run high in Clanton in the aftermath, and with the arrival on the scene of the Ku Klux Klan (this is the American South, remember) and their own delightful approach to matters, tension soon boils over into violence. Meanwhile, the national media descend on Clanton. It seems impossible for Carl Lee to get a fair trial in these circumstances,
Facing trial for the premeditated murders of Cobb and Willard, Carl Lee turns to local white lawyer Jake Brigance for help. Jake’s up against it, with a prosecutor determined to further his political ambitions by sending Carl Lee to the gas chamber, an all-white jury, the grand total of nine hundred dollars to spend on Carl Lee’s defence, and the Ku Klux Klan threatening his home and family. The bulk of the novel is concerned with preparations and events prior to the trial of Carl Lee, and with the trial itself.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, which is in no way glossed over, there are touches of humour, provided largely by Harry Rex Vonner (sleazy divorce lawyer and friend of Jake) and Lucien Wilbanks (alcoholic disbarred lawyer).
The characters are well drawn, especially the men. I wasn’t quite so convinced by the women, of whom there are fewer – principally Jake’s wife Carla and ambitious, idealistic law student Ellen Roark – and who seem to be slightly more reliant on stereotype, especially Carla. I have a feeling Grisham himself is to some extent aware of this, though. Jake – a character who Grisham admits in his introduction contains a great deal of himself – admits at one point, when challenged by Ellen, that he not only doesn’t have any female friends but doesn’t really see the point in having any. Gender attitudes in Clanton are no more enlightened than racial attitudes, and I think Grisham realises this.
Grisham is undoubtedly a natural storyteller and I found the book to be a gripping read, especially the courtroom scenes. (I love a good courtroom drama.)
There are some uncomfortable aspects to the novel; obviously the distressing nature of the crime against Tonya, but also some features of the racial climate of the American South at the time of the novel – which is not specified - and the apparent depth, at times, of the divide between black and white and their preconceptions about one another. It’s alarming to contemplate an environment where the KKK can apparently parade around in their white hoods and express their foul beliefs with impunity, although in other respects hope is offered by those individuals who reject racial hatred. Grisham certainly succeeds in conveying the atmosphere of the small town confronted by traumatic events, and graphically depicts the social context within which the novel takes place.
The novel also raises some questions about the nature of justice and how far a man can be justified in taking the law into his own hands, as does Carl Lee. It’s interesting that Jake and his colleagues believe that a largely male jury – preferably composed of young fathers - would be more sympathetic to Carl Lee’s actions. There may be some truth in this, as while I found myself empathising wholly with Carl Lee’s feelings about his daughter’s attackers, I found it harder to justify his actions in dispensing his own justice prior to them even facing trial. (Had they been tried and acquitted, or given meagre sentences, it would have been more understandable.) There is a twist to this, however, as readers of the novel will appreciate.
Grisham’s first novel, written before he became the brand-name which he is today, certainly compares favourably with his later work. Although clearly located within the “legal thriller” genre, it’s well written and plotted, and doesn’t shy away from difficult issues. One thing I like about Grisham is his willingness to engage with these issues, from a broadly liberal standpoint, while never coming anywhere near soap-box posturing.
I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys the genre, and also as an interesting depiction of the community and context in which the events of the novel occur.
Arrow paperback, 515 pages – cover price £6.99, available new from Amazon for £5.59 or used from £0.01!
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