The Firm

Hello readers, and welcome to the third installment of Another Year of Fiction (AYOF). So far I’ve read a deeply disturbing murder mystery and what has been considered the first feminist novel. Next, I decided to take a veering course into commercial fiction with John Grisham’s 1991 novel The Firm.

This novel and its author are quite well-known in the literary world, and if I’m being honest I’m not quite sure why. This was quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. Despite this, it sold millions of copies and produced an epic movie that went on to cement Grisham’s status in the pop culture realm. I won’t spend much time on the plot, which for me was the only thing that kept me going, except to say it’s a legal thriller involving a young attorney who joins a Memphis tax firm which he ends up realizing (through the FBI) is a front for organized crime. Yet I still found a few (counter-intuitive) lessons to draw from this book:

1. A good plot can overcome bad writing, barely. As I’ve stated, the only thing compelling me to finish this book was the unnerving plot, which moves at a breakneck pace and provides enough twists and turns to provide interest. Grisham clearly understands the legal world and how it operates, and this shows in the realism he brings to the law firm and its shady dealings. I wasn’t quite sure how the story would end even as I approached the final pages, though not much ends up getting resolved overall.
2. Just as there are no “rules” for writing, there are plenty of things you should NOT do. Grisham creates a bland, colorless legal world in which a do-good lawyer battles the forces of manipulation and evil. I was astonished to witness in this best-selling work so many basic writing tropes that my editor would just decimate. Overuse of the same words, often on the same page, extraordinarily insipid character and setting descriptions (one character is literally described as having “the most evil eyes” the main character has ever seen) teeming from every paragraph, and a host of second-tier characters whose names we learn but are mostly there to take up space, especially towards the end of the narrative. Seeing all of these basic writing errors make it through caused me to wonder just who was editing this book and why they thought they had done enough.

I unfortunately must conclude that due to these glaring issues I will not be picking up this author anytime soon, if ever. I would recommend this book only if you are looking for a quick read to breeze through over the summer, but even in that category there are doubtless better books. I hate to wrap up this review in such a negative light, but it bears mentioning that even reading books like this can clue an author into what is popular in today’s market. Grisham manages to crank out a book every year, and while working at a bookstore has taught me the ethereal nature of big-name mystery authors, there is no doubt he has found success despite his shortcomings.

Up next, I’m taking a major step back into the past and revisiting one of my favorite genres, the war novel: in this case, Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel All Quiet on the Western Front. I also hope to get a few more essays for the blog completed by the halfway point of the year. Stay tuned to this space for more updates on Another Year of Fiction!