Marie-Jo鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

7,403

pages read

books read

Marie-Jo Fortis

Shortest Book

297

pages

Longest Book

642

pages

Average book length in 2024

389

pages

Most Shelved

3,166,181

people also shelved

Least Shelved

49,850

people also shelved

Marie-Jo鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.9

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.58 average

Marie-Jo鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

THE RAINMAKER by John Grisham 鈥� finished on 2.2.24
This one is a first-person novel written in the present tense under the point of view of an ambitious lawyer, Rudy Baylor, whose young ego is confronted with old people, poverty, cancer and the perversion of insurance companies in particular, capitalism in general, and law itself. It鈥檚 also a reflection on morality and about who has more of it, legal companies or the mafia. For our hero makes a li THE RAINMAKER by John Grisham 鈥� finished on 2.2.24
This one is a first-person novel written in the present tense under the point of view of an ambitious lawyer, Rudy Baylor, whose young ego is confronted with old people, poverty, cancer and the perversion of insurance companies in particular, capitalism in general, and law itself. It鈥檚 also a reflection on morality and about who has more of it, legal companies or the mafia. For our hero makes a living during his law studies at a bar owned by a great boss who also happens to be an easygoing member of organized crime, mostly money trafficking.

Although Rudy passes the bar exam, the well-paid job he was promised is gone, as the company who hired him is eaten up by a bigger one, which, of course, leads to downsizing. He has to hang on to his job as a barman until he partners with a man who never passed the bar and spends his time in hospitals. Hospitals are where victims of car collisions live for a while, sometimes die forever, and it鈥檚 to their rooms that he runs to grab contracts, hopefully to make as much dough as possibly suing the other party鈥檚 insurance company. Rudy has so many debts, he is risking eviction from his apartment, he鈥檚 disgusted and humiliated by the accident-chasing part of lawyering. But what else can he do if he wants to survive?

Well, maybe meets blue collar mother who is losing her son to leukemia because the insurance refused to pay for a bone transplant operation which could have saved him. This is a huge, intimidating case for a lawyer as green as Rudy, but he prepares thoroughly, gathers solid proofs and testimonies, and, supported by law professors and lawyers suing the same health insurance company, he shines during what becomes a major trial making the first pages of newspapers as it unravels the insurance company鈥檚 cheating and corruption.

Grisham is a master of clean prose, which he peppers with humor and satire. His descriptions of human nature are right on target. If he is sympathetic to some characters, this does not mean he is indulgent. Characters are sketched with a mix of fine and bold lines, but unless they鈥檙e in the background, it鈥檚 never a black and white matter, even if complexities more shown than analyzed. Grisham is not writing a treaty, he鈥檚 displaying illogical, human behaviors, behaviors the reader will identify with. The most successful, humorous portrait here is Rudy鈥檚 accident-chasing partner, described as nearly unbearably ugly, yet unaware of it; undignified yet unashamed, reliable as a colleague and friend, and poignant from time to time.

If you have been like me confronted with the unethical methods of the insurance business, you will be fascinated by the meticulous details . And yet the subject itself could have replaced a sleeping pill. Instead it informs as it entertains. My main criticism is this: Grisham鈥檚 less-is-more approach can go too minimalist, and the multitude of characters makes you stop here and there. Who鈥檚 that? Where was he last time I saw him? It a good exercise for the memory, so it compensates.

Overall, another great one from our Mississippi author.
2.4.24
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惭础搁滨贰-闯翱鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

it was amazing

The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

The Housemaid Is Watching by Freida McFadden

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie

Marie-Jo鈥檚 last review of the year

it was amazing

THE BOOK OF THE YEARFRAMED 鈥� Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by Bill McCluskey and John Grisham

Well, the title says it. It is a non-fiction book that narrates ten carefully researched and selected stories about people who committed no crime and were either put on life with no possibility of parole or on death row. Were the attorney generals and state lawyers aware of this? Yes. Instead of the presumed innocent until proven guilty THE BOOK OF THE YEARFRAMED 鈥� Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by Bill McCluskey and John Grisham

Well, the title says it. It is a non-fiction book that narrates ten carefully researched and selected stories about people who committed no crime and were either put on life with no possibility of parole or on death row. Were the attorney generals and state lawyers aware of this? Yes. Instead of the presumed innocent until proven guilty situation, we have a justice system establishing their own theory of the crime and finding a presupposed guilty party to fit that theory. Never mind that it is illogical, outrageous and absurd, and only fit for the ungifted fiction writer. And yet, judges accept this without even considering suspicious individuals with strong motives who are right under their nose.

Why do that? For political reasons, which is to please an impatient electorate that wants a nation to be safer (when absurdly it gets only more dangerous); sometimes to feed their own egos for fear of public judgement. They sacrifice the innocents for this, bury their conscience and indirectly become murderers themselves.

I had my mouth open from outrage and astonishment as I read about a thoroughly corrupt system, and people like you and me doing time, 16 years, 25 years, or being executed. Indeed it is a hard read that may not be your favorite entertainment during this Christmas season, and you may want to wait until next year until you open the book.

But thanks to the prose of Jim McCluskey and Grisham鈥檚 masterful one, it is gripping and astounding. You tell yourself it鈥檚 time to read something else, but it haunts you and you come back. And it should. Whoever thinks capital punishment is fair must go through every line of FRAMED and realize that innocents are killed by a judicial system with no conscience, and that killers go free. Framed will probably become a reference in law school. For my part I am not a law student, but it is not difficult to realize that this is an important book, and I hope that it will lead to the cleansing of our justice system.

December 16, 2024

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