Earnest Hemingway

Robb Hatfield

English Essay

4/28/2006

John Grisham

John Grisham is the author that I look up to the most. If I could think of the books that I have enjoyed reading the most, the list would include many novels by Grisham. His writing style is very intelligent but yet he has this sense of action and urgency that he conveys in his novels that is, in lack of other words, awesome. He has been writing fiction law novels for a decent amount of time now and they keep on getting better and better.

John Grisham’s books have been made into a couple of hit movies. I have not seen these yet but I was very excited once I heard that these movies have and will be produced. Grisham has shown that he can add a great deal of satire to his books without making his writing sound like it is supposed to make you laugh every ten seconds. In his books he shows that very serious situations can have satirical effect and very funny moments can have hints of seriousness. His writing keeps you in suspense even when your reading the last paragraph on the last page.

Influences during Grisham’s childhood and adult life have helped to shape his writing career. His family moved around a lot during his early childhood. In his teenage years his family settled down in Southaven, Mississippi. Grisham found out soon after he went to high school that he was athletic and had a chance in sports. His opportunities lay in baseball and football. He went to Northwest Junior College after high school. After spending a year at Northwest he transferred to Delta State to play baseball.

Grisham started failing his classes at Delta State and he decided that baseball wasn’t for him. He quickly changed majors to accounting and got another transfer, this one to Mississippi State. At Mississippi State Grisham started writing two books, which he never finished. He got his undergraduate degree in accounting and soon went on to take his law degree at the University of Mississippi.

John Grisham went on to practice law for 10 years after he got his degree specializing in personal injury litigation and criminal defense. He was elected into the House of Representatives and served from 1983 and stayed on until 1990. He started his third project in 1984 which he would finish in 1987 and it would be called “A Time To Kill”.

““A Time to Kill”, wrote by John Grisham was a riveting story of retribution and justice. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence as he delivers a compelling tale of in certain justice in a small southern town in Clanton, Mississippi. In the end, Jake comes up with an outstanding closing argument, turning the story towards a different perspective for the white people of the jury and then turning it back to how it actually happens. I have never read this book because it was the first book he wrote and I never had time but I plan to.

My absolute favorite book that John Grisham has written was the Brethren.