Sycamore Row: A Peculiar Southern Yarn
Sycamore Row by that fella, John Grisham isn’t just any old tale, mind you, but a revisiting of our old friend, Jake Brigance, that legal eagle from three years past, who done pulled off a miracle in A Time to Kill. This time, however, the courtroom ain’t the main stage; it’s more of a backdrop to a proper Southern drama.
My rating for Sycamore Row – 4
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What I Reckon About This Peculiar Tome
This novel, isn’t your usual legal thriller, not by a long shot. No, sir. It’s more like a stroll through Clanton, Mississippi, where the air’s thick with racism, the politicking of a small town, and the ghosts of yesteryear, all simmering together with a dash of injustice thrown in for good measure. Our man Jake Brigance, whose last big win didn’t exactly fill his pockets with gold, is back with his missus and young’un, hoping this new case will keep ’em from the poorhouse.
What I think about Grisham’s earlier works is they got grit, a real backbone, you see. They ain’t afraid to speak their mind, to chew on something substantial, all while giving a good old lesson on the ins and outs of the law, its very purpose, with a smattering of lawyer talk for good measure.
Though, I must confess, I had a hankering that either the author held back a mite or the editors got to hacking at it with a vengeance.
There’s a heap of racial tension boiling’ in this book, and it shows you plain as day how even well-meaning folks can muck up a court case something’ awful if they don’t savvy the lay of the land where the trial’s happening’. It’s a proper legal tussle, this one, between disinherited kin and a poor, colored housekeeper down in the rural South.
Now, there’s a grand twist that pops up near the end. But truth be told, Mr. Grisham, he’s been dropping hints like breadcrumbs since the get-go, so it ain’t exactly a jaw-dropper. Maybe not the twist itself, but the peculiar way it came to be, and the chance for justice, even if it’s decades in the making.
Sycamore Row by John Grisham, well, it’s a bit on the long side, a mite padded out here and there, but it’s got backbone, a real purpose,. I enjoyed the main story a heap, and those little side tales and legal wranglings, though they ain’t the main attraction, they’re fascinating all the same.
The Gist of It, Plain and Simple
So, here’s the skinny: Seth Hubbard, a millionaire old-timer on his deathbed from that dreadful cancer, decides, just a few days before he shuffles off this mortal coil, to scribble out a new will. And what does he do? He leaves the lion’s share of his earthly possessions to his black housekeeper. Nary a dime for his ex-wives, nothing for his estranged kids, and not a whit for the grandchildren he ain’t even met.
Naturally, that handwritten will gets challenged faster than a hound dog on a hot scent. And Hubbard, clever old fox that he was, decrees that Jake Brigance—yes, our very own Jake—will be the one to defend his estate. Now, Jake, he never even laid eyes on Hubbard. And let me tell you, protecting that estate from the family, the lawyers, the leeches, and even the folks who stand to gain from it, well, that’s gonna be a tougher row to hoe than a Mississippi mule plows in August.
Buy Sycamore Row from Amazon.com*
More books by John Grisham*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I bought this book
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