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Loading... A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1) (original 1989; edition 2004)by John Grisham
Work InformationA Time to Kill by John Grisham (1989)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Na pequena cidade de Clanton, no condado fictĂcio de Ford, Mississippi em 1989, uma rapariga afro-americana de dez anos, tem a sua vida violentamente destruĂda por dois supremacistas brancos. O pai destroçado e ultrajado, consulta o seu amigo Jake Brigance, um advogado branco que tinha anteriormente representado o seu irmĂŁo, sobre a possibilidade de ser absolvido caso aconteça algo aos dois homens. Os dois criminosos sĂŁo rapidamente presos e acusados de vĂĄrios crimes relacionados com o ataque. O pai da menina, veterano decorado do Vietname, aplica nessa situação a lei com as suas prĂłprias mĂŁos. Mas isto ĂŠ Mississippi em 1989 e o caso ĂŠ complicado pelo facto de a vĂtima e o seu pai serem negros enquanto os dois bandidos sĂŁo brancos. A população da cidade estĂĄ uniformemente dividida entre negros e brancos e, embora a maioria das pessoas, independentemente da raça, condene as açþes dos dois bandidos, a divisĂŁo deve-se Ă questĂŁo de saber se a justiça aplicada pelas prĂłprias mĂŁos do pai ser condenada ou alvo de receber uma medalha. âá´É´á´ á´É´á´ÉŞĘ á´Ąá´ á´á´É´ ęąá´á´ á´á´á´Ę á´á´Ęá´Ę á´ęą á´Qá´á´Ęęą, á´á´ęąá´ÉŞá´á´ ÉŞęą É´á´á´ á´Ę ɢá´ÉŞÉ´É˘ á´á´ Ęá´ á´á´ á´É´-Ęá´É´á´ á´á´ . ÉŞá´ á´ĄÉŞĘĘ Ęá´á´á´ÉŞÉ´ É´á´á´Ęɪɴɢ á´á´Ęá´ á´Ęá´É´ á´ Ęá´ę°Ęá´á´á´ÉŞá´É´ á´ę° á´á´Ę á´á´ĄÉ´ á´Ęá´á´á´á´ ÉŞá´á´ęą.â O que se segue ĂŠ um thriller de tribunal com violĂŞncia alimentada por ambos os lados da divisĂŁo racial. Culpado? Inocente? Jake Brigance, jovem advogado que estĂĄ desesperado pelo grande momento, aceita o caso apesar da sua natureza intimidante. Jake representa muitas qualidades ĂŠticas e profissionais que os advogados veneram. Grisham ĂŠ justo com ambos os lados, e ĂŠ claro que conhece muito bem o cenĂĄrio, as pessoas e a dinâmica da situação. Estamos dentro da histĂłria e sentimo-nos ali mesmo em Clanton, Mississippi, a tentar esquivarmo-nos ao KKK e a marchar com todos os outros. HĂĄ uma sĂŠrie de excelentes personagens neste romance e muito poucos sĂŁo puros de alma. Embora esta histĂłria se situe numa era passada, ainda ĂŠ relevante para os dias de hoje, pois os preconceitos baseados na cor da pele, gĂŠnero e religiĂŁo ainda estĂŁo presentes. Assim, perante isto, ĂŠ uma histĂłria intemporal. Envolvente e de ritmo rĂĄpido. Provocadora de opiniĂľes. A Time to Kill is not for those with weak stomachs. In his first novel, John Grisham holds nothing back in describing man's inhumanity to man. If you like reading about violence that would make those with weak stomachs miss a meal, this is your book. The premise of the book is a thought-provoking one: How would a Southern small town treat a crime by an African-American perpetrated with malice aforethought that it would have permitted a white southerner to get away with? The book's best qualities are exploring the roots of racial prejudice. that being said I could have done with a little less of the "N" word but I have to keep in mind this was written in 1989. For those who like legal thrillers where there's some action, this is far more than your usual courtroom drama. It comes closer to the kind of taut threat that permeated To Kill a Mockingbird. The only difference is that Grisham conjures up an intersection in time between the old and new South that never happened. I found that the book was predictable in its over-the-top treatment of what would have made for good drama. But the extreme situations weakened the plot by making it seem unlikely. I suspect it was a writing method used to be sure that those who didn't know about the old South would appreciate the delicate nature of the emotions involved. For more reviews and bookish posts please visit https://www.ManofLaBook.com A Time to Kill by John Grisham is the first legal thriller featuring Jake Brigance. This is the first book Mr. Grisham wrote, that started him on his path to legal thriller stardom. Carl Lee Haileyâs young daughter, Tonya, was raped and almost murdered by two career criminals in the small town of Clanton, Mississippi. When the two criminals were taken to court, Carl Lee ambushed and killed them. Being that the two criminals were white, and Carl Lee is black, the case took on its own life. The KKK who had no representation in Clanton suddenly showed up, and so did thousands of African-Americans to show support and provide pushback to the Klan. Lawyer Jake Brigance has been hired to defend Hailey. Jake knows this is a big case that can make or break his career. But Jake never thought of all the lives, including his, that could be lost or damaged. I enjoyed this book very much. When I picked it up I didnât realize it was Grishamâs first book until I read the preface. It was an interesting process, where working lawyer Grisham wrote chapter by chapter to give his wife to read. A Time to Kill by John Grisham is very enjoyable and engaging. The story is interesting, the legal theories are fascinating, and the character are most believable. I did think the book was too long, there were many sections which are unnecessary, or didnât add anything to the story. Iâm not talking about expanding the story with a few branches here and there, but sections which could have easily been deleted without being missed. After reading about one quarter of the book I wasnât sure how I felt about Jake Brigance. I donât know if thatâs how good guys talked and acted in mid-1980s Mississippi but, to me, it seemed unprofessional, almost as if the author plopped a lawyer out of the 1950 into the bookâs time frame. Not to mention that Jake acts like a jerk to everyone in his life and keeps the company of other jerks. It might be realistic to 1980s Mississippi; I have no idea. But why not make the main character somewhat relatable with shades of gray instead of hard-to-believe character flaws. This is still an excellent book regardless of my pettiness. I canât believe itâs his first book, as Iâve read later novels which I did not think were as good. Only my second Grisham book, but not my last. I really enjoyed it and the character, Jake Brigance. I canât wait to watch the movie. This âvery autobiographicalâ book (Grishamâs words) was inspired by lawyer Grishamâs witnessing the testamony of a 12-year-old rape victim in 1984 in Hernando, Mississippi. He spent three years writing the book and finished it in 1987. Not until the success of his second book, âThe Firm,â did âA Time to Killâ fly off the bookshelves too. I was a little intimidated by the length (500 pages), but, like all of Grishamâs books, I was finished with it before I knew it. Great author, great book. Is contained inHas the adaptationIs abridged in
Fiction.
Literature.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence... as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town... Clanton, Mississippi. The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young man. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. Until her black father acquires an assault rifle â?? and takes justice into his own outraged hands. For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life... and then his own No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumJohn Grisham's book A Time to Kill was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Print: COPYRIGHT: (June 1989) 10/21/2014; PUBLISHER: Doubleday, First edition; ISBN 978-0385537148; PAGES 384; Unabridged
Digital: Yes
*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 10/23/2018; ISBN: 9780593103609; PUBLISHER: Books on Tape; DURATION: 16:54:32; PARTS: 14; File Size: 454202 KB; Unabridged; PARTS:14
Feature Film or tv: Yes
SERIES: Jake Brigance Series, Book 1
CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Jake Brigance â Protagonist, defense lawyer
Carla Brigance â Jakeâs wife
Hanna Brigance â Jakeâs 4=year-old daughter
Drew Jack Tyndale â Defense Lawyer
Percy Bullard - Judge
Harry Rex Vonnerâ Lawyer
Ethel Twitty â Jakeâs secretary
Bud Twitty â Ethelâs husband
Ellen Roark â Jakeâs law clerk
Ozzie Walls â Ford County Sheriff
Omar (Ichabod) Noose â Judge
Carl Lee Hailey â Father of a child victim of rape
Tonya Hailey â Carl Leeâs 10 year old daughter
Gwen Hailey - Mother of a child victim of rape
Lester Hailey â Carl Leeâs brother
Lucien Wilbanks â disbarred lawyer â owner of the building Jakeâs office is in.
Rufus Buckley- Prosecuting lawyer
Billy Ray Cobb â Accused of rape
James Louis (Pete) Willard â Accused of rape
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: Iâd been ignoring these first works by Grisham thinking Iâd seen the movies. We have listened to some of Grishamâs later novelsâprobably most, so I decided to try one of the older ones weâd never gotten around to, and liking it, decided it was time to start here at the beginning whether or not Iâd seen the movieâbesides, itâs been so long since Iâve seen the movies, that Iâm not likely to remember details anyway. So this was Grishamâs debut novel. Wow. My response was, âItâs amazing he was willing to write more, having succeeded so well with this, I personally might have been of a mind to quit while I was aheadâŚ.but thatâs me. I lack the confidence to write even one novel.â Come to find out though, in an Authorâs Note of the Digital version of this book from April 2009, John discusses how he sold less than 5,000 copies of this book when he initially published it and considered writing something other than legal fiction, but he went ahead and wrote âThe Firmâ, which succeeded, and then some others which also succeeded, and THEN this first novel finally âgot itself noticedâ in Grishamâs words. He wrote then, that he still dreamed about getting back to those characters and that location with more meandering stories, so it wasnât until 2013 that this became âBook 1â of the Jake Brigance series when Sycamore Row was born, the book I have just begun listening to.
Whatâs it about? Racism in a small Mississippi town to put it in hugely general terms. I wonât get more specific because everyoneâs probably seen the movie.
What did I think? VERY good. Like I said, Iâve seen the movie but itâs been a VERY long time, and books always have more details and more context, and more just about everything, so itâs definitely worth reading.
AUTHOR:
John Grisham:
From Wikipedia:
âGrisham, the second of five children, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Wanda (nĂŠe Skidmore) and John Ray Grisham.[6] His father was a construction worker and a cotton farmer, and his mother was a homemaker.[9] When Grisham was four years old, his family settled in Southaven, Mississippi, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee.[6]
As a child, he wanted to be a baseball player.[8] As noted in the foreword to Calico Joe, Grisham gave up playing baseball at the age of 18, after a game in which a pitcher aimed a beanball at him, and narrowly missed doing the young Grisham grave harm.
Although Grisham's parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged him to read and prepare for college.[1] He drew on his childhood experiences for his novel A Painted House.[6] Grisham started working for a plant nursery as a teenager, watering bushes for $1.00 an hour. He was soon promoted to a fence crew for $1.50 an hour. He wrote about the job: "there was no future in it". At 16, Grisham took a job with a plumbing contractor but says he "never drew inspiration from that miserable work".[10]
Through one of his father's contacts, he managed to find work on a highway asphalt crew in Mississippi at age 17. It was during this time that an unfortunate incident got him "serious" about college. A fight with gunfire broke out among the crew causing Grisham to run to a nearby restroom to find safety. He did not come out until after the police had detained the perpetrators. He hitchhiked home and started thinking about college. His next work was in retail, as a salesclerk in a department store men's underwear section, which he described as "humiliating". By this time, Grisham was halfway through college. Planning to become a tax lawyer, he was soon overcome by "the complexity and lunacy" of it. He decided to return to his hometown as a trial lawyer.[11]
He attended the Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Mississippi and later attended Delta State University in Cleveland.[6] Grisham changed colleges three times before completing a degree.[1] He eventually graduated from Mississippi State University in 1977, receiving a B.S. degree in accounting. He later enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law to become a tax lawyer, but his interest shifted to general civil litigation. He graduated in 1981 with a J.D. degree.[6]
After leaving law school, he participated in some missionary work in Brazil, under the First Baptist Church of Oxford.[12]â
NARRATOR:
Michael Beck:
Wikipedia__ âJohn Michael Beck Taylor (born February 4, 1949), commonly known as Michael Beck, is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Swan in The Warriors (1979) and Sonny Malone in Xanadu (1980).
Beck was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the third of nine children. He attended Memphis University School and then Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi on a football scholarship.[1] While in college, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. After graduating with a degree in economics, he was one of 30 (out of 2,500) applicants chosen for London's Central School of Speech and Drama.[2] Beck's stage credits, beginning with college, include Camelot (he was King Arthur), Of Mice and Men (he was George Milton), Romeo and Juliet (he was Tybalt),[1] and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.â
Perhaps it was Beckâs Southern Tennessee roots that earned him this gig, but heâs perfect for itâreally excellent narration!
GENRE:
Fiction; Court room drama; Literature; Suspense; Thriller
LOCATION(S):
(Fictitious) Ford County; Clanton, Mississippi
TIME FRAME:
Contemporary (1985)
SUBJECTS:
Racism; Klu Klux Klan; Rape; Murder; Retribution; Court procedure
DEDICATION:
âTo Renee, A woman of uncommon beauty, A fiercely loyal friend, A compassionate critic, A doting mother, A perfect wifeâ
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 4:
âJake looked out his window across the square to the rear of the courthouse, which faced south. It was 1:00 P.M. He had skipped lunch, as usual, and had no business across the street, but he did need some fresh air. He hadnât left the building all day, and although he had no desire to hear the details of the rape, he hated to miss the hearing. There had to be a crowd in the courtroom because there were no empty parking spaces around the square. A handful of reporters and photographers waited anxiously near the rear of the courthouse by the wooden doors where Cobb and Willard would enter.
The jail was two blocks off the square on the south side, down the highway. Ozzie drove the car with Cobb and Willard in the back seat. With a squad car in front and one behind, the procession turned off Washington Street into the short driveway leading under the veranda of the courthouse. Six deputies escorted the defendants past the reporters, through the doors, and up the back stairs to the small room just outside the courtroom.
Jake grabbed his coat, ignored Ethel, and raced across the street. He ran up the back stairs, through a small hall outside the jury room, and entered the courtroom from a side door just as Mr. Pate led His Honor to the bench.
âAll rise for the court,â Mr. Pate shouted. Everyone stood. Bullard stepped to the bench and sat down.
âBe seated,â he yelled. âWhere are the defendants? Where? Bring them in then.â
Cobb and Willard were led, handcuffed, into the courtroom from the small holding room. They were unshaven, wrinkled, dirty, and looked confused. Willard stared at the large group of blacks while Cobb turned his back. Looney removed the handcuffs and seated them next to Drew Jack Tyndale, the public defender, at the long table where the defense sat. Next to it was a long table where the county prosecutor, Rocky Childers, sat taking notes and looking important.
Willard glanced over his shoulder and again checked on the blacks. On the front row just behind him sat his mother and Cobbâs mother, each with a deputy for protection. Willard felt safe with all the deputies. Cobb refused to turn around.
From the back row, eighty feet away, Carl Lee raised his head and looked at the backs of the two men who raped his daughter. They were mangy, bearded, dirty-looking strangers. He covered his face and bent over. The deputies stood behind him, backs against the wall, watching every move.
âNow listen,â Bullard began loudly. âThis is just a preliminary hearing, not a trial. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine if there is enough evidence that a crime has been committed to bind these defendants over to the grand jury. The defendants can even waive this hearing if they want to.â
Tyndale stood. âNo sir, Your Honor, we wish to proceed with the hearing.â
âVery well. I have copies of affidavits sworn to by Sheriff Walls charging both defendants with rape of a female under the age of twelve, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. Mr. Childers, you may call your first witness.â
âYour Honor, the State calls Sheriff Ozzie Walls.â
Jake sat in the jury box, along with several other attorneys, all of whom pretended to be busy reading important materials. Ozzie was sworn and sat in the witness chair to the left of Bullard, a few feet from the jury box.
âWould you state your name?â
âSheriff Ozzie Walls.â
âYouâre the sheriff of Ford County?â
âYes.â
âI know who he is,â Bullard mumbled as he flipped through the file.
âSheriff, yesterday afternoon, did your office receive a call about a missing child?â
âYes, around four-thirty.â
âWhat did your office do?â
âDeputy Willie Hastings was dispatched to the residence of Gwen and Carl Lee Hailey, the parents of the girl.â
âWhere was that?â
âDown on Craft Road, back behind Bates Grocery.â
âWhat did he find?â
âHe found the girlâs mother, who made the call. Then drove around searchinâ for the girl.â
âDid he find her?â
âNo. When he returned to the house, the girl was there. Sheâd been found by some folks fishinâ, and they took her home.â
âWhat shape was the girl in?â
âSheâd been raped and beaten.â
âWas she conscious?â
âYeah. She could talk, or mumble, a little.â
âWhat did she say?â
Tyndale jumped to his feet. âYour Honor, please, I know hearsay is admissible in a hearing like this, but this is triple hearsay.â
âOverruled. Shut up. Sit down. Continue, Mr. Childers.â
âWhat did she say?â
âTold her momma it was two white men in a yellow pickup truck with a rebel flag in the window. Thatâs about all. She couldnât say much Had both jaws broken and her face kicked in.â
âWhat happened then?â âThe deputy called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital.â
âHow is she?â
âThey say sheâs critical.â â
What happened then?â
âBased on what I knew at the time I had a suspect in mind.â
âSo whatâd you do?â
âI located an informant, a reliable informant, and placed him in a beer joint down by the lake.ââ
RATING:.
5
STARTED READING â FINISHED READING
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