The Widow: A Novel

The Widow is a great read from a great story teller. Grisham creates a wonderful character in Eleanor Barnett. I couldn't help but picturing Eleanor as being similar to Helen Hayes' portrayal of Ada Quonset in the movie Airport. She was fun. I totally love how John Grisham focused on the greed of the lawyers and the shame that at least Simon Latch feels about it ... to a degree. As usual, Grisham weaves many subplots throughout making the book interesting page after page. I admit, however, I was surprised at the conclusion. Throughout it the novel, I was making guesses at who was the murderer, and I was way off base. That made the read even more satisfying.

I don't know what the big acclaim is all about for this novel. NOTHING happens for the first half. Simon goes to lunch with Eleanor. One of her step-sons shows up. Simon & his wife are getting a divorce. The kids are typical teenagers and adolescents. Yawn. I almost quit at the 50% mark. Started skimming for the next 25%. (I hate giving up on a book!) Finally, at the 75% mark, the trial started and the pace picked up and it gained some traction. Yes - a story at last! The verdict was unexpected, after all the red herrings regarding how the prosecution was not proving its case from Simon's lawyers point of view. Then the real plot began, IMO. Hunting down the real killer was actually the best part of the book. New characters were introduced and they were actually interesting (unlike Paula and his kids). Finally, the denouement, and my opinion of The Widow rose from 2 stars to 3.5 (not rounding up, however, as it was too much effort to get to the last 25%). But the overall pace and storyline was dull and uninteresting.

As always, Grisham invites us into the legal world, where judges enter the courtroom arena to battle for justice. However, this time the battle is for the life, for the reputation, career, and family in jeopardy of being taken as a lawyer faces a life sentence or a death sentence. Simon Latch’s truest crime was foolishly believing an octogenarian widow residing in his small town in Virginia, a place where preparation of wills and handling small claims barely paid the bills. Simon is unhappily maintaining appearances of a marriage that exists only on paper. Between his gambling and drinking, Simon resides in a continuous state of denial and delusion. Unlikeable, almost a stereotype of the washed up lawyer, Simon never nears or realizes his potential until…. Until he is on trial for the death of the widow, his client. And it is only in the second half of the book, that readers begin to root for the lawyer, a devoted and loving father, a loyal friend, a loving son, a decent man. Simon assists in his own defense, and both his defense attorney and the judge are stunned when the jury delivers a guilty verdict. And…the plot thickens as the pace accelerates as all avenues are pursued to find the true killer in order to prove his innocence. Did not initially welcome the read because I could not see beyond the lawyer so underperforming, so unhappy, and so unhappy. However, stick with the reading for it delivers a compelling story while offering some perspectives on hushed settlements and corporate insurance negotiations handled through hospital legal teams, claims settled which might conceal the potential danger and/or discovery of criminal actions occurring within the hospital.

As a fan of mystery novels, I enjoyed this one. Grisham did a great job painting a vivid story with developed characters. Our protagonist starts out unlikeable, but especially as we see him charged, he does develop as a character and seeing how it is resolved is great to see. As a Virginia resident, it was also cool to read familiar locations and laws. If you are a fan of mystery novels, I highly recommend this book and I plan to read more of Grisham's works.

The story unwound rather slowly (and sometimes with a frustrating abundance of repetitive adjectives) through most of the novel and then hastily tied up loose ends in a final chapter. Some of the dynamics between characters feel unearned or at least exaggerated. As another reviewer theorized, it seems Grisham may have shad a word or page count to meet—which is why, as someone who teaches writing, I rarely if ever stipulate a requirement on those terms: it generally yields inflated language that adds no substance. The premise was certainly interesting — but the character of the elderly widow hinges on a question ultimately left unanswered, which is less than satisfying. I don’t believe it is a spoiler to say that the character of Simon — the widow’s attorney who “knows he’s innocent,” according the the front flap of the dust jacket, is not the one who commits the murder. But the laborious courtroom scenes, the late-nigh rumination on the bleakness of his situation, the repeated musings the tensions with his eventual ex-wife and their kids, and the general foot-dragging that gets us to the wrongful conviction so that the real work of the whodunit can begin consumes 52 of 65 chapters. Six more chapters vanish before any whiff of a legitimate lead to the real killer materializes. Three more chapters meandering through nothing that is particularly informative or captivating. Ultimately, too many characters are introduced with little or no resolution after seeming to be at least moderately involved. And for the Simon’s financial straits to have been such a constant line throughout the novel, he seemingly waltzes off, somewhat nonchalantly, albeit drained, into the sunset, so to speak. The biggest frustration is that the crux of the whole thing wraps up in the final 24 pages — but doesn’t even revert back to the impact on Simon’s kids (which he worried about so often in the first 52 chapters). We basically ride off into the sunset (with one of the aforementioned relationships that feels awkwardly unearned since there was an attempt to midway through the novel to acknowledge that both parties remembered “there was a good reason” why they had not lasted before—but we never return to that or elaborate on it. So the pairing at the ending doesn’t really elicit any feeling of support from a reader since we weren’t given anything substantive to support along the way. Overall, not a bad read — but not up to what I remembered from having read many of Grisham’s earlier novels.

Precis börjat läsa men då här långt ännu en fullträff av min favorit författare, John Grisham.

Great story, well written

Bellissimo libro per tutti

Keeps the reader intrigued and glued to the very end! Can read non-stop! Unable to put it down! Clap Clap!!

Tolles Buch , Mega spannend