A Time to Kill by John Grisham

A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Reviewed by Anthony Rossi

I am still continuing to read the story A Time To Kill by John Grisham and I must admit, it's probably one of the best books I have ever read. Currently, I am on page 313 and plan to finish the book this weekend in hopes of presenting my classroom Book Talk on Monday. Almost every person I've spoken with who has read the book has given me positive feedback and also recommends that I watch the movie when I finish reading the book. I'm going to due just that, even though I can already picture the fictional characters in my mind, based solely on details from the story. Except for one, that is - I can only imagine Carl Lee portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson... that's probably because I keep seeing Jackson's face on the cover of my book. Plus, I admit to reading about Jackson's roll as Carl Lee in online movie reviews!

My predictions for the story are as follows: I think Carl Lee will not be convicted of capital murder for murdering the guys who killed his daughter, but will instead face a sentencing for accidentally shooting the leg off of DeWayne Looney, a peace keeping officer who got caught up in the crossfire. In addition, I predict that Carl Lee's lawyer, Jake, will become famous from this case - just as he hoped - and will gain many more clients to defend.

I must admit, however, that there are times in the story I feel the action and plot sequences could move faster and at times it bothers me that the author stresses details that the reader became aware of chapters back. That gives me another reason as to why I want to watch the movie when I finish reading this book - so I can compare which details the director decided to focus on and which details he chose to omit. I'm interested in seeing if the director's choices change the mood of the story evoked by the writer's words.

After reading this book, I hope I can read another book and do another book review. However, the first marking period is coming to an end, so I am not sure if I will be able to be finish another book in time to share with the class. As a result, I am looking into reading some essays, ones long enough to be informative and interesting for the whole class to learn about.