The Rainmaker by John Grisham

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
-Print: COPYRIGHT ©: 4/1/1995; ISBN: 978-0385424738; PUBLISHER: Doubleday (Random House); First Printing edition; PAGES: 448; UNABRIDGED (Info from Amazon)
-Digital: COPYRIGHT ©: (1995) 2011; ISBN: 978-0307576057; PUBLISHER: Vintage Books; PAGES: 609; UNABRIDGED. (Info from Libby App version [# of pages from amazon])
*Audio: COPYRIGHT ©: (1995) 1/3/2000; PUBLISHER: Random House Audio; DURATION: 17 hours (approx.); Unabridged; (Info from Libby App edition)
-Feature Film or tv: (from Wikipedia) “The Rainmaker is a 1997 American legal drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on John Grisham's 1995 novel of the same title. It stars Matt Damon, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Mary Kay Place, Mickey Rourke, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Roy Scheider, Virginia Madsen, and Teresa Wright in her final film role.”

SERIES: No

MAIN CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Rudy Baylor – Law School Graduate
Deck Shifflet – Para-lawyer who assists Rudy
Kelly Riker – Battered wife of Cliff Riker
Leo Drummond - Lawyer
Dot Black – Senior citizen that Rudy wants to assist with a law suit
Judge Tyrone Kipler – New judge for the case Rudy is trying
Miss “Birdie” Birdsong – Senior citizen that Rudy befriends
Lyman “Bruiser” Stone – Rudy’s first employer
Cliff Riker - Abusive husband of Kelly Riker
Buddy Black -Dot’s unresponsive husband
Donny Ray Black – Dot’s son with Leukemia
Wilfred Keeley – CEO of the Great Benefit Life Insurance company

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
SELECTED. It was next in line of our John Grisham reads.
ABOUT: Rudy Baylor graduates from Law School and has been recruited by a prestigious law firm, but is dropped before he even begins due to a merger. While undertaking some pro-bono legal assistance at the Cypress Gardens Senior Citizens Building, before taking the bar, he meets a couple of senior citizens who would like his assistance with their legal issues. He gets involved in their cases and after a short dubious employment stint with a questionable employer, fondly known as “Bruiser”, he and another employee he met there start their own firm, allowing them to focus more concertedly on the senior’s cases . One case in particular pits them against a formidable opponent.
OVERALL OPINION: Grisham is a master!

AUTHOR:
John Grisham:
From Wikipedia:
“Grisham, the second of five children, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Wanda (née 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]”

NARRATOR:
Frank Muller - From Wikipedia:
“Frank Muller (May 5, 1951 – June 4, 2008) was a stage and television actor, but was most famous as an audiobook narrator.
Muller was born in The Netherlands, the eldest of five children. His family immigrated to the United States when he was five.
Muller was a classically trained actor who began his career working on stage and doing commercials. He spent many years on the New York stage, where he became a company member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company, for which he played the title role in King Henry V, Edmund the Bastard in The History of King Lear, and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as performing with the Roundabout Theater Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival among others. He also played supporting roles on television in shows like Law & Order, Life Goes On, Harry and the Hendersons, and All My Children.[1]
It is as an audiobook narrator, however, that he was most famous. In 1979, Henry Trentman founded Recorded Books and hired Muller as its first narrator to record its first book, The Sea Wolf by Jack London.[2][3][4] The company began by publishing audiobook recordings of public domain works such as Call of the Wild and A Tale of Two Cities but later expanded into copyrighted works as audiobooks began to grow in popularity. Muller soon became the narrator of choice for such authors as Stephen King, John le Carré, John Grisham, Elmore Leonard and many others. Muller won the 2002 and 2003 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator for his readings of Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon and Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues, respectively.
On November 5, 2001, Muller was about to leave on a week-long motorcycle trip with a close relative when his wife Erika surprised him with the news that she was expecting their second child. After celebrating, Muller left on the trip. Two hours into the trip, he lost control of his motorcycle on the freeway when he accidentally clipped a construction barrel and was sent skidding into a median barrier at about 65 miles per hour (105 km/h). Muller was thrown from the bike landing on his head on the concrete. He sustained multiple fractures, lacerations, and abrasions, and was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster, California, and went into cardiac arrest three times. He also suffered severe head trauma, which was subsequently diagnosed as diffuse axonal injury.
Muller remained hospitalized for six and a half years and died on June 4, 2008, at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina.[5]
In 2002, Stephen King, who had also experienced a life-threatening auto accident, organized a benefit for Muller with Pat Conroy, John Grisham, and Peter Straub. King went on to help found The Wavedancer Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping "mid-list writers, audio readers, and freelancers in the book and publishing industry."[6]
Muller was married to Erika Muller and had two children, Diana and Morgan. In 2003, the Mullers moved to a house outside Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, that was modified specifically for Frank's therapeutic and rehabilitative needs.
He died on June 4, 2008, at Duke University Medical Center.[5]

GENRE:
Fiction; Legal Thriller; Crime

TIME FRAME:
1993

LOCATION:
Tennessee

SUBJECTS:
Insurance scams; shady lawyers; court procedures

DEDICATION:
“To American Trial Lawyers”.

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From “One”
“Miss Birdie cuts her eyes about, and this is my signal to keep both my head and voice low, because whatever it is she wants to confer over is serious as hell. And this suits me just fine, because I don’t want a soul to hear the lame and naive advice I am destined to provide in response to her forthcoming problem.
“Read this,” she says, and I take the envelope and open it. Hallelujah! It’s a will! The Last Will and Testament of Colleen Janiece Barrow Birdsong. Smoot told us that more than half of these clients would want us to review and maybe update their wills, and this is fine with us because we were required last year to take a full course called Wills and Estates and we feel somewhat proficient in spotting problems. Wills are fairly simple documents, and can be prepared without defect by the greenest of lawyers.
This one’s typed and official in appearance, and as I scan it I learn from the first two paragraphs that Miss Birdie is a widow and has two children and a full complement of grandchildren. The third paragraph stops me cold, and I glance at her as I read it. Then I read it again. She’s smiling smugly. The language directs her executor to give unto each of her children the sum of two million dollars, with a million in trust for each of her grandchildren. I count, slowly, eight grandchildren. That’s at least twelve million dollars.
“Keep reading,” she whispers as if she can actually hear the calculator rattling in my brain. Booker’s client, the old black man, is crying now, and it has something to do with a romance gone bad years ago and children who’ve neglected him. I try not to listen, but it’s impossible. Booker is scribbling with a fury and trying to ignore the tears. Bosco laughs loudly at the other end of the table.
Paragraph five of the will leaves three million dollars to a church and two million to a college. Then there’s a list of charities, beginning with the Diabetes Association and ending with the Memphis Zoo, and beside each is a sum of money the least of which is fifty thousand dollars. I keep frowning, do a little quick math and determine that Miss Birdie has a net worth of at least twenty million.
Suddenly, there are many problems with this will. First, and foremost, it’s not nearly as thick as it should be. Miss Birdie is rich, and rich people do not use thin, simple wills. They use thick, dense wills with trusts and trustees and generation-skipping transfers and all sorts of gadgets and devices designed and implemented by expensive tax lawyers in big firms.
“Who prepared this?” I ask. The envelope is blank and there’s no indication of who drafted the will.
“My former lawyer, dead now.”
It’s a good thing he’s dead. He committed malpractice when he prepared this one.
So, this pretty little lady with the gray and yellow teeth and rather melodious voice is worth twenty million dollars. And, evidently, she has no lawyer. I glance at her, then return to the will. She doesn’t dress rich, doesn’t wear diamonds or gold, spends neither time nor money on her hair. The dress is cotton drip-dry and the burgundy blazer is worn and could’ve come from Sears. I’ve seen a few rich old ladies in my time, and they’re normally fairly easy to spot.
The will is almost two years old. “When did your lawyer die?” I ask ever so sweetly now. Our heads are still huddled low and our noses are just inches apart.
“Last year. Cancer.”
“And you don’t have a lawyer now?”
“I wouldn’t be here talking to you if I had a lawyer, now, would I, Rudy? There’s nothing complicated about a will, so I figured you could handle it.”
Greed is a funny thing. I have a job starting July 1 with Brodnax and Speer, a stuffy little sweatshop of a firm with fifteen lawyers who do little else but represent insurance companies in litigation. It was not the job I wanted, but as things developed Brodnax and Speer extended an offer of employment when all others failed to do so. I figure I’ll put in a few years, learn the ropes and move on to something better.
Wouldn’t those fellows at Brodnax and Speer be impressed if I walked in the first day and brought with me a client worth at least twenty million? I’d be an instant rainmaker, a bright young star with a golden touch. I might even ask for a larger office.
“Of course I can handle it,” I say lamely. “It’s just that, you know, there’s a lot of money here, and I—”
“Shhhhhh,” she hisses fiercely as she leans even closer. “Don’t mention the money.” Her eyes dart in all directions as if thieves are lurking behind her. “I just refuse to talk about it,” she insists.
“Okay. Fine with me. But I think that maybe you should consider talking to a tax lawyer about this.”
“That’s what my old lawyer said, but I don’t want to. A lawyer is a lawyer as far as I’m concerned, and a will is a will.”
“True, but you could save a ton of money in taxes if you plan your estate.”
She shakes her head as if I’m a complete idiot. “I won’t save a dime.”
“Well, excuse me, but I think that maybe you can.”
She places a brown-spotted hand on my wrist, and whispers, “Rudy, let me explain. Taxes mean nothing to me, because, you see, I’ll be dead. Right?”
“Uh, right, I guess. But what about your heirs?”
“That’s why I’m here. I’m mad at my heirs, and I want to cut ’em out of my will. Both of my children, and some of the grandchildren. Cut, cut, cut. They get nothing, you understand. Zero. Not a penny, not a stick of furniture. Nothing.”
Her eyes are suddenly hard and the rows of wrinkles are pinched tightly around her mouth. She squeezes my wrist but doesn’t realize it. For a second, Miss Birdie is not only angry but hurt.
At the other end of the table, an argument erupts between Bosco and N. Elizabeth Erickson. He’s loud and railing against Medicaid and Medicare and Republicans in general, and she’s pointing to a sheet of paper and attempting to explain why certain doctor bills are not covered. Smoot slowly gets to his feet and walks to the end of the table to inquire if he might be of assistance.
Booker’s client is trying desperately to regain his composure, but the tears are dropping from his cheeks and Booker is becoming unnerved. He’s assuring the old gentleman that, yes indeed, he, Booker Kane, will check into the matter and make things right. The air conditioner kicks in and drowns out some of the chatter. The plates and cups have been cleared from the tables, and all sorts of games are in progress—Chinese checkers, Rook, bridge and a Milton Bradley board game with dice. Fortunately, the majority of these people have come for lunch and socializing, not for legal advice.
“Why do you want to cut them out?” I ask.
She releases my wrist and rubs her eyes. “Well, it’s very personal, and I really don’t want to go into it.”
“Fair enough. Who gets the money?” I ask, and I’m suddenly intoxicated by the power just bestowed upon me to draft the magic words that will make millionaires out of ordinary people. My smile to her is so warm and so fake I hope she is not offended.
“I’m not sure,” she says wistfully, and glances about as if this is a game. “I’m just not sure who to give it to.”

RATING:.
5

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
9-6-2023 to 9-17-2023
( )

what the fuck is going on here nephew. i read this book because i wanted to read a legal thriller!! a drama with lots of jargon!! vicariously live out my dream of being a lawyer thru some white boy!! i should've taken into account this was written by a white man in the early 90s.

there is sooo much misogyny in this book. i did not like kelly at all. she's described as smart, beautiful, but weak :( there are no men in her corner to protect her :( so the duty must fall on Random Dude #3 she just met and recounts her trauma to. while crying. and then flirts with. when she was just crying literally three sentences ago. also! she's 19! why is this guy who just graduated law school pursuing this kid. related to the misogyny, there's a line in this book where rydy describes a secretary (ex-stripper) as surprisingly intelligent and "unbimbolike" i want to strangle him. in fact, they (the lawyers and paralegals) all call the secretaries "the girls". i think we need to bring the guillotine back. i would also like a personal apology from grisham for the fatphobia in this book. it's rampant and disgusting.

i don't understand why i'm meant to think rudy did anything groundbreaking -- or anything period. for the first time in history, i think the movie adaptation actually improved on the source material. it did a far better job at making it feel like it's rudy's hard work that gets that verdict, and makes it very plain he's a rookie who doesn't know wtf he's doing. in the book, he clearly only got the verdict he did thanks to the black lawyers (at the black firm he doesn't even work at!) who held his hand the whole way through. he didn't do anything. i'm glad he didn't get a cent for this bc he didn't deserve it!

I READ THIS PURELY FOR THE PLOT AND ONLY GOT TO THE PLOT IN THE LAST 150 PAGES.

this is not smthn i would recommend to anyone i like. at first, i was willing to be a tad lenient with grisham given this was one of his earliest books, and he's published many, many books since then. but then i sampled one of his newer books and couldn't get thru the first 20 pages. it's actually inspiring that such a prolific writer can make absolutely no improvement over the course of 20 years and still be a bestselling novelist. it gives me hope to see that no matter how bad u are at ur job, u can still hit big ( )

First edition as new

Law student Rudy Baylor is graduating from law school and is ready to start working for a firm. As part of finishing his coursework, he visits a retirement center where students provide law assistance to seniors. He researches a case that becomes important in his working life. When the firm’s employment offer falls through, he finds himself in a situation with little money, no job, and the need to pass the bar exam. This is another of Grisham’s legal-related books, though more of a courtroom drama than a thriller. The villain is an insurance company and the victim a poor family whose son is dying of leukemia. The storyline is engaging. It is filled with colorful characters. It is told in the first-person present tense by Rudy, so the reader is privy to his thoughts and motivations as he searches for a job and pursues his cases. He has a quick wit and sarcastic sense of humor. It explores legal ethics from the perspective of a new lawyer who wants to “do the right thing” while dealing with unscrupulous tactics of others. The story is entertaining and a fast read despite its length. The downsides include a bit of ageism and sexism, and a subplot related to an abused spouse does not work as well as the court case. Recommended to those that enjoy a story that engages the brain and provides an opportunity to root for the underdog. ( )

Quick read the story line flowed very well! ( )