The Appeal Book Review

Essay by MAKER33High School, 11th grade April 2009

download word file, 3 pages 0.0

“The Appeal,” was written by John Grisham and was published in 2008, it’s a fiction book that raises many issues that have to do with the criminal justice system of America. But those issues are secondary to moral issues that the book raises.

John Grisham is a very accomplished author; the majority of his works are about crime and politics but he has written notable books of other genres such as, The Bleachers, Skipping Christmas, and A Painted house. The book that we are going to focus on though is, “The Appeal.” The plot of the book has many twists and turns that keep you guessing from cover to cover. It starts out with a lawsuit filed by a woman who has lost both her child and husband to cancer which was a direct result of a factory dumping toxic waste into a river in the small town.

The lawsuit is won by the plaintiff, but the defendant appeals the case and wins. The reason they win the appeal is because a man who owned the company that was being sued sets up the Supreme Court justice election. He made it so that a man they knew would vote there way was one of the judges on the court.

After reading this book you not only get a good knowledge of how the legal system works in The United States but you also get the feeling that you should follow your heart and avoid the influence of others. I got this feeling when I read this book because the man, Ron Fisk, who was elected by the big company, has a life changing experience when his son is critically injured by being hit in the head with a baseball during a game. The bat used was an illegal bat, and mistakes were later made at the hospital. This now put Fisk in a position to sue the people who made mistakes; these were the kind of cases that he had been voting on. He usually voted for the company being sued. Even after this experience he still votes in favour of the chemical company, after he does this you get the feeling that he was wrong and that he should have voted for the plaintiff. That’s why, after reading this book, you get the feeling that it is important to do and say what you really believe in.

In my own completely unbiased opinion I thought that after reading this book that it was a very well written piece of writing. Grisham finds a way to tell a great story and also teach the reader about many different subject areas. You learn about the American justice system, a little bit about stock markets, politics, government, and also you learn a very valuable life lesson that can be taken from the book and applied to your life immediately. The message that is sent through this book, that you should follow your heart and only yours, is a message that can get one self through many difficult situations. I agree with this message because from personal experience I have learned to follow my heart and I have so far no regret to the decisions that I have made.

The message that is conveyed in this book is a very powerful one and can be applied to anyone in the world no matter what, no matter what there place in this world, it can be applied. If everyone just lived by this message and followed there hearts and avoided outside influence I believe that we would be much better off than we currently are.

If you so choose to read this book, then I believe you have made a wise choice, and you are in for a good 400 or so pages. You learn many things in this book, whether it is about the law, government, politics, the stock market, or about a great life lesson be sure to take it all in and enjoy. That is the only way you can truly get what John Grisham wants his readers to get out of, The Appeal.

Sources used:Grisham John. The Appeal.