Ford County: John Grisham Knows How To Write Short Stories.... and to Read 'Em As Well

Just finished reading Ford County, a collection of seven short stories by John Grisham. I always worry when an author reads his own work for an audiobook, but in this case there's nothing to worry about. He's as skilled a reader as writer. And the stories themselves are true page-turners, even when delivered in an audio format without pages.

I believe the first Grisham book I reviewed here was Playing for Pizza, which I found incredibly fun and entertaining. When I pulled Ford County off the library's audiobook shelf I didn't notice at first that it was a collection of short stories. From the very first lines I was in, one good sentence after another. The cool thing was that you just didn't know where this first crazy story was going.

The second story, like the first, was an equally compelling read. And Grisham's manner of telling made it come alive.

Because the stories all take place in the vicinity of Memphis, I had to check Google to find exactly where these people lived. As it turns out, Ford County is a fictional location. There is neither a Ford County in Tennessee or Arkansas or Mississippi. The nearest Ford County is in Kansas.

With characters vividly drawn, the situations become borderline absurd at times, yet fully engaging, never crossing over into the territory of disbelief.

Here's an excerpt from a review on Amazon.com by Pat Conroy:

I have loved the Grisham books for the same reason that I love the works of John Irving, Richard Russo, or Anne Rivers Siddons: I get hooked by an early page, and pure habit forces me to read until I am issued my walking papers and can return to my normal life. These writers are all wish-bringers who cast spells with the bright enchantment of their stories, and the power of story has retained its glamour and necessity for me. I’ve always liked it when Grisham took a sabbatical from his impressive fiction to romp in the field of sports or non-fiction.

John surprised me by entering the ring of danger that the short story represents for all writers. In the world of writing, the poets come first as they finger the language like worry beads and wonder where their next meal is coming from. The art of the short story writer is one of economy, concision, and the genius of trying to craft a whole world inside a mason jar. The modern world punishes the short story writer with inattention. The literary reviews keep the short story alive and finger-popping in America today, while the New Yorker tries to strangle the form with its bare hands. But a great short story is a source of joy, and the reading of Chekhov, de Maupassant, Flannery O’Connor and others offer pleasures unmatched by any other form. Since I’m incapable of writing the short story form, I wanted to see how Grisham fared, knowing the critics would sharpen their swords against him no matter how accomplished his stories might be.

I, too, am a longtime fan of the short story format. When I finished these it made me want to lock myself in a room a write. I have some experiences in Puerto Rico that might be fun to stir into a yarn. And a year south o' the border made an impression on me as well. Only time will tell.

You can read some of the other reviews here. And maybe even find yourself a copy of the book sometime.

Meantime, enjoy the long weekend. 

Book Reviews: John Grisham's The Firm and Theodore Boone: The Activist

Q: How many lawyers does it take to roof a house?
A: It depends on how thin you slice them.

OK, that was was mean. I won't tell the second one.

Having just finished two John Grisham audiobooks I have lawyers on my mind. The first was an abridged version of The Firm, the legal thriller that put Grisham on the map and his name in lights. The suspense is diminished when you know the ending, but it's still a good read.

In the same way that Erle Stanley Gardner knew courtrooms, John Grisham understands the legal profession. When he wrote his first novel, A Time To Kill, he was working 60-70 hours a week in a Mississippi law firm. After his next novel became a blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise he could spend the rest of his life doing what he really wanted to do, which was to be a writer. That's a pretty good deal for a fellow in his thirties.

The Firm tells the story of Mitch McDeere, a bright, ambitious young lawyer who has the good fortune of landing a position in an Alabama law firm where no one has ever left and everyone retires rich. At least that's the surface story. The reality is, occasionally a few members in the firm have failed to become partners and failed to actually retire. Their accidental deaths are mourned, and their memories honored with portraits in the boardroom.

As Mitch soon learns, his firm's primary client is a Chicago mob family and one of their services is to help move their revenue into off-shore banks to reduce taxes, among other things. How Mitch manages to survive long enough to assemble evidence necessary to help the FBI indict the entire law firm is the heart of the story.

The only scene I really remember from the movie is Tom Cruise turning the music up loud so that he can tell his wife what's going on without being heard by the bad guys who have bugged his home. Though I recall enjoying it the film didn't make a lasting impression, perhaps because the story seemed so over-the-top.

The audio version of this book is abridged, so it feels plot heavy. On the flip side, I am not sure I'd want to digress overmuch in a story about lawyers. It just feels tedious.

Theodore Boone: The Activist is actually in the young adult category with junior high aged readers as its target. It's part of a series of books featuring Theo Boone, a 13-year-old whose parents are lawyers. Following the advice one gets in most writer's conferences, Grisham writes about what he knows. Like the Hardy Boys, the books feature our young hero in a range of adventures, using his wits and legal knowledge on behalf of truth, justice and the American way.

Actually, the book is almost a tutorial on a facet of law which I've never seen addressed in a book before, the concept of eminent domain.

Theo's home life includes family meals together in which issues come up because they get seven to nine newspapers Theo is such an inquisitive kid. His father leans conservative and his mother leans liberal so they do not always agree in the issues but they are respectful in the way they dialogue about it all.

The central matter in this book is the building of a highway bypass to relieve congestion in their town. Theo gets involved because one of his best friends is going to lose the family farm to the developers due to eminent domain. He understands that government has the right to take people's property in this way if there is a good reason, but in this case there have been back room deals which from which certain parties will profit if this deal goes through.

As I was listening to the first chapter about Theo on the debate team I expected this to be a background story about his development toward becoming a major activist. I did not realize that this was a setup for a story about a 13 year old kid who is a boy scout and a legal eagle.

Like The Firm, it's well written, informative and driven once again by the plot, chiefly due to being an abridgement. There are some interesting characters who likely appear in other books in this series, most prominently Uncle Ike who used to be with he parents' firm of Boone and Boone before something happened and he was disbarred. Ike helps guide Theo with yet another perspective on matters legal, political and otherwise.

The book is Theodore Boone: The Activist.

Five Minutes with Keith Erickson

I can't even recall the first time I met Keith Erickson. He is a quiet force who doesn't draw attention to himself. Yet somehow he's drawn together a team of extraordinarily smart people, wizards of programming and technical understanding. Erickson is president of Saturn Systems, a Duluth firm with a growing influence. Four centuries ago they might have been burned at the stake because of the magic they can perform, though today it's with code rather than incantations.

Erickson arrived in Duluth at age five and evidently stayed for the duration, picking up a Bachelor of Computer Engineering at UMD in 1987. After bagging his Masters of Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Iowa in '89 he returned to Duluth and began his career.

He's not only a really fine man, he's also a Dylan fan, so he get's high marks from my corner of the world. I asked if he'd let me pick his brains for a few minutes related to entrepreneurialism and technology today.

EN: When did you first become interested in computers, programming and technology? Who or what were your influences?
KE: I was always interested in electronics and technology, as far back as Junior High. The first time I considered programming was in about 1982 when a friend loaned me a Timex Sinclair computer to experiment with. My first real experience with computer programming and device control was through my experiences with the Computer Engineering program at UMD (1984 - 1987).

EN: Not everyone has an entrepreneurial mindset. What were the drivers that led you to take this kind of risk and start your own tech business?
KE: After living in Southern California for two years following graduate school, my wife and I decided to return to Duluth in 1990 to raise our young family. I was fortunate to have worked for a small defense contractor in Santa Barbara that was amenable to allowing me to contract with them, for a time, after I moved back to Duluth. This was definitely a risky move as my initial contract was only worth $7500 and there were very few technology jobs in Duluth in the early 1990s to seek if the contracting gig didn’t work out. However, with the support of my wife, our families, and colleagues in Santa Barbara, I was able to make it work, gradually increasing the scope of the business over the next several years. This was well before routine Internet communication was standardized, and the arrangement required significant travel.

EN: How many employees do you have?
KE: 28; 21 in Duluth and 7 in Charleston, SC. Also 3 full-time contractors.

EN: What is the key to attracting smart, talented people?
KE: Provide a positive, ethical business culture, do not micromanage your employees, respect their expertise and abilities and demand respect in return, pay competitive wages, offer interesting and challenging work, be willing to delegate responsibility. Above all, have the confidence to surround yourself with people smarter than you.

EN: How has the current economic meltdown affected your business?
KE: Surprisingly, it has actually had a positive effect on our business. Our focus on rural outsourcing and technical excellence has allowed us to position ourselves as a lower cost alternative to metro area consulting firms. At the same time, it has allowed us to communicate a message a technical excellence and customer service not available from foreign outsourcing firms. Finally, the current economic situation has provided us with a strong pool of high caliber job seekers. Two years ago, it was very difficult to find qualified personnel; today, the situation is reversed. So to summarize, the current economic meltdown has helped us obtain new customers due to our marketing efforts; at the same time, we are better able to service these new clients because of readily available technical talent. As a result, we have been experiencing growth during this time of national economic difficulties.

EN: Saturn Systems is a software and engineering technology firm in Duluth MN on the cusp of the trend toward rural outsourcing. What does “rural outsourcing” mean and why is it popular?
KE: "Rural outsourcing" describes a contracting arrangement whereby companies outsource certain work (in our case, IT and software engineering) to small contracting firms located outside of major US metropolitan areas. Saturn Systems is one of the leading rural firms in the country. We have actually been performing this service for our entire existence - it is only recently, however, that it has been given a name. We also refer to this business model as "Offshore to the North shore" (our regional tag line) and "Outsource to America" (our national tag line, trademarked in MN).

I wouldn't say rural outsourcing is 'popular'; only because it is still very much small scale. Most rural outsourcing firms are smaller than Saturn. A rural outsourcing firm needs to be able to attract professionals that want to live in the area, and the rural location needs to provide top qualify educational opportunities. While Duluth definitely fits the bill, most other ‘rural’ locations throughout the country do not.

EN: Do you have a personal life philosophy?
KE: It varies, depending on which Dylan song I'm listening to at the time.

EN: Favorite book of the past year?
KE: "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham.

EN: That's pretty funny. I enjoyed it, too, and wrote about it here.

To all: If interested in more information about Saturn Systems here's where to find it.
Thanks, Keith, for your time and willingness to share. It's all good.

Playing For Pizza

His books have sold over 250 million copies. For this reason alone literary critics might be unable to call him a "great" writer. His work is simply too accessible, too readable, too much fun. In point of fact, he knows how to tell a story that connects so as to keep readers fully engaged.

I've read a few Grisham books, his claim to fame being the legal thriller genre. Who doesn't enjoy this genre made famous by Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason? Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent is likewise gripping, and dripping with the legal drama that keeps pages turning.

So it took me by surprise to find Grisham tackling the subject of Italian football. What's more, the story begins with the Cleveland Browns, my first and only love in football, though the central character's a quarterback whose claim to fame is as Cleveland's greatest goat, not star. (Echoes of Ernest Byner, for whom I momentarily feel pity.) In fact, the poor Rick Dockery is possibly the NFL's greatest goat. At least that is the reputation he earns as his prima dona quarterback lifestyle crashes beneath a heap of linebackers.

And finally, the clincher event that made passing on the book near impossible... it takes place in the vicinity of some people I have recently begun to fall in love with, in Northern Italy. This statement needs further embellishment.

Earlier this may I received an unexpected email from Mario Monasterolo, who it turns out has become utterly fascinated with capturing the history of his region. Of special interest are the personal stories of old timers whose memories reflect the rich vast past in ways that history books often fail to capture.

Through our correspondence I learned that Mario had been utterly fascinated with my father-in-law's book, especially as it touched upon Italy, because of the unpretentious and down-to-earth observations of an young man with fresh eyes who recorded his impressions without an eye to impressing editors, but simply for his passion of preserving memories.

A brief introduction to Mario: When I was about forty, I began working as a professional in a new and growing sector of our region: historic-cultural heritage safeguard, and its promotion through tourism. I got in strong touch with our wonderful territory on a regional scale and I got to know its history from the point of view of the smaller towns. Torino and Piemonte were industrial areas (they are still now) which had forgotten their past. Cultural heritage was considered of little importance till twenty years ago: now it’s enjoying growing attention, tourism is growing, too, also thanks the Olympic Winter Games 2006, and Piemonte is considered a national leader as far as safeguard and promotion of cultural heritage are concerned. Not ‘cause of me, naturally! I’m just a very small... ant!

Well, this is one "ant" we have grown to love, and certainly he is one more reason we're falling in love with Italy.

John Grisham fell in love with Italy, too. He was doing research in Bologna for a 2005 thriller caller The Broker, and whether it was the food, the wine, the countryside or the whole mix, his heart had been stolen.

This is not the book I expected. And the impression I get is that the food, the music, the charm of the people, the Italian countryside you experience if you ever get a chance to go will exceed anything your imagination attempts to conjure up if you get a chance to take in this boot-shaped land that plunges deep into the Mediterranean. I challenge anyone to read this book without a longing for the food Grisham so wonderfully describes when our hero Rick Dockery first discovers the cuisine of Parma.

What a great world! Still so many treasures to discover.

Here's an excerpt from Amazon.com's interview with John Grisham about his book Playing for Pizza.

Q: American football in Italy seems like an unlikely subject for a John Grisham novel. What was the inspiration for Playing for Pizza?
A: Three years ago when I was in Bologna researching "The Broker", I discovered American football. One of my guides in the area played football for the Bologna Warriors for 10 years. I couldn't believe that American football actually existed there, but the more I heard about it the more intrigued I became.
Q: There is some great football writing in this novel. What kind of research was involved in capturing how this American institution is played in small town Italy?
A: The only way to research the book was to go to Parma and watch a game. The coach is an American who played at Illinois State, and he proved to be extremely valuable. I met many of the Italian players and the story simply unfolded.
Q: Speaking of research, you write lovingly of Italian food and wine in this book. What's your idea of the perfect Italian meal?
A: First course: prosicutto and melon; second course: stuffed tortellini; third course: roasted stuffed capon, all served with a great Barolo wine.

Well, check it out if it's in your library. I listened to the unabridged audio version and just finished two hours ago. I think you can tell I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Photos of green Italian hills courtesy Mario Monasterolo. Click to enlarge.