Ford County -- Book Review

Ford County by John Grisham


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have always loved short stories and most of the time wish many novels would have been handled as such, but THEY JUST DON'T MAKE MONEY for the publishing houses so unless your name is John Grisham, the editors and agents will take a good short story and S T R E T C H it out until it is novel length.

So it was fun to read these 6 stories. You are able to get such a glimpse into small town Mississippi life through the eyes of vastly different charachters in such a short time. Ultimately these stories are the stories of ordinary people showing that even the ordinary life is interesting.

I laughed at the immaturity of the 3 boys headed to the big city as "soon to be heroes".

I found myself liking the swindler and even feeling like he deserved the money he swindled.

I found the mother's devotion to her rotten death row son inspiring.

I felt immense sadness at the family whose son was wrongfully injured during birth and the burdens they carried.

I like reading about anyone who figures out how to win at blackjack.

And the story of the man with AIDS returning to his small (and still very ignorant town) a sad statement of how most people are so willing to find an excuse for bigotry.

Nice themes to ponder, a few corny moments, 1 ridiculous ending (the casino one), a bunch of sad people, sprinkled with humor and charm.

Sounds a lot like real life to me.

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