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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Gray Mountain in Books
Feb 13, 2018
It's a little unfair to John Grisham, but I probably would have rated this book 4 stars if he didn't write it. It was a pretty good book, but I kept waiting for the typical Grisham-flair to pop up - a huge courtroom battle, an epic good versus evil duel, etc.
Instead, the battle and storyline I would have really wanted to read about goes on in the background as a secondary storyline. The main plot follows Samantha Kofer, a young law associate at a powerful firm in New York City. However, when the recession hits in '08, Samantha finds herself furloughed and in order to keep her health insurance, and to potentially get her old job back, must intern at a rural legal aid clinic in Brady, Virginia.
There Samantha meets a cast of characters, including Mattie, who runs the clinic; her nephew, Donovan, also a lawyer; Donovan's shady brother, Jeff; and a host of other rural townsfolk. She also gets her first taste of real law. We, the reader, learn about the atrocities of Big Coal and strip mining, including Black Lung Disease, which the book goes into in great detail (and which personally, makes me want to become a lawyer or social worker, as it's all awful).
It's interesting to have Grisham write in the voice of a young female. It takes me back to Darby Shaw (of "The Pelican Brief" - one of my all-time favorite Grisham novels), though Samantha is *no* Darby Shaw, by any stretch of the imagination. She's a bit spineless, though, really, she's not given much story to work with. The first 3/4 of the book I mostly enjoyed and then the last 1/4 just sort of tapers off. It almost seems as if a sequel is in order, but who knows.
Again, I think I might have liked Samantha and her story a bit more if it wasn't Grisham, as I might have expected a bit less. It's a good read, but leaves you wanting more.
Instead, the battle and storyline I would have really wanted to read about goes on in the background as a secondary storyline. The main plot follows Samantha Kofer, a young law associate at a powerful firm in New York City. However, when the recession hits in '08, Samantha finds herself furloughed and in order to keep her health insurance, and to potentially get her old job back, must intern at a rural legal aid clinic in Brady, Virginia.
There Samantha meets a cast of characters, including Mattie, who runs the clinic; her nephew, Donovan, also a lawyer; Donovan's shady brother, Jeff; and a host of other rural townsfolk. She also gets her first taste of real law. We, the reader, learn about the atrocities of Big Coal and strip mining, including Black Lung Disease, which the book goes into in great detail (and which personally, makes me want to become a lawyer or social worker, as it's all awful).
It's interesting to have Grisham write in the voice of a young female. It takes me back to Darby Shaw (of "The Pelican Brief" - one of my all-time favorite Grisham novels), though Samantha is *no* Darby Shaw, by any stretch of the imagination. She's a bit spineless, though, really, she's not given much story to work with. The first 3/4 of the book I mostly enjoyed and then the last 1/4 just sort of tapers off. It almost seems as if a sequel is in order, but who knows.
Again, I think I might have liked Samantha and her story a bit more if it wasn't Grisham, as I might have expected a bit less. It's a good read, but leaves you wanting more.
Nitin Sawhney recommended Control (2005) in Movies (curated)
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Gray Mountain in Books
May 10, 2018
Samantha Kofer is a real estate attorney working for a huge law firm in New York City. When all of the banks go belly up so does Samantha's job. She was given the option to being furloughed for one year and during that year, she is encouraged to volunteer during this year off at a non-profit that the firm has chosen.
Trying to find the right place to volunteer has been difficult since there are so many out of work lawyers who are all going through the same thing. She found "The Mountain Legal Aid Clinic[who]ran its low-budget operations from an abandoned hardware store on Main Street in Brady, Virginia, population twenty-two hundred and declining with each census Brady, was in southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, coal country."
In Brady, Samantha works with Mattie and Annette and meets many of their clients who are poor people in need of everything from simple divorces and wills to black lung disease claims Mattie's nephew, Donovan, is also in Brady and his firm fights coal companies tooth and nail for the people of coal country who have been destroyed by their illegal practices. There are a lot of things that happen that help to shape Samantha into a more respectable lawyer, but they don't come without great loss.
John Grisham likes to get the heart of the matter, he likes to grip at your heartstrings so that you can feel the characters that he is portraying. For a big New York City attorney, though, Samantha is not really a character I got to enjoy as much as I thought I would. She seemed a bit of a wimp in some instances. Whining about never setting foot in a courtroom or drafting a will. I wanted to jump in the book and smack her one good time. Whether or not you have done these things, you are a lawyer, and is this not in your job description? This is one of the worse John Grisham books I have read. It didn't have the same go getter attitude that the other books have.
Overall, the book kept me interested and wanting to know what was going to happen next. There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat. I'm wondering if there is going to be more from Samantha Kofer, because the story seemed unfinished.
First title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015!
Trying to find the right place to volunteer has been difficult since there are so many out of work lawyers who are all going through the same thing. She found "The Mountain Legal Aid Clinic[who]ran its low-budget operations from an abandoned hardware store on Main Street in Brady, Virginia, population twenty-two hundred and declining with each census Brady, was in southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, coal country."
In Brady, Samantha works with Mattie and Annette and meets many of their clients who are poor people in need of everything from simple divorces and wills to black lung disease claims Mattie's nephew, Donovan, is also in Brady and his firm fights coal companies tooth and nail for the people of coal country who have been destroyed by their illegal practices. There are a lot of things that happen that help to shape Samantha into a more respectable lawyer, but they don't come without great loss.
John Grisham likes to get the heart of the matter, he likes to grip at your heartstrings so that you can feel the characters that he is portraying. For a big New York City attorney, though, Samantha is not really a character I got to enjoy as much as I thought I would. She seemed a bit of a wimp in some instances. Whining about never setting foot in a courtroom or drafting a will. I wanted to jump in the book and smack her one good time. Whether or not you have done these things, you are a lawyer, and is this not in your job description? This is one of the worse John Grisham books I have read. It didn't have the same go getter attitude that the other books have.
Overall, the book kept me interested and wanting to know what was going to happen next. There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat. I'm wondering if there is going to be more from Samantha Kofer, because the story seemed unfinished.
First title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015!
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Rise of the Fallen (All the King's Men, #1) in Books
Jul 29, 2020
134 of 200
Kindle
Rise of the fallen (All the kings men book 1)
By Donya Lynne
In the streets of Chicago exists an uneasy, centuries-old truce between vampires and their distant cousins, a race of shifters called drecks. Vampire enforcement agency, All the King's Men (AKM), is charged with maintaining the truce, but when volatile enforcer Micah Black loses his mate and falls into the biological agony that results from the broken bond, he tests the boundaries of the truce by seeking out Apostle, a leader in the dreck community. Micah wants Apostle to kill him, a request Apostle is more than happy to fulfill.
When ex-Army medic-turned exotic dancer Samantha Garrett inadvertently disrupts the plot and saves Micah's life, a chain reaction sets Micah's heart on a collision course with hers, but he will have to protect her from Apostle and her obsessive ex-husband if they will have a chance at forever.
It was good and I did like the writing style of this author. I have read a few of these books with the hot tortured supernatural men finding themselves and their life mates and as it goes this was a solid book. I do like the fact it’s not just female life mates or love interests we are seeing!
Kindle
Rise of the fallen (All the kings men book 1)
By Donya Lynne
In the streets of Chicago exists an uneasy, centuries-old truce between vampires and their distant cousins, a race of shifters called drecks. Vampire enforcement agency, All the King's Men (AKM), is charged with maintaining the truce, but when volatile enforcer Micah Black loses his mate and falls into the biological agony that results from the broken bond, he tests the boundaries of the truce by seeking out Apostle, a leader in the dreck community. Micah wants Apostle to kill him, a request Apostle is more than happy to fulfill.
When ex-Army medic-turned exotic dancer Samantha Garrett inadvertently disrupts the plot and saves Micah's life, a chain reaction sets Micah's heart on a collision course with hers, but he will have to protect her from Apostle and her obsessive ex-husband if they will have a chance at forever.
It was good and I did like the writing style of this author. I have read a few of these books with the hot tortured supernatural men finding themselves and their life mates and as it goes this was a solid book. I do like the fact it’s not just female life mates or love interests we are seeing!
ClareR (5589 KP) rated The Sandman (Audible Original #1) in Books
Sep 6, 2020
Well. Flipping heck. I’m a huge fan of the graphic novels, so I was both hesitant and wildly excited (it’s confusing to be me sometimes) when this popped on to my radar. Of course I preordered it off Audible, I’m not completely daft, and just in time for our holiday in Scotland. A nice, seven hour drive from Chester to the Black Isle (near Inverness - it’s beautiful there, by the way) and time well spent listening to this.
The cast was excellent: James McAvoy as Morpheus/ Dream/ The Sandman (they’re all the same person), Michael Sheen as Lucifer, and a host of other excellent voice actors: Rio Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Miriam Margolyes. There are more actors, and they were all wonderful. It was ALL wonderful - it stuck faithfully to the original graphic novels, and Neil Gaiman narrated wonderfully ( I know I need a thesaurus, but ‘wonderful’ is THE word!). Whatever that man touches is golden, it seems to me.
Can you tell I liked it? Actually, I LOVED it. I usually fall asleep on long car journeys (I get terribly car sick, and I don’t drive 🤷🏼♀️), but I stayed awake for the whole time - and didn’t feel sick at all (even during the gory bits!).
The most potentially exciting part for me, is that it says ‘#1’. So I’ve set up my waiting post (I have to work out what that is exactly. I see it as a mental waiting room).
I can’t wait!!
The cast was excellent: James McAvoy as Morpheus/ Dream/ The Sandman (they’re all the same person), Michael Sheen as Lucifer, and a host of other excellent voice actors: Rio Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Miriam Margolyes. There are more actors, and they were all wonderful. It was ALL wonderful - it stuck faithfully to the original graphic novels, and Neil Gaiman narrated wonderfully ( I know I need a thesaurus, but ‘wonderful’ is THE word!). Whatever that man touches is golden, it seems to me.
Can you tell I liked it? Actually, I LOVED it. I usually fall asleep on long car journeys (I get terribly car sick, and I don’t drive 🤷🏼♀️), but I stayed awake for the whole time - and didn’t feel sick at all (even during the gory bits!).
The most potentially exciting part for me, is that it says ‘#1’. So I’ve set up my waiting post (I have to work out what that is exactly. I see it as a mental waiting room).
I can’t wait!!
Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated My Lovely Wife in Books
Jun 5, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
In Samantha Downing’s book ‘My Lovely Wife‘, Millicent has designed her life just how she wants it. Nice house. Good job. Two kids. And a husband, she has been able to manipulate throughout their fifteen years of marriage- even to the point of sharing the same delightful hobby.
Murder.
Now, deaf ‘Tobias’ as he’s known to a few select and unlucky few, (when he is scouting around for their next victim), is beginning to see how what they do is starting to affect their own kids. His daughter is scared of this ‘serial killer’ in their home town, and his son is learning to be as manipulative as his mother. But this is nowhere near his biggest issue.
Of course, ‘Tobias’ the husband is no saint, but he’s been so well-trained in the art of doing what his wife Millicent tells him, he just gets on with his part of the job of victim selection, and let’s her do the rest. This his how they get their kicks. He’s never even questioned it.
Until the last woman they drugged, kidnapped and Millicent ‘took care of’ turns up dead in an abandoned building. She’d kept her alive for over a year and never even told him. What was Millicent doing with her all this time? Why didn’t she keep him updated? After all, they were partners in crime, weren’t they?
This is a creepy book about a couple with some very strange habits. On the outside they look like the average family, but together, in private they hold secrets that they’ll take to the grave. At least hope to. But when murder becomes a dangerous game for life, and not everyone is playing by the rules, things are not always as black and white. And that, dear reader, is the deadly sting in this tale, which will have you reading until the sun comes up the next morning and the truth is revealed.
I couldn’t read this fast enough! What a thrilling book this turned out to be!
Murder.
Now, deaf ‘Tobias’ as he’s known to a few select and unlucky few, (when he is scouting around for their next victim), is beginning to see how what they do is starting to affect their own kids. His daughter is scared of this ‘serial killer’ in their home town, and his son is learning to be as manipulative as his mother. But this is nowhere near his biggest issue.
Of course, ‘Tobias’ the husband is no saint, but he’s been so well-trained in the art of doing what his wife Millicent tells him, he just gets on with his part of the job of victim selection, and let’s her do the rest. This his how they get their kicks. He’s never even questioned it.
Until the last woman they drugged, kidnapped and Millicent ‘took care of’ turns up dead in an abandoned building. She’d kept her alive for over a year and never even told him. What was Millicent doing with her all this time? Why didn’t she keep him updated? After all, they were partners in crime, weren’t they?
This is a creepy book about a couple with some very strange habits. On the outside they look like the average family, but together, in private they hold secrets that they’ll take to the grave. At least hope to. But when murder becomes a dangerous game for life, and not everyone is playing by the rules, things are not always as black and white. And that, dear reader, is the deadly sting in this tale, which will have you reading until the sun comes up the next morning and the truth is revealed.
I couldn’t read this fast enough! What a thrilling book this turned out to be!
Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale (2009) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019
Samantha Darko, or Sam as she goes by, just wants to feel like a normal person. Back where she's from, Virginia, she feels like everyone knows everything about her yet that she's invisible at the same time. She'd change places with somebody if she could. Somehow start all over. Nothing has been the same for her since her brother, Donnie, died seven years ago and she is consumed with the same outlandish visions Donnie had. She decides to go on a road trip with her friend, Corey, to California in hopes of working for Corey's dad. Their car breaks down along the way and they wind up in a small town called Conejo Springs. This is where the world will end in four days, seventeen hours, twenty six minutes, and thirty one seconds.
s. Darko wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but that still isn't saying much. I love Donnie Darko as it seems to be a film that gets better with each viewing. When news that a sequel to the film was being made, the question that plagued me and every other person who was a fan of the first film was, "Why?" Did the original really leave much room for a sequel? Not in my eyes. The sequel does little to add to the story established in the first film. It pretty much treads the same ground. The world is going to end again. An element that is different in the film is that more than one person is having the visions this time around. While it makes sense that Sam is having these visions, it doesn't really add up why these other people are having them as well. The movie does a lot of back tracking. A lot of things are explained only to rewind and have it play out differently, which makes full use of the time travel element of the film but kind of leaves the viewer wondering if the film was nothing more than a waste of time once the ending rolls around. The film just seems to recycle most of the ingredients of the first film (time travel, Frank the Bunny...even though he's not Frank this time around, religion playing a roll in the film, black holes, etc) and is unable to establish itself as a decent sequel, let alone its own film.
The scene in Donnie Darko that has "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears playing in the background while we see Donnie arrive at school and the "Mad World" scene are really the first scenes that come to mind when I think of the original film. The soundtrack played a pivotal role in the film. In s. Darko, there isn't really a scene like that and the soundtrack is forgettable, which really only hurt the film in the long run.
s. Darko walks a thin line between paying homage to the original film and complete bastardization. Its plot tries to string the viewer along this intelligent and thought provoking story, but executes doing so in clumsy fashion. It resembles a circus seal waiting for its reward after playing that ensemble with its nose on the horns currently residing in front of it. It'll really only be accessible to people who were fans of the first film, which is ironic since the film will probably just wind up irritating those fans. If you can ignore the first film entirely and have no expectations for this, then you may find yourself with a direct to video release that is...pretty much just that.
s. Darko wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but that still isn't saying much. I love Donnie Darko as it seems to be a film that gets better with each viewing. When news that a sequel to the film was being made, the question that plagued me and every other person who was a fan of the first film was, "Why?" Did the original really leave much room for a sequel? Not in my eyes. The sequel does little to add to the story established in the first film. It pretty much treads the same ground. The world is going to end again. An element that is different in the film is that more than one person is having the visions this time around. While it makes sense that Sam is having these visions, it doesn't really add up why these other people are having them as well. The movie does a lot of back tracking. A lot of things are explained only to rewind and have it play out differently, which makes full use of the time travel element of the film but kind of leaves the viewer wondering if the film was nothing more than a waste of time once the ending rolls around. The film just seems to recycle most of the ingredients of the first film (time travel, Frank the Bunny...even though he's not Frank this time around, religion playing a roll in the film, black holes, etc) and is unable to establish itself as a decent sequel, let alone its own film.
The scene in Donnie Darko that has "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears playing in the background while we see Donnie arrive at school and the "Mad World" scene are really the first scenes that come to mind when I think of the original film. The soundtrack played a pivotal role in the film. In s. Darko, there isn't really a scene like that and the soundtrack is forgettable, which really only hurt the film in the long run.
s. Darko walks a thin line between paying homage to the original film and complete bastardization. Its plot tries to string the viewer along this intelligent and thought provoking story, but executes doing so in clumsy fashion. It resembles a circus seal waiting for its reward after playing that ensemble with its nose on the horns currently residing in front of it. It'll really only be accessible to people who were fans of the first film, which is ironic since the film will probably just wind up irritating those fans. If you can ignore the first film entirely and have no expectations for this, then you may find yourself with a direct to video release that is...pretty much just that.