Gray Mountain

Painful to listen to

Would you try another book from John Grisham and/or Catherine Taber?

John Grisham - of course. Catherine Taber - heck no.

Has Gray Mountain turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

DISAPPOINTMENT

Any additional comments?

I have spent MANY credits on John Grisham books, and this is the only time I have regretted it. First of all, the narrator's voice is so SLOW and BORING I listened to the first 2 hours at a higher speed on my Kindle. I THOUGHT that once the story got going I could slow it back down to normal speed and just enjoy the listen. I was so wrong. I am not sure if it's the narrator or the story, but this book sounds like half of those stupid half-hearted romance/drama novels. Her voice is just horrible...point blank. But the story seems like a drag too. I just don't get the same feeling as I do with every other Grisham novel I have in my library. I am trying to get through it because I am a loyal Grisham fan, but I am at the 5th hour and I think I am just going to quit before I throw my Kindle against the wall for some excitement..

95 sur 102 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Sorry John... wanted to like it... love you anyway

Bought this as a pre-order, excited to read something similar to John's early books... I even like his later books and would have settle for one of those. I downloaded it the first day... took me three days of literally forcing myself to listen in order to reach the end. I hated the narrator, disliked the main character and found the plot insipid. Found some action about 10 hours in... a bit.
This book would not of made print had an unknown author written it. "Big coal" is the villain, and yes some of the victims cases handled by Samantha were interesting... but gracious to Pete, what happened here John? Pleased don't write the sequel which is obviously hanging there at the end. It is not a chick lit book... this chick didn't want to finish it.

97 sur 107 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Not The best by John Grisham

Would you be willing to try another one of Catherine Taber’s performances?

No, she is a big part of the problem with the book.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoy john Grisham's books, even when he is trying to educate his readers, but this went a little overboard. The main character comes across as very spoiled, selfish and a whiner. The narrator, who sounds/reads like a teenager, makes the main character even more irritating and dislikable.

33 sur 36 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

So Disappointing

Remember John Grisham? Remember the books that shot him to #1 over and over again? The Client, The Firm, etc? Gray Mountain is a pathetic shadow of one of his good earlier stories.
I kept waiting for the action to start. The beginning was great, loved meeting her parents and having her get fired, and getting the internship--all the parts that were written in the publishers description of the book. But after that, nothing happened. I was patient for hours as the story developed, but there was no climax. There was no one and nothing to cheer for, there was no John Grisham moment! The story is set in Appalachia, filled with colorful characters, but none of them really did anything. The stage was set, and then nothing happened.
The main character, Samantha, wasn't developed to the level you would expect in a 12 hour story. What she eats or doesn't eat is not enough for me to care about her as a character. What details were developed left her simpering and weak and a victim, when she was supposed to be the "heroine" of the story. Everything happened TO her, she didn't actually do anything. In the end, I just didn't care.
I know John Grisham isn't high literature, but I think it is fair to expect a level of entertainment from him and to hold him to the standards of his past books. I was very disappointed.
As for the narrator, yeah, she was terrible. She spoke way too slowly, which didn't help the fact that there was no action. She made me feel like she was reading to a group of 1st graders at a library. She also didn't change her voice for men vs. women so I sometimes couldn't tell who was saying what.
It's a John Grisham, so lots of people will still read/listen to it. But at least go in with much lowered expectations.
I do not recommend this book.

156 sur 177 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Perfunctory, tired and disappointing

Any additional comments?

To me, this book felt much like sunbathing indoors. After a while, what kept me going was purely the fascination to prove to myself that the exercise was utterly pointless.

As with other reviewers, I have generally enjoyed Grisham's books and was very much looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, I saw very little of Grisham's normal draws and gripping story telling. The main characters were underdeveloped and not particularly interesting. The whole book felt like a laboriously stretched out preamble to another, "real" story.

Overall, I felt this book was some type of business or contractual obligation to publish--a perfunctory effort to check one off the list. Very disappointing.

27 sur 30 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

No ending

I prefer books with heroes and endings, this one had neither. Waste of money.

41 sur 46 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Did Grisham really write this?

I'm thinking he had someone ghost write this for him. Weak plot, weak characters - they didn't act in an intelligent manner. I kept wondering "why did he/she do that?" There didn't seem to proper motivation for a lot of the actions. There was a lot of background filler that made me think I was a lecture. Really bad narrator - weak and whispery. More suited to a romance novel.

This is absolutely my least favorite of all of Grisham's novels . . . so disappointing.

32 sur 36 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Not Up to John Grisham Standards

It is almost hard to believe that John Grisham wrote this book, it is so inferior to his prior works. It was a wasted credit.

16 sur 18 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Couldn't Force Myself To Finish It

Grisham is on my list of favored authors, and I pre-ordered this book. How sorry I am.

The story line is obvious, I didn't like the main characters, and the narrator is boring. After three tries, I gave it up as a waste of time.

I may be a little more careful in the future about what I buy from this author. Very disappointing.

10 sur 11 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

A Waste of a Good Credit

So sorry to have to write a negative review for a John Grisham book but this one is really a dud. Had this been written in the early 80's when we were just finding out the evils of the coal industry it may have been more interesting. As it goes, this book has been told many times by many writers. The coal companies are scum bags who have and continue to ruin the mountains of VA, WV and KY along with other states. So what's new about that?? And the narrator doesn't do a very effective job. Just a bad read/listen.

And BTW, to the reviewer William Crovatt of Tokyo Japan......a 'chick book'.....one the 'ladies would like'.....Hey dude it's 2014. You need to find a real woman!!!!!

73 sur 86 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.