The Last Juror

I just finished reading John Grisham's book The Last Juror. I have been trying to read more fiction this year. It keeps my mind light and also really keeps me more down-to-earth. You can learn about people what you read in books, but it can never replace actually relating to people.

This was a great book. It moves at a good pace and easy to read. The synopsis on the back cover is not what the book is really about. The back cover says it is about a vicious murder trial and then the killings of the juror's from that trial. Those two items take about 1/3 of the book. The book is really about "The Last Juror." She is an elderly black lady who has lived to see many changes in the society of this small rural community. A great story. One of John Grisham's best. Part of his purpose in writing this book was to make people aware of some of the crazy laws on the books.

Here is a quote from the book that I think all believers should take to heart:

With rare exceptions blacks and whites did not worship together in Ford County. They fervently believed in the same Lord, but chose very different styles of worshipping him. The majority of whites expected to be outside the church building at five past noon on Sunday, and seated for lunch by twelve-thirty. Blacks really didn’t care what time the service broke up, or what time it began for that matter. On my church tour I visited twenty-seven black congregations and never saw a benediction before 1:30—3 P.M. was the norm. Several simply went all day, with a short break for lunch in the fellowship hall, then back to the sanctuary for another round.

Such zealotry would have killed a white Christian. (emphasis mine)

(Chapter 38, The Last Juror)

5 stars