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John GrishamA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses alcoholism, suicide, and racism against Indigenous people.
Grisham uses Troy Phelan Sr. to generate the inciting incident that sets the plot in motion. By leaving his estate to a daughter that no one knew he had, he initiates the contest over his will and Nate’s search for Rachel. Thus, though he is only alive for the first two chapters of the novel, his presence looms large across the narrative.
Through Phelan’s first-person narrative, Grisham makes his cruelty apparent. Phelan does not try to mask that he is filled with hatred toward his family and servant, Snead. He lists his many business and financial successes, aware that they have made him miserable but unable to liberate himself from his attachment to them. His study of Zoroaster suggests an awareness of the need for spiritual fulfillment—connection to something beyond his material possessions—but it has not transformed his character in a substantial way.
By John Grisham
A Painted House
A Painted House
John Grisham
A Time For Mercy
A Time For Mercy
John Grisham
A Time to Kill
A Time to Kill
John Grisham
Bleachers
Bleachers
John Grisham
Calico Joe
Calico Joe
John Grisham
Camino Island
Camino Island
John Grisham
Gray Mountain
Gray Mountain
John Grisham
Playing For Pizza
Playing For Pizza
John Grisham
Skipping Christmas
Skipping Christmas
John Grisham
Sooley
Sooley
John Grisham
Sparring Partners
Sparring Partners
John Grisham
Sycamore Row
Sycamore Row
John Grisham
The Appeal
The Appeal
John Grisham
The Boys from Biloxi
The Boys from Biloxi
John Grisham
The Brethren
The Brethren
John Grisham
The Chamber
The Chamber
John Grisham
The Client
The Client
John Grisham
The Confession
The Confession
John Grisham
The Firm
The Firm
John Grisham
The Guardians
The Guardians
John Grisham