The Laws of our Fathers - Scott Turow
Book cover: "The Laws of our Fathers Scott Turow's most powerful novel to date, opens with a spectacular drive-by shooting in one of Kindle County's most notorious drug-plagued housing projects. The victim is an aging white woman who has never been seen there before; within days her son, Nile Eddgar, a probation officer, is charged in connection with the crime - and the reader falls gratefully once more under the hypnotic spell that only Scott Turow can cast.
Nile's trials is presided over - and narrated by - Judge Sonia "Sonny" Klonsky, whom Turow's fans will remember from his second novel, The Burden of Proof. It brings together a vivid cast of characters from Sonny's student years during the turbulent sixties, among them Nile's father, Loyell Eddgar, once a leading campus revolutionary, and Sonny's old boyfriend Seth Weissman, who is now a renowned journalist. All have been permanently marked by the heady iconoclasm of their youth; some carry terrible secrets that come to bear on the case at hand in unforeseeable and explosive ways.
With the riveting suspense and indelibly drawn characters, The Laws of Our Fathers shows once again why Scott Turow is not only the master of the modern legal thriller but also one of America's most gifted and satisfying novelists. Turow reveals as no other writer can how the law and its mysterious rituals intersect with real life. In the process he also raises endlessly provocative questions about the meanings of the past and the long shadows it casts on the present."
I have enjoyed reading Turow in the past and this novel was as good as the others I've read. I found myself reliving the 60's and remembering the VietNam war, the senselessness of it, the unsettling of the college age men who would be drafted, the uprisings and the "hippies". At times the novel was difficult to follow because it went from 1995 back to the 60's. The characters were interwoven from their college years and then brought back together during the trial. I liked Sonny, as I felt she was the most honest character of all that Turow wrote about. She was determined, had lots of self-confidence in her professional life, and yet lacked self-confidence in her personal life. I disliked Loyell Eddgar, as he was a manipulator and wanted control of everything and everyone. Was it love for his family or his beliefs that controlled his actions?
VietNam was a different kind of "war" and a defining time for this country. Is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan any different? Is it bringing our country together or pulling us apart? Do we care or is it just a sign of the times?
A good book, but a slow read.
Finished: February 13, 2012
Nile's trials is presided over - and narrated by - Judge Sonia "Sonny" Klonsky, whom Turow's fans will remember from his second novel, The Burden of Proof. It brings together a vivid cast of characters from Sonny's student years during the turbulent sixties, among them Nile's father, Loyell Eddgar, once a leading campus revolutionary, and Sonny's old boyfriend Seth Weissman, who is now a renowned journalist. All have been permanently marked by the heady iconoclasm of their youth; some carry terrible secrets that come to bear on the case at hand in unforeseeable and explosive ways.
With the riveting suspense and indelibly drawn characters, The Laws of Our Fathers shows once again why Scott Turow is not only the master of the modern legal thriller but also one of America's most gifted and satisfying novelists. Turow reveals as no other writer can how the law and its mysterious rituals intersect with real life. In the process he also raises endlessly provocative questions about the meanings of the past and the long shadows it casts on the present."
I have enjoyed reading Turow in the past and this novel was as good as the others I've read. I found myself reliving the 60's and remembering the VietNam war, the senselessness of it, the unsettling of the college age men who would be drafted, the uprisings and the "hippies". At times the novel was difficult to follow because it went from 1995 back to the 60's. The characters were interwoven from their college years and then brought back together during the trial. I liked Sonny, as I felt she was the most honest character of all that Turow wrote about. She was determined, had lots of self-confidence in her professional life, and yet lacked self-confidence in her personal life. I disliked Loyell Eddgar, as he was a manipulator and wanted control of everything and everyone. Was it love for his family or his beliefs that controlled his actions?
VietNam was a different kind of "war" and a defining time for this country. Is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan any different? Is it bringing our country together or pulling us apart? Do we care or is it just a sign of the times?
A good book, but a slow read.
Finished: February 13, 2012
Glad you finished this book! Sounds like an interesting read.
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