Book By: John Grisham
Blog By: Corey Trinetti
Dear Mr. Grisham,
I recently finished reading your novel, “The Firm”, and was very impressed on many accounts. I was born in the year when the novel was published, and it was intriguing for me to experience what life was like just 16 years ago. Particularly, I liked the descriptiveness of the settings, from the style of houses, to the color of the Mercedes and to the way people dressed.
What I also enjoyed about the novel was how there was an initial character development before the plot started to formulate. For me, it was good to get to know each of the characters and get inside their head before the Firm was discovered to be corrupt, or before the FBI presented Mitch with an ultimatum. The way Mitch was described as coming from a poor family, and how he wanted to break his poor-middle class ties, gave me great insight into his personality. Likewise, it was good to get to know Abby, the woman he recently married, whom he fell in love with at university.
A theme in the novel that I spotted immediately, and quite enjoyed, was the theme of loyalty. The Firm always made it clear that employees would remain loyal to the Firm, and would never leave, and I enjoyed how this gave me the sense that the employees were merely trapped with the Firm -- for life. One quote in particular that I liked was when the wife of an associate explained to Abby the following:
“It's a question of loyalty. If all your money comes from one source, then you tend to be very loyal to that source. The Firm demands extreme loyalty.”
This quote clearly shows how brainwashed other associates in the Firm had become.
Another part of the novel that appealed to me was the fact that Mitch was so ethical and proper when leaving law school. Yet, when Mitch was surrounded by so many unethical people, it drove him to be unethical. After eventually stealing around 10 million dollars from various accounts owned by the Firm, Mitch, as well as Abby, and his brother Ray, escaped to the Caribbean to immerse themselves in the newly acquired wealth. This appealed to me due to how ironic it was.
Thanks for the great piece of literature; I will be indulging in another one of your novels, The Pelican Brief, in a short while.
Sincerely,
Corey Trinetti
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