Book Club | October – The Firm

Back for book club round two!

(Feel free to read more about the rules of our book club and the first month in my Book Club | September - Life of Pi post.)

This month, October, it was Riley's turn to become the Pagemaster and select three titles for consideration.

He chose: The Firm, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and WE HONESTLY CAN'T REMEMBER!

Anyway... The Firm by John Grisham won!

We ordered three copies since Val decided to join in this round. She is now an official member of the book club!

Side note: We've started spreading the word to see if others want to jump in for a month and see if they enjoy it. Book club isn't for everyone, and our friends and family are at such different stages of life and geographically sparse that we knew we had to build from the ground up.

I see this growing to be something really amazing one day where there are ten or more members at a given time. We're not there... yet. ;)

This book was a nail biter.

Riley is a huge John Grisham fan. He suggested I read A Painted House a couple years ago and I did it to impress him. This was my second time reading a book by J.G. and I liked this one better!

My sweet husband took his turn so seriously. Val ended up finishing the book before him, something I don't think he'll ever forgive me for, since I kept telling him to slow down! We finished two weeks ahead of schedule, so we bumped up the meeting.

Riley did an amazing job organizing and hosting. There was an official Outlook invitation, dress code, supplies list, and more...

****Once again, don’t read past this section if you can’t risk potential spoilers! I don’t want to be responsible for ruining any punches for you.****

Here are Riley's discussion questions from our meeting:

1. Have you ever been placed in what you thought was an unethical position/situation in the workplace? If so, how did you handle it?

2. Do you consider Mitch to be the hero in this story? If not, is there one?

3. Who was your favourite character of the book, and why?

4. What character did you dislike the most in the book?

5. Do you think Mitch and Abby will live in a happy marriage following the conclusion of this novel?

6. Do you think Mitch will ever be found and killed by the mob?

7. What do you think the significance of Mitch’s mother was in this story? Why was she necessary?

8. Would you have cooperated with the FBI if they had approached you like they did Mitch?

9. Were you sympathetic to any of the lawyers who were employed by the firm?

10. Do you think the movie will include Mitch cheating on Abby?

11. What did you think of John Grisham’s style of writing?

12. Did you expect the end of the novel to end differently? How so?

13. Do you think it would be worth working 80+ hour weeks in your younger years if it meant retiring early and wealthy?

14. If you could think of a main message this novel is trying to convey, what would it be?

The movie was very similar to the book, except we were shocked to find out that MAJOR plot changes were in the movie. Changes that overall altered the outcome of the plot drastically. Prepare to be surprised!

What's a Tom Cruise movie without classic running scenes?? Nothing.

It was fun making comparisons to the book as we watched. We talked and discussed throughout (something I feel like we only did because it was a 2.5 hours 90's movie, thus not very visually stimulating).

Overall, if you like legal-thrillers, this book is for you!

Our next book is Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I'll be back in a few weeks to tell you all about it. ;)

Happy reading!

#books #bookclub