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The Laws of Our Fathers
 
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The Laws of Our Fathers (Hardcover)

by Scott Turow (Author)
2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 534 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (Oct 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0374184232
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374184230
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 4.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,882,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Sad lack of red pencil, 29 Nov 1999
By rowland.morgan@virgin.net (Eel Pie Island, London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Laws of Our Fathers (Paperback)
This door-stopper of a novel mainly consists of a blow-by-blow account of a no-jury trial, told by the judge herself. It is interleaved with lengthy flashbacks told by her and her lover to the Kent State killings era, when the USA was in proto-revolutionary turmoil. The idea is to illustrate how the revolutionary upheaval turned into slo-mo revolution in the ghettoes, permanently corrupting the USA. It's an ambitious work, which reaches past Grisham to Dostoyevsky, but delivers the satisfaction of neither in the end. Turow's theme is grand, and he spends much care building credible characters, but he forgets to bring to life the villain of the piece, who remains an off-the-shelf symbol of all-purpose power-greed. While the novel has many enjoyable passages, it loses its way when the judge abruptly dismisses the case at about page 400, with 150 to go. A big set-piece funeral and grieving fails to work because we do not care about the deceased. Nor does the denouement grab, because it is so immensely long, and the pivotal character is a cardboard cut-out. It's beautifully produced, with nary a typo. If only the expert editors could have attacked this talented writer's work with a red pencil, we might have been spared his voluminous attempt to transcend the genre. There's a sharp 300-page story locked inside this sprawling opus. I would have retained the realistic courtroom action, with its well-rendered black argot and the 1969 flashbacks. However, I would have chopped most of the last 150 pages and delivered an old-fashioned Perry Mason-type courtroom climax for a value-for-money genre product.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment, 25 Jul 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Laws of Our Fathers (Paperback)
Scott Turow's first two books (Presumed Innocent and The Burden of Proof) were both excellent stories. However, since then he seems to have been in a steady decline. I gave up on this one half way through, as I found the story to be too drawn out and didn't care whether the main characters got themselves out of the cliched situations that they found themselves in. Perhaps it would mean more if I was an American.
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1.0 out of 5 stars Snoring and disappointing, 6 May 1998
By A Customer
I have to admit that I listened to the audio version first, then for what I have yet to determine reason, I punished myself with the book. I was so disappointed. A waste of time. I had eagerly awaited the tapes for a cross country motoring trip. I had to listen to it on a personal cassette player or wear earphones when I used the builtin player because my husband thought it was so boring he couldn't drive and stay awake! I had trouble as well listening to the tapes and reading the book! I finally got through it, but I think it was mostly because we were on vacation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A very ambitious novel
The complex story is told in two alternating tracks, with the first set in a lightly fictionalized late 60's Berkeley, and the second set in Turow's present-day Kindle County. Read more
Published 21 months ago by M. A. Ramos

2.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, dull
I agree with others who find this over-written. I was also SO annoyed with the typos and grammatical errors that riddled the book. Read more
Published on 6 May 1998

3.0 out of 5 stars Less than his best
This is one of my very favorite authors (much better thanGrisham), so I was disappointed in this book. I went to college in the 60s in California, so I know the environment. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 1997

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but tries to take on too much and fizzles
WAY too long! Turow fans will be sorely disappointed, I'm afraid. The usual can't-wait-to-turn-the-page-and-find-out-what-happens-next is GONE. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 1997

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it for Turow's mastery at characterization
Awesome work. As the NY Times put it, this is has elements of both "The Big Chill" and "Bonfire of the Vanities. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 1997

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