Sycamore Row Discussion

[Madelyn]

Hello,

I hope everyone is having a very bookish New Year. My TBR list is growing fast. Please visit the tidbit section for more discussions about books and literary things.

Happy Reading

Madelyn S.



1. We know the setting of Sycamore Row is Clanton, Mississippi, 3 years after Carl Lee Bailey is found innocent in the murder of the two men who have raped his daughter. The year is 1989. If you read or saw the novel/movie, have race relations among the townspeople changed or remain the same in this novel. Examples?

2. Jake Brigance, (Of course, all we can picture is Mathew Mc Conaughy!) young and smart, has gained a great measure of respectability among the townspeople for his defense of Carl Lee. In this novel, what qualities and characteristics does Jake have that make him a memorable and noteworthy character, resident of Clanton, and lawyer? Examples?

3. In Sycamore Row, there are many references to all that Jake and his wife Carla have lost in his defense of Hailey. Do these issues make Jake more heroic or weaker in this novel? How do these issues resolve themselves in this novel?

4. What would be the stylistic purpose for Chapter One to graphically portray the suicide of Seth Hubbard?

5. Seth Hubbard’s character is both dark and light, good yet flawed. What qualities and examples represent the good and the light? What qualities and examples represent a troubled and flawed man?

6. Is this your first John Grisham novel? If no,what else did you read and what would you recommend?

[Erin]

I did not read A Time to Kill and only saw part of the movie, so I have no real comparison for the citizens of Clanton or Jake Brigance. I'm not a big fan of Jake, but he is a well-drawn character. He is real. He has flaws, big ego, vain, etc. but these are what help make his character realistic. No one wants to read about a saint! However, he is not a bad man. He loves his family, is loyal to his friends and he does what he knows is right, whether it is in his best interest or not. His and Carla's losses from the first book, while looming large in the first half of the book, seem diminished toward the edge. Partly because the reader knows the financial difficulties are easing, but also because the losses of Lettie Lang's family are so much larger, so much more dramatic.

Seth's graphic suicide is certainly an attention getter. Grisham is forcing the reader to wonder, to care about Seth Hubbard and his life. Why would anyone choose such an awful way to die? Once the lynching is revealed, it is obvious that Seth's suicide is his atonement for Sylvester's murder and his father's involvement. In a place where only 3 of at least 600 lynchings received any attention at all, how else would the truth be revealed without such a gruesome display? He is presented as a cold, distant and difficult man. He is certainly complex, but there is an explanation for some of his behavior. His terrible home life as a child, his murderous father, his eventual abandonment by his mother and the loss of Ancil, the only person he seems to have a close and personal connection to, all combine to make him a man suspicious of those closest to him and distrustful of all others. It is easy to dislike Hubbard's children, even though they are a product of their father, just as he was a product of his father. Grisham is a bit lazy in the presentation of the children. They seem to have come from a folder marked "stock characters-people more horrible than the dead man, no redeeming features required." How much more interesting the book would be if Ramona and Herschel were fleshed out a bit, more like Lettie. The reader would feel a bit more conflicted about Seth's cruel, and public, rejection of his offspring. Seth's behavior is terrible, and he brought some of his pain in his personal life on himself. His past should not absolve him of all the pain he caused his family, even if they are not the nicest people. The only hint Grisham gives of a happy resolution for the Hubbard family is at the very end when Herschel and Ancil meet at Lettie's new home. A rather slim hint for a writer who usually ties big, puffy bows on the happy ever after in his books.

It was not very difficult to follow the hints and know that Ancil would reveal Seth's motives and they would have something to do with Lettie's family and the events in 1930. The first half of the book was a chore to read. The last quarter of the book was much more interesting, but the pacing also pointed out the weaknesses of the novel. In all, Sycamore Row is like most John Grisham novels, a good story with some interesting characters and a pretty good plot, but it needs a little something to make it great.

A side note, my favorite characters in Sycamore Row are Harry Rex Vonner and Portia Lang. They are interesting and funny. Although I'm not sure I'd want to hang out with Harry all the time, Portia seems like a great person and someone I'd like to know.

If you want to read another Grisham novel, try The Client or The Pelican Brief. Those are my personal favorites.

[Heather]

I think I read A Time to Kill way back in college and probably saw the movie years ago but can't remember details clearly enough to comment on the changes in the race relations.

I think Jake was liked and trusted by both whites and blacks for the most part which made it difficult to dislike his character. Blacks trusted him because he treated them as equals and also because of the case he won 3 years earlier.
Whites liked him I think because he was a very driven young man and really didn't seem sneaky or like he had anything to hide.

He and his wife are still recovering from losing their house to arson and are really living a very frugal life for the majority of the book. That's probably another reason he is so likeable; he doesn't live extravagantly and although frustrated with the rental situation he is wiling to wait for his money to come honestly.

They lucked out with finally getting the insurance money in the end and then some.
The purpose of the graphic portrayal of Seth's death is revealed in Ancil's deposition when he describes the murder of Sylvester. Lots of similarities and although Seth may have wanted to end his life before he died of cancer he was also trying to atone for his father's sin.

Seth was portrayed more as dark in this novel than good I believe. He was a distant and unaffectionate father, and I couldn't help but think that his kids probably distanced themselves from him due to years of his doing the same to them.
However, these thing seem to happen generation after generation and he obviously didn't have a loving upbringing.

I know I've read other John Grisham books but I can't recall which ones as it's been several years. I recall them being very found and I don't think you can ever really go wrong by reading one.

[Matt]

I read "A Time to Kill" years ago and don't remember all of the details. However, it felt like the race relations in "Sycamore Row" were less severe. Maybe that was my imagination or maybe that was Grisham letting us know that the Carl Lee Hailey trial actually improved race relations in Clanton.
I like Jake and even though I saw the movie, I do not picture Matthew McConaughy for some reason. He seems like a stand up guy that loves his family, values his friends and does the right thing. Grisham keeps him a realistic character by shooing that he is not always motivated by doing the right thing but instead motivated by making money and simply to feed his ego.
All that has happened to Jake and Carla, the burning of their house, the death threats all set the stage for more jake Brigance novels, in my opinion. Otherwise, I'm not why include the whole thing about Jake and Carla buying that new house? Why include the parole hearing scene? That's just my opinion and don't feel that these events strengthen or weaken Jake as a character.
The importance and significance of the detailed depiction of Seth's suicide was not known until the end when it was tied in with the lynching of Lettie's grandfather as a sort of atonement for Seth's father's involvement. Seth was a private and cold man but I think that was just his way of dealing with what he saw as a young boy.

One question for you all; couldn't Seth have made it much easier for Jake to carry out his will if he had just mentioned in his handwritten will WHY he wanted Lettie to have 90% of his estate? I mean, it made for better reading that the mysterious and missing Ancil would provide the WHY, but (and maybe I spend too much time looking for plot holes) if Seth already knew it, why not explain?

Matt

[Jacey]

I've read "A Time to Kill," but most of what I remember is from watching the movie multiple times. From the movie to "Sycamore Row" it seems like race relations have improved. However, I'm not sure if they actually improved, or if it was less important to the overall plot of the book. If Lettie had simply been white, would it have made much of a difference? I feel like race was used more of a way to tie the story to "A Time to Kill" than as a necessity to the central plot of the book.

As I mentioned before, I've seen the movie quite a few times,so in my head Jake Brigance is Matthew McConoughy. Overall Jake is a relatively likable character. I feel like Grisham does a great job describing the small town, Southern lawyer. Jake is good guy, people trust him, but he has an ego that can occasionally get in the way of his judgment. The fact that Grisham mentions Jake's past as a high school football star is interesting to me. I live in a small Texas town, so I have seen quite a few "Jake Brigances" over the years. After high school, most of them that stick around seem to constantly be trying to relive their former glory by proving themselves worthy to the townspeople.

I think the scene depicting Seth's suicide was included so readers could empathize with Seth's plight. Throughout the book, Seth is not portrayed in a positive light. The first chapter gives the reader just enough information about Seth to keep them believing there may be more to Seth than what everyone has to say about him.

I completely agree with Matt on his last question, "WHY didn't Seth just explain in his will why he was leaving 90% of his estate to Lettie?" It seemed like Seth was so thorough in the rest of his estate/end of life planning, that it would be unlikely for him to just not explain why he made the change in the will. This made the whole plot of the book seem a bit forced to me.