The Rainmaker

Friends,

I bought this novel on Labour Day, May 1st 2013, at KL International Book Fair.

First published in 1995, this 568-page novel was written by an award-winning author, John Grisham.

I started reading this boom two weeks ago and tonight at 3:10 am, I managed to complete it with success.

According to some dictionaries which I checked online, the word "rainmaker" means bringing luck. So, if you could "make it rain" or "make a rain", then you are really a lucky person. Google it if you want a more exact and precise definition.

I can see it so in this novel - where the main character is the "rainmaker".

This story is about a fresh young lawyer named Rudy Baylor acting as a lead counsel for the plaintiff in the case of Black vs. Great Benefit Life Insurance.

The story starts of with Rudy's life, his universitt studies, the bar exam, and his legal career.

The starting point of his legal career began when he took the course "Legal Problems of the Elderly" in his last semeater of his university studies. In this course, the students was required to attend and provide free legal advice and possible remedy to the elderly in the local community.

His first two cases were:-

* preparing a will for an old lady, and
* recommending a poor family to take legal action on an insurance company for refusal to pay claim to the customer

The main characters in this novel are:-

* Rudy Baylor - the main character
* Booker Kane & Charlene Kane - Rudy's best friend
* Deck Shifflet - Rudy's paralegal (he called himself para-lawyer)
* Miss Birdie - Rudy's client & landlady
* Kelly Riker - Rudy's crush
* Cliff Riker - Kelly's husband
* Leo F. Drummond - lead counsel for the defendant
* Dot Black - the mother of the plaintiff
* Buddy Black - the father of the plaintiff
* Donny Ray Black - the deceased suffering from acute leukemia, son of Dot & Buddy
* Ron Black - Donny's identical twin
* Dr Kord - Donny's doctor (oncologist)
* Max Leuberg - Rudy's professor
* Judge Tyrone Kipler - presiding judge in the case of Black vs Great Benefit
* J. Lyman Stone aka Bruiser Stone - Rudy's former employer
* Prince Thomas - Rudy's former employer & owner of Yogi's

The above names are not meant to be exhaustive, but they are the major characters in this novel.

The first part of the novel is rather slow and somewhat length - I was bored with all the preliminary stories; but halfway through the novel, it gets exciting because of the court-room drama and the trial process.

I particularly enjoyed reading the behaviour of Judge Kipler - a former black lawyer with deep hatred for insurance company - in presiding this case. He is stern, tough and no-nonsense. Although he seems to be a bit biased in his judicial conduct, but nevertheless, he is acting in the best interest of the plaintiff, who by the way, is just a rookie kid.

There were also times when the judge did not side with Rudy. This is evident when the judge overruled Rudy in some instances during the trial process.

Oh, there are few other small stories too in this novel which I summarized as follow:-

* the story of Miss Birdie's will
* the story of Kelly & Cliff Riker
* the story of Bruiser & Prince running away from the federal authorities

Concluding this litigation, the verdict returned by the jury for this case is surprisingly shocking - the jury awarded $200,000 in actual damages (the amount suitable for the leukemia treatment for Donny Ray) to the Black family, and a whopping $50 million as an award for punitive damages.

Anyway, the novel is really thick: thankfully and finally, I managed to complete it in two weeks.

If you have all the time in this world, then do read this novel. It's worth it.