Ford County Stories by John Grisham (2010: Dell. ISBN 978-0-307-57620-0)
Two stories. In a book of seven pieces of short fiction, legendary legal genre writer John Grisham gives his fans, including me, two decent stories. That’s what, like 29%? That’s less than Delmon Young’s 2010 batting average with the insipid Minnesota Twins. Come on John, we expect better from a guy who’s written over twenty legal thrillers and one pretty fair literary novel (A Painted House, which remains one of my favorites). Am I right, Grisham fans? Oh, wait. Maybe it’s me who’s the problem. Here’s why.
When I see “short stories”stenciled across a book’s cover, I think Faulkner. I think D.H. Lawrence. I think Hemingway or O’Connor. You know, literary fiction dispensed in smaller, albeit wondrous, doses. While waiting for a jury to come in at the conclusion of a recent trial, I was bookless. I saw Ford County on the shelf of the local grocery store and decided to give it a go. Well, Ford County ain’t Faulkner (nor any of those other aforementioned authors) to state the obvious. The problem for me, the reader with expectations of literary fiction, is that my hopes were immediately dashed to small bits by the first story.
Blood Drive is a silly mess of a tale with the pedigree of a freshman (OK, maybe sophomore) English composition piece. While packed full of action, there’s little that’s memorable in the piece other than flurry. In addition, I ended up disliking all the major characters in the story. Not a strong start for this short story collection, not by a long shot.
The second tale in the collection, Fetching Raymond, reminds me of Flannery O’Connor’s finest. Every word, every act of the characters, every subtle gesture, reeks of the South.
This is good, I remember thinking with a twinge of jealousy as I read the story.
That said, Grisham hasn’t really reinvented himself here either; the plot is one he’s used before with similar success. Not once. But twice. I won’t reveal the details here: Read it for the writing and think about where you’ve come across nearly identical plotting in past Grisham novels.
That’s pretty much it until the last piece. You’ll wade through four examples of mundane writing before you arrive at the one true diamond in this collection. Funny Boy glitters from all facets. There’s great dialogue, finely drawn characters, and just enough angst to pull at your heart strings. The best thing about the story? Grisham didn’t phone it in like he did for most of the rest of this grouping. That’s too bad: If he’d have stayed away from his genre, as he does in his final stab at the American short story in Ford County, he would have hit the ball as solid as a Delmon Young bomb. Instead, we’re left with a Nick Punto squib single.
2 stars out of 5. A true disappointment.
