Talmage and his wife Claire attending a baseball game with John Grisham and Nolan & Reese RyanAh, the joys of mid-life for John Grisham! His climb up the mountain has reached an altitude of sufficient height to provide a philosophical perspective worth sharing, and share it he does in his sensational new novel, The Associate.
Yes, of course, the new book released last month immediately shot to Number One on all the best-seller lists; and, no, the writer of this column is NOT going to give away the plot and surprise ending.
For those perusing this newspaper who are not necessarily captivated by legal thrillers, but have an association with young people whose horizons are focused on the realities of today’s job market, The Associate is a must read. These days, Mr. Grisham has a son in law school and a daughter in college, providing him with a reason to reflect on the topic at hand.
Let’s assume the reader embraces the Park Cities mindset — i.e., he’s consumed with the notion that life is all about becoming SUCCESSFUL.
Naturally, as in our neck of the woods, success at the outset of The Associate is defined as going to a good college, then on to a prestigious grad school, and (at last!) obtaining a high paying entry-level job. Mr. Grisham’s newest protagonist, Kyle McAvoy, does all that, graduating from Duquesne University and then Yale Law School, before joining the nation’s largest law firm at its New York office and receiving a starting annual salary of $200,000.
McAvoy, however, has Grisham’s brain, and soon recognizes the clouds in his coffee. Whereas a businessman aspires to maximize his profitability by manufacturing and selling the highest possible number of widgets, in order to “succeed,” the lawyer at a large firm must aspire to manufacture the highest possible number of the attorney’s widget — the billable hour.
The reader can speed through John Grisham’s whirling dervish of a plot in The Associate, or he can spend hours reflecting on what the author’s saying about life’s big picture in the context of today’s frenzied world. Or he can do both.
I'm a huge fan of John Grisham and it's quite impressive to see that he endorsed one of your books that you authored. My husband and I have read every one of his books that we can get our hands on. I'll have to check out yours now. Very interesting.