The Brethren
(
The book I read was The Brethren, by John Grisham. It was a suspense book. Three ex-judges, called The Brethren by their fellow prisoners (in for various crimes against the courts and such), lived in a very minimal security prison. They had just begun fine – tuning a mail scam. This scam was ran by a lawyer on the outside who would come in everyday, give them there mail and deliver any mail that was needed. This scam extorted homosexuals with families and lots of money. They would write letters to each other until they had enough prove that the person was a true homosexual and then they would threaten to tell the world if the victim did not pay they amount specified. The Lawyer on the outside was greatly profiting from this for the fact that he collected 30 percent of each transaction. Then, they snag the wrong person, someone very powerful on the outside. It seems The Brethren's days of scamming are over.
This was a great book for many reasons. The first reason is it was sort of double sided. What I mean by that is it explained 2 stories at once, the story of Aaron Lake and the story of The Brethren. I liked this because it helped to understand the situation a lot better. It also helped understand the characters a lot more too. Another thing I liked about this book is the fact that the scam was brilliant. The Brethren had nothing to loose because they were already in prison, and they had so much to gain. These (the victims of the scam) were people who couldn't talk against The Brethren for fear of being caught by their families. One example of the fact that the victims couldn't report this to the police was when The Brethren snagged Quince Garbe, who lived in a small town and who's father owned a bank. If Quince spoke out against The Brethren, he would loose his father's inheritance to the bank, and the whole town would disrespect him. After he gave the Brethren their asking price of $100,000, they immediately asked for another $20,000. He had no choice but to pay them. Another reason I liked this book was it showed how corrupt our government could be. Aaron Lake pretty much bought the election, getting almost 60 million dollars from defence contractors in return to double the military budget.
The way the book interested me was in a very strange way, the book made me feel scared for Booth but happy because the President would be avenged. The tone of this book made it feel like a wild goose chase. The book also made many of the people from the past look very stupid, because many of the searchers could have found Booth without burning him to death, but instead, they chose the wrong lead. But many of the “I am going to get caught” feelings that Booth and David Herold felt while on the run, connect with me because I can relate to those feeling. But I wouldn't get killed for lets say “stealing” a
I enjoyed that the book challenged some of the biggest problems in our legal system, or even society as a whole. There is still a lot of racism going on, and this book was not afraid to exploit that. I enjoy those kinds of readings. They are the things that will eventually spark a change and shed some light on the problems that are happening right now.
Once I get past all of the rambling I did in the past paragraphs, I honestly really enjoyed the book. Though it wasn't like most of the other books I’ve read (meaning I didn't cry during the process of reading it), the characters were just as provokingly interesting as the characters in other stories, it was a little edgy and made me want to yell at it, shouting at Sam when she wouldn’t let Tyler play video games with Danny, or Danny when he called to have Sam and Tyler taken to a separate facility. Overall, this book opened me up to something that just isn't a romance novel. This story really shows that there are people with a lot of difficulties in their lives, and that’s what I liked the most about it.
One of the most well done portions of the book was the beginning, when the human man was still secular and considering Christianity. Screwtape’s encouragements for Wormwood to steer him more towards the “real world” were something that is still relevant to this very day - and just the right amount of characterization and detail were given for it to be taken seriously even by an agnostic storyteller. Another portion that was done fairly well was the “patriot vs. pacifist” argument around the time the war was just starting - extremes of either side are the devil’s best friend and one needs to have a healthy mixture of both and their eyes on God in order to veer away from their demon’s grip. This book also seems to be the origin of the idea that demons thrive off of people either not believing in them or being too fascinated by them, which is a teaching that can hit the mark for many.
The book was enjoyable and the author was so descript. His detail in describing where the women came from, what they experienced day to day after coming to America, the social change of the time, followed by his detailed account of the tragedy really brought out emotion. I believe he may have spread it out a bit farther then needed by going into so much detail during the strike but in all the book was a fantastic read.
book, and by the end of the book we feel like we know exactly how Perry feels, and we have a understanding of some of the hardships that the soldiers faced in Vietnam. In this book, Perry kills
Every section of the book served as a point and an allegory to the book. The story is easy to digest. Seriously, I read through this book really fast without realising it and with no hassle of understanding the ideas and concepts. Although, I have drawn similarities between this novel and The Hunger Games, but this book was published years prior. I’m hoping it’s only coincidental.
...ne of the strongest points of the novel is that it "teaches it lessons by implication, not by preaching; and literature is at it best when it is an imitation of life and not an excuse for instruction." The humor in the novel is also complimented, and it is this humor which contributes to the instructiveness of the novel. The review ends with the statement that the "story is capital reading."
Jehovah's Witnesses You may have heard them talked about, in a derogatory way most. probably. I will be able to do that. They may even have visited you once or twice, but does.
Overall I enjoyed reading Witchcraft at Salem. Hansen brought new ideas while challenging the old ones in a very enthusiastic manner. Many scholars have differing views on what happened at Salem. Some believe that girls were lying, while some believe that a physical ailment was the cause. This book was great for a reader who wanted to find several opinions on what took place in Salem. If the reader wanted to know just the basic facts of the Salem Witch Trials then I would not recommend this book. Witchcraft at Salem requires a general knowledge of what happened during the witch trials because it goes very in depth. This book might be confusing to someone who slept in high school history or english and knows nothing of what happened at Salem during 1962.
There are many prisoners sitting in prison today for a crime not committed by them. Sometimes, the law rushes into convictions before getting complete facts. Maybe a small town needed revenge which could lead to a wrong conviction. It could be from “ignorance of the law”. Most are not aware of their rights and what could be said that might falsely incriminate a person. There are also the forced confessions by police who threaten or use scare tactics to get a false confession. Most wrongfully convicted are sitting in prison for witness misidentification. Police not taking the time to get actual proof of guilt have ruined innocent lives. Is it fair for a person to serve time for a crime they did not commit? Why is a person still serving time when the evidence is there proving their innocence? Today, DNA testing has become more evident to solving cases in proving guilt or innocence. I am focusing on a case of three boys convicted of murders with no substantial evidence to prove guilt and how DNA evidence could help them receive an acquittal they have anticipated for eighteen years.
The founding of the United States went through a tough time to unite a whole nation. The U.S., at many times, was almost doomed to failure. Many decisions and beneficial people kept what is known as America today alive. Some of the most unexpected people to help shape the U.S. was Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Not like any of the other feuds between politicians at that time that ended in choice words, Burr and Hamilton ended in death. Many crucial moments occurred during the early years of America and most of the time America was simply a dream that most felt would never be accomplished. Without the influence of the men who shaped the nation, this sort of "experiment" would have failed.
I really liked this book because of the stories it had in it, that really helped me understand how bad these times really were, and how the treatment was horrible. I read a lot of how strict they were which was a part of my essay.
I learned a lot of information about one of America’s most profound President’s. I liked how the book brought Lincoln into a common man’s point of view. Before reading this book I had thought of President Lincoln almost as a character in a folk tale, a hero in the story of America’s past. I had envisioned him almost as a god among men, whereas this book quickly changed that perception, showing some of his human flaws such as being so uncomfortable around women that he often avoided their company altogether. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was how it walked the reader through the struggles that Lincoln went through in his early life, a part that of his life I had never heard about. It was very interesting and kind of sad to read about Lincoln’s detachment from his family and his father. The book did a great job of describing his self-studies and his motivation to better himself through education. In the text it described Lincoln’s path to politics from a young man all the way through his presidency to his assassination. I found it very interesting the difference in the way politics was carried out compared to how it is today. One specific example that really opened my eyes to the stark differences was when he threw a man over a fence after that man started heckling the man who was speaking. After reading that I was shocked because if that happened today Lincoln’s political career would likely be over and there would probably be charges pressed against him. I enjoyed reading this book, it taught me a lot about the Civil War, but even more so I really liked that it described Lincoln’s early life in such
-That is what Satan wanted to do with Jesus – go for the “do it yourself, instant fix”