Book review: Gray Mountain - rise and fall

John Grisham takes on big corporations and their exploitative practices in his latest book

As I started reading John Grisham’s Gray Mountain, it transported me back to my time in London in September 2008. It was the year that shook the world as Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Around 5,000 people lost their jobs at their Canary Wharf office in London and every British newspaper carried images of devastated young people crying outside their office on their front page.

This book tells the story of 29-year-old Samantha Kofer, a third-year associate at a big New York law firm, who is also laid off from her job within 10 days of the Lehman Brothers’ fall as the impact of the economic meltdown trickled to all financial firms across the US and Europe. While Kofer is still struggling with the shock and depression at the recent turn of events, her law firm offers to retain her as an intern with the possibility of rehiring her for her old job if the economic climate improves. However, she chooses to work with a Mountain Legal Aid Clinic in rural Virginia, Appalachia, instead.

Author John Grisham

In this part of the book, Grisham vividly describes the beauty of the region and the living conditions of the people of Appalachia — a stark contrast from the glamorous bustling life that Kofer left behind in New York. He also highlights the way mining companies exploit their workers. For example, one of the cases assigned to the young lawyer is one of black-lungs. If miners can prove that they have been disabled by years of breathing coal dust, they are entitled to payments that can reach up to $1,000 a month. However, since the employers collude with the lawyers, cases usually end up getting delayed until the miner dies or forgets about them. The lawyers are also supported by doctors, judges, regulators and prosecutors, which ultimately benefits coal companies at the cost of their workers. Koffer eventually finds out that standing for the truth sometimes means putting one’s life on the line.

The characters in the book, particularly of Kofer, have been developed carefully and seem very real. The heart of the book though is how big corporations thrive on the labour of those who work for them but give little in return. Overall, Gray Mountain is a good read and keeps the reader engaged throughout. However, it does leave you wondering why Grisham chose to start the novel with the fall of the Lehman Brothers five years after it happened. But that might be a story for another time.



Ishrat Ansari works at The Express Tribune Karachi desk.

She tweets @Ishrat_ansari

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, February 8^th, 2015.