Grisham Did It Again

The Appeal
John Grisham
Doubleday
January 2008

Mr. Grisham did it again. He’s back in the game, on his familiar turf, the thing that made him a rich man.

Unusually, the book started with a verdict. If you want to know what happens after the end of Erin Brokovich (Julia Roberts) and A Civil Action (John Travolta), this is it. The case was Jeanette Baker v. Krane Chemical. Baker, the widow, survived her husband and son, who died of cancer which supposedly caused by irresponsible and illegal chemical disposal by Krane Chemical in a small town in Mississippi. The disposal and spillage contaminated the water that run through their town, and so great was the rates of cancer—15 times above the national average—that their Cary County was infamously known as Cancer County.

This is a story about David versus Goliath, where David was the dejected victims and their lawyers who had lost all their money in pursuit of justice, and Goliath was Krane Chemical, the evil corporate America, with Carl Trudeau as the owner, a Wall Street predator.

But actually… Goliath was even bigger than that. Because Trudeau found the supreme court judges were not friendly enough, he decided to buy a judicial seat in the upcoming election. Millions and millions of dollar poured down to launch the oblivious perfect-and-straight-to-the-core candidate, and tricks after dirty tricks of campaigning were whipped out, without the voters having a single clue what was behind all the drama.

In the course of reading about the campaign, I sometimes forgot about Jeanette Baker and the victims of Cancer County. Thus was the state of politics, in my humble opinion. The people is forgotten and the big goal is on the main stage, lashing out pretty but poisonous promises to unsuspecting voters, not unlike a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Mr. Grisham was adamant to show us the uglier facade of politics. Sometimes he got a little carried away picturing the goody-goody David and the heartless Trudeau. But hey, what’s a fiction without such extremes?

All in all, it’s a good one from Mr. Grisham, who had distracted over the years to the land of baseball (Bleachers), Italiano la dolce vita (The Broker), baseball plus Italiano la dolce vita (Playing for Pizza), and nonfiction (The Innocent Man). This is a legal thriller dripping with sarcasms and so much personal view on politics and justice system. Never again you will see electoral process and politics the same way.

The rule is: If the court was unfriendly, buy a seat and select your own judge.

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Nothing, except Change, is Constant

Landslide

I took my love, I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills

Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?

Can the child within my heart rise above?

Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing

‘Cause I’ve built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting older, too

Yes, I’m getting older, too

Oh, take my love, take it down

Climb a mountain and turn around

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills

Well, the landslide will bring it down

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Trash Bin

Pagi-pagi kok udah nyampah…

Banyak sekali sampah pagi ini. Untunglah dari kemarin mental sudah siap, jadi meski banyak sampah, hati tidak marah. Ditanggapi dengan ketawa aja.

Pertama-tama, sebenernya sampah ini sudah diawali sejak Sabtu kemarin, ketika seorang teman merefer saya ke berita sindir-sindiran yang dilakukan Megawati dan SBY, soal poco-poco dan undur-undur (cari di detik.com deh, saya males bikin linknya). Wah, lucu tenan… Tapi yang tidak lucu, ketika ada pihak ketiga yang mendadak muncul dengan bendera putih dan higher moral ground, menegur kedua belah pihak agar bersikap pantas… nah, yang begini ini adalah yang sok jadi "pahlawan", mengail di air keruh.

Sampah kedua, Senin pagi buka email, ada forwardan dari teman saya, isinya kutipan-kutipan "artis" baru, Cinta Laura (hei, saya denger itu kamu tertawa), yang kalo menurut pelafalannya, Cincha Lawra… Sampah ini sampah yang lucu dan beneran membuat saya terpingkal-pingkal, jadi gak papa lah. Biarkan dia hidup. Beberapa kutipan itu bisa diulang-ulang kok, dengan gaya yang pas, untuk menghibur teman-teman…

Sampah ketiga, berita tentang DPR yang akan merenovasi kantor dan mengubahnya menjadi menara ala Petronas, yang menurut sumber di gedung rakyat itu, menelan anggaran lebih dari satu triliun rupiah. Gedung ini dilengkapi fasilitas modern, komputer dan internet, perpustakaan komplet. Selain itu, demi kenyamanan, juga disediakan ruangan seluas 10X10 meter untuk masing-masing anggota dewan, supaya tidak repot mencari hotel, karena di ruangan tersebut tersedia fasilitas sekelas hotel berbintang. Yang lebih penting lagi, akan ada ruangan khusus untuk DPR dan rakyat bertemu… Gedung rakyat yang (kini) dipagari (semakin) tinggi itu akan menjadi simbol kemakmuran rakyat Indonesia, katanya. Jadi perlulah anggaran sebesar itu.

Ha-ha-hah! Ini sampah yang paling lucu…

Saya jadi merasa nebeng tinggal di negara ini. Tokoh-tokoh politik yang saling sindir demi memenangkan suara, wakil-wakil rakyat yang katanya mengemban amanat rakyat, semuanya sama sekali lepas dari sasaran mereka yang sebenarnya: RAKYAT. Kenapa merasa nebeng? Lha saya yang sebenarnya masuk golongan rakyat, yang punya hak suara dan diwakili di gedung DPR itu, cuma kerja untuk sesuap pasta dan koleksi sepatu (:D) dan sama sekali gak digubris sama mereka.

Okelah, gak adil kalau contohnya saya. Rakyat yang mengibakan itu, yang katanya mau disejahterakan itu, gak digubris juga kok sama para politikus. Kesejahteraan memang tidak ada hubungannya sama politik. Rakyat tidak ada hubungannya sama politik. Di politik, bahkan jargonnya beda: konstituen. Urusannya dengan KTP, bukan dengan rakyat Indonesia yang berdarah merah.

Tapi begitulah sampah. Dan saya sudah mendaur ulang sampah-sampah ini dengan mengubahnya menjadi energi untuk menulis. Dan tetap bekerja. Dan tetap berdoa.

Sudah dulu ya, Cincha sudah too tired talking about craps… Cincha mau belajar bahasa Indonesia saja di Australia…

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