Jesse Kornbluth: You've said that your mother didn't believe in television and that you grew up reading books. Which books were most memorable? Did other kids tease you for being a bookworm -- or did your athletic ability eliminate those taunts?
John Grisham: I was never a bookworm. I remember reading Dr. Seuss, the Hardy Boys, Emil and the Detectives, Chip Hilton, and lots of Mark Twain and Dickens. My athletic ability did nothing but invite taunts. I was an indifferent student and an athlete with delusions of adequacy, dreams of adulation.
Jesse Kornbluth: All through high school and into college, you seem to have been more committed to dreams of a professional baseball career than your studies. You've said that changed watching a ball game. How so?
John Grisham: I was drifting through college, and one night I sat alone and watched a game between Mississippi State and some forgotten opponent. It dawned on me that the players I was watching, though my age, also had a very slight chance of playing pro ball. I decided we were in the same boat. And it was best to start studying for a change.
Jesse Kornbluth: In your years as a lawyer, what was most satisfying about the law?
John Grisham: Getting out of it.
Jesse Kornbluth: Richard North Patterson told me that writing briefs for judges -- "the most bored and jaded audience in the world" -- was great training for writing legal fiction. How helpful was your legal training?
John Grisham: Crucial. I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.
Jesse Kornbluth: You woke up at 5 AM for three years to write A TIME TO KILL, then went to work --- 60 to 80 hours a week -- as a State Representative. You really considered writing "a hobby?"
John Grisham: Yes, very much so. I would write for an hour or so each morning, then start to work. My goal was simply to finish the first manuscript. It was only a hobby, a very secret one.
Jesse Kornbluth: You have a close editorial collaboration with your wife. How does that work?
John Grisham: I constantly inundate Renee with all sorts of story ideas, and it's her job to tell me to shut up and keep searching. She has an uncanny ability to spot a good story; I tend to think that almost anything will work. Once I start writing, she is merciless as the chapters pour forth. She enjoys picking a good brawl over a subplot, a weak character, an unnecessary scene. I accuse her of looking for trouble -- and, inevitably, I return to the typewriter and fix whatever troubles her.
Jesse Kornbluth: What have you learned from reviews of your books?
John Grisham: I have learned not to read reviews. Period. And I hate reviewers. All of them, or at least all but two or three. Life is much simpler ignoring reviews and the nasty people who write them. Critics should find meaningful work.
Jesse Kornbluth: You've said you read Steinbeck in school. Because you increasingly write about social issues, you're sometimes compared now to Dickens. What writers do you read, and who are your influences?
John Grisham: I still read Steinbeck, Dickens and Twain. I'm not sure anyone has influenced my style, but if I could emulate anyone it would be Steinbeck.
Jesse Kornbluth: If you get ideas from contemporary events or issues, what case inspired THE PARTNER?
John Grisham: None. THE PARTNER is an old story. Lawyers dream of escaping, preferably with the money. I've known several who tried it.
Jesse Kornbluth: In April, 1993, you and fellow members of the First Baptist Church in Oxford went to Brazil and built houses for the poor -- did you draw on that experience for the Brazil part of THE PARTNER?
John Grisham: I love Brazil, and I go there often. I've been several times with church groups, and our mission each trip is to build a small chapel for a local congregation, and also to provide medical care to the sick. It's always satisfying. Of course, it provides a rich landscape for the fiction.
Jesse Kornbluth: Forgive the over-simplification, but your previous novels tend to explore David vs. Goliath themes, on the order of that Texas Rangers motto, "Little man whip a big man every time if the little man is in the right and keeps on coming." Your lawyer-fugitive in THE PARTNER seems outside of that pattern. He strikes me as the ultimate realist -- he plays the system against itself (as you write, "It was the legal system protecting its own.") Is this an isolated plot point in a single novel, or does it suggest a change in your views about the legal system?
John Grisham: No change; it's just the plot for this novel. I prefer to tackle issues -- death penalty, tobacco litigation, insurance abuse, etc. -- but it's not always possible every time out.
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