The Confession- Part 3

You see, I have reached the chapter in this book in which I started to feel compelled towards our killer, Mr. Travis Boyette. Well, not entirely.

Yes, he raped and killed Nikki Yerber mercilessly, but it was actually sad for him too.

Travis was actually an unwanted kid in a failed marriage. He never really knew his dad, he called his mother's lover "Daddy". His mom spent most of her time battling her addiction to booze instead of taking care of her children. Travis has another brother, who also happens to be neglected and ends up in a reform school. Being constantly neglected by his parents, Travis becomes an easy target for his Uncle Chett, who has a penchant for young boy. Okay,okay, he's a pedophile. Travis was so young then, minds so impressionable that he has no idea what his uncle was doing to him. All he know is that after the pain ends, he gets ice cream. Before long, he became a problem to the neighborhood. Sniffing pot, doing drugs, stealing from stores, smoking, he was following the footsteps of other bad boys in the small town, and needless to say, the town never ran out of problematic youths. These youths, Travis included, was taken to the reform school. One look into his file, Travis became easy targets for the guards. For two years, he was subjected to violence, hatred, tortures and sexual abuse. The reform school is a place where society cultivate career criminal. The society wants to lock up these youths and throw away the key before they became a nuisance to them. They forgot for a fact that eventually these young criminals will be let out.

And what's a young man of fifteen whose life has been subjected to endless violence would do when he finally got out? The novelty of freedom when wears off when he got a whiff of the lure of another crime. Another crime he was about to commit as an adult.

So, that's what Travis did. He committed one crime after another and got hooked.

He was wondering, after all of his dreadful ordeals, should he be the only one to shoulder the blame? Or is the society at fault too?

Mind boggling, huh?

The Confession-Part 2

I don't usually read a book at this pace. After a week, I'm still at Chapter 8 of the confession, I'm supposed to have finished reading it by now.

Anyway, I felt sorry for Donte Drumm, the young black guy who was accused of killing and raping Nikki Yerber. He was an innocent man, yet  because the odds are against him in Texas, he has to face the death row. And one does not die that easy even when you are  sentenced to death, the authority decided that he needs to be tortured by being encaged in a steel cabin 23 hour a day all by himself with no contact whatsoever to the outside world, being fed food that even dogs would run away from, being on edge whenever  a fellow jailmate  suddenly disappear(words has it he went to meet his Creator), being reduced to tear whenever he got letters from his old mum, Mrs. Robertha.,being sad and lonely in his unit to the extend that he jumped at the thought of having a penpal. So much suffering, at such a young age.

Maybe we human really is a slave of habit. When life is good and everything is handed to us on a silver platter, we seem to forget the value of gratefulness, we seemed complacent. We seem to ignore that not everyone is blessed with a good life, good hearing, good eyesight, good food, great memories, great friends, great families, great health.

But the day everything that we take for granted for are taken away from us, till what is left of us is only ,literally, ourselves; we start losing our  hopes and forgets our prayers,  we forsake our dreams and throw away our faiths; and that alone, makes us less human. Because if we want to hitch our self worth only physical, materials,and worldly wellbeings, without the feeling of gratefulness, hopefulness and faiths, maybe we ceased to be human way earlier than we thought.

The Confession-Grisham

I have always had a soft spot for Grisham, and I always loved the idea of a lowly rookie lawyer who alas became a star in his own right, much like how everyone loves a movie about an ugly duckling transforming into a swan and become the new popular queen. Cliché, but it captures the humans in us in which we always hope that there is a better tomorrow for the main character, and hopefully that translates into our own lives as well, in which we are the main actor.

But like I said earlier, Grisham can make cliché sounds pretty damn amazing, trust me on this one.

Yesterday, I started to read The Confession, his fifth book I'm trying to add to my already-read list. Thus far, I find this book a little different from all his other books. Okay, it is still about the law thing.

But it IS different. I am currently on page 36, so this is only my opinions on what I have laid my eyes on.

You see, the story kind of borders between an incident in 1999, the case of rape-and-murder of a Nikki Yarber, a white cheerleader, which evokes racial tensions between the black and white community in Slone, Texas as a black young man was accused of committing the said crime. Well, the book kind of mocks at the law when the conviction was ruled out even without the most important evidence--Nikki's body, which was not found, and the fact that almost all the existing evidences shows that Donte Drumm, the young black kid was in fact, innocent. But because the town was so desperate for a solution to the puzzle, so  afraid that justice could not be stood for their beloved Nikki, that they are willing to jump on any ship that  hinted that that loose ends are going to come to an end in the form of a Joey Gumble, who was jealous of the affair between Donte and Nicole, which I doubt really exists. And his heart being broken, he seized the opportunity and throw all accusation onto poor Donte when Nikki suddenly vanished from the mall she frequented with her girlfriends.The twist here, baby, Gumble was at the mall, and Donte was at home. So?

Then, we are introduced to a Travis Boyette, a hardcore sex offender , who found out he had an unoperable brain tumor and after realising that his days are numbered, he decided to confess his sins to a pastor. Yes, you got it right, he is the killer. More on that later.

But I find it hard to fall in love with the Drumm's family lawyer, Robin Flake. Yeah, yeah, he fights for the poor innocent souls and everything but he comes off as a bit too loud. I don't know, maybe as the story progressed, I might actually like this character.

That's it so far.

The Litigator-Grisham

So, finally, after months of postponing due to time constraints( okay,okay, I am just plain lazy. But hey, I did finish reading Jeffrey Archer's Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less)I have finished reading this helluva of a read, The Litigator.

It was amazing.

You see, since reading The King Of Tort by the same author, which to me, does not have a happy ending, I am kind of reluctant to finish The Litigator. I don't want the story, in fact, any story, to end sadly. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic like that.  What with the Finley and Figg firm facing bankruptcy, the Krayoxx litigation going the downward spiral, Percy Klopeck going stoner, the sick Thuya boy suddenly dead without any toy manufacturer asuming full responsibility, David broke what with the new addition to his family. The would-be-possible bad twist had I chosen to finish the book is almost unbearable for me.

But I was curious.

So, yesterday, my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to resume the last few chapters I had regretfully abandoned.

Then, BOOOOMMMM!!!

It was amazing. Somehow, with Zinc sheer talent, which he otherwise would not have realised had he chosen to continue working at Rogan Rothberg, he turned all the tables around. Okay, Klopeck stone-ness could not be cured, BUT. BUT.BUT. He, after weeks of research and witnessing real trials, had managed to render Ms. Karros scrambling for words, although their team did not suffice during the trial. How did he became the First line defence? Well, Finley  got a dramatic heart attack whilst about to tackle the opponent and crumble on the court floor, Figg suddenly gone AWOL, alas, it became a one man war against a whole troop of Armani-suited army. And  after Figg was finally found, drunk and concussed, David sent his friend to a rehab. En route home, he stopped by to fill his tank and voila, found the Nasty Teeth, complete with its cheap packaging. Hence, the Thuya boy case got an interesting twist as the culprit was found, the cards are on the table. And with much persistance, David managed to squeeze a 6.5 million in settlement from the reluctant toy manufacturer. 

And he founded his niche by being a lawyer speacializing in product liability.

 The highlight of this book of course was David first experience at trial. It was again, amazing. The young rookie pull out all the tops and uses all the facts in the most fascinatingly twisting way that one could not help but think that boy, this guy has really done his homework. His research are so thorough that you cannot lie to him about a single fact.

Alas, it is an amazing read. Simply amazing.

Gossip Girl -In a Nutshell?

So, recently i have just finished watching the final installment of the series Season 6. and was gobsmacked and dumbfounded BIIIIGGGGG  time. Who would have thought the real gossipgirl was never an insider at all!

But, also recently someone I know(and really fond of) watched Gossipgirl for the first time, and only one episode of it, and have AH-LOT to say about the characters in the hit series.

Look, B, I don't know him yet, but I think I have to sleep with him 

I don't care. I am popular.

I need shades for my squinting sexy eyes and a whole lot of Strepsils for my very sexy throaty voice.

Oh Wonderful January. Make Me Happy

oh wonderful January. do make my day happy and full of balloons

Bungee Jumping

So I watched this episode of The Bachelor when the bachelor and one of his many wife to be decided to go bungee jumping so that they can become more closer with each other under dire situation of being 10 feet above the cliff, head hanging upside down.

And I thought, how scary can bungee jumping be?

The Optimist in me: Hell yeah, I would do it just for the adrenaline rush and just so I can proclaim myself as a fearless person who laughs in the face of danger and tell people how cool a person i am and make them all green with envy.

The Pessimist in me: What if the safety rope suddenly breaks and me, all helpless hanging upside down is going to face death heads first, if its a cliff, I am going to fracture my skull and die pronto. If its a river, worst still, my swimming skill is somewhat next to a kid with floats attached.

Then I thought, maybe not now, maybe when I have gone to those 100 places to visit before you die, who know, I might actually surrender my fate to a piece of rope and throw caution to the wind and just JuUUuuuuummmmmmPPPPpppp.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................and die a tragic death(maybe they'll put me in Guiness World Record though, still cool)