Review: Grisham shortens things up in ‘Sparring Partners’

Review: Grisham shortens things up in 'Sparring Partners’

“Sparring Partners” by John Grisham (Doubleday)

Since bursting on the scene with the runaway hit “A Time to Kill” in 1989, John Grisham has been one of the most reliable fiction writers alive, churning out a bestselling novel almost every year. But like the best pitchers in Grisham’s beloved sport of baseball, sometimes you just want to throw a change-up. Enter “Sparring Partners, a collection of three novellas with almost nothing in common. Yes, they’re all about some aspect of the law — the people who practice it or the people who run afoul of it. But that’s the only thing that groups them together.

Grisham fans will probably most love “Homecoming,” set in Grisham’s fictional Clanton, Mississippi, and featuring Jake Brigance, the attorney readers first met in “A Time to Kill” then again in “Sycamore Row” (2013), and “A Time For Mercy” (2020). Jake doesn’t have a ton to do in the story — he’s the eyes and ears for an old friend who committed a crime and now wants to come back to town to get to know the daughters he left behind at a young age when he fled the country fearing prosecution — but Grisham’s characters are so relatable that some readers will be happy spending 125 pages just hanging out with them as they say things like, “So you can buy citizenship? It’s that easy?” Personally, I wanted more plot in this one, but the novella format limits that somewhat, so we get extended character sketches that end with little momentum for the protagonists.

My favorite of the trio was “Strawberry Moon,” which introduces Cody Wallace on the day he is scheduled to be executed. Grisham himself is an outspoken critic of the death penalty, but the story doesn’t take a strong stand. It just gives us a glimpse of Cody’s final hours, as he talks to his prison guard, the warden, a doctor, a priest and a retired teacher who shipped him hundreds of paperback books during the course of his 12 years on death row that “took him to other worlds, other places.” Cody’s backstory is teased out in those conversations, just enough to create some sympathy. It’s tempting to want more of the story, but this one works as a tight, 50-page novella.

Firefighter admits to conditional sentence breach

A Winnipeg firefighter previously jailed for criminally harassing two different women has been released from custody after admitting to breaching a conditional sentence order.

Christopher Goethals, 59, was arrested July 21 after an alert from his ankle monitor six days earlier showed he had driven within 400 metres of the workplace of a former girlfriend he had been ordered to have no contact with.

Goethals pleaded guilty Wednesday to not being in possession of a copy of his conditional sentence order, a requirement of his sentence.

Crown attorney Amanda Heslop withdrew a breach charge related to Goethals’ electronic monitoring conditions and stayed a third charge of disobeying a court order.

U of W marks gallery’s anniversary with group alumni exhibition

Lux et veritas floreant, or Let light and truth flourish, is the University of Winnipeg’s motto.

It’s also a fitting title — and guiding theme — for a group exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of Gallery 1C03, the university’s campus art gallery.

Curated by Gallery 1C03 director and curator Jennifer Gibson and independent curator Jenny Western — both university alumni themselves — Lux et Veritas Floreant features works by U of W alumni artists KC Adams, Dee Barsy, Scott Benesiinaabandan, Jaimie Isaac, Judah Iyunade, Kegan McFadden, Shivanya Ra, Paul Robles and Melanie Zurba.

There is also a film component. A 7 p.m. screening tonight at Dave Barber Cinematheque features 10 films by alumni artists, including Steve Bates, Ian Bawa, Mahlet Cuff, Christina Hajjar, Mike Maryniuk, Kevin Settee, Leslie Supnet and Ted Turner. Isaac and Iyunade also have films in the program.

Potential Jets backup options include two possible netminder reunions

Kevin Cheveldayoff couldn’t help but make light of the situation.

Near the end of the press conference to discuss where things stand with training camp holdout Connor Hellebuyck, the general manager of the Jets was asked if he felt comfortable with the five goalies who were in training camp.

“You know I can’t have five on the roster,” Cheveldayoff quipped.

Only Cheveldayoff knows for sure how he feels about the organizational depth at the position and whether he’s planning to open the campaign with either Dom DiVincentiis or Thomas Milic in the backup role behind Stuart Skinner.

Relief, reproach from law school staff after disgraced ex-dean’s arrest in France

The overseas arrest of a disgraced former law dean who defrauded the University of Manitoba out of more than $600,000 is being met both with relief and renewed frustration in the local legal community.