The rainmaker (novel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rainmaker is a novel by the American author John Grisham . The book was first published in the USA in 1995 under the original title The Rainmaker. The German translation by Christel Wiemken was published in 1997 by Hoffmann & Campe- Verlag. Unlike in his previous books, Grisham tells the story from the point of view of his main character, so that the reader never knows more than this.

content

Rudy Baylor is a final semester law student at Memphis State Law School who finances his studies with odd jobs. While preparing for the bar exam, he is looking for a job at one of the major Memphis law firms . He would like to be one of those lawyers who attract a large number of solvent clients for the company, a so-called rain maker, who ensures that as much money as possible "rains" over the clients and the law firm. Since he cannot pay his rent and has liabilities to the electricity supplier, he is thrown out of his apartment. In addition, his girlfriend had left him shortly before, after he bought expensive jewelry as a Christmas present - with the prospect of the job - which was then stolen from him when his apartment was broken into, which further increased his financial problems.

During a seminar on the legal problems of older people, where he and three of his fellow students give free legal advice in a senior citizen center, he meets Miss Birdie and the Black family. Miss Birdie is an elderly lady and the good soul of the senior center. She wants him to change her will, in which she previously gave her sons and grandchildren large sums of money, but they have not looked after her for years. Rudy later persuades her to rent him an apartment on their property, whereby he agrees to help her with the gardening. Donny Ray, son of the Black family, has leukemia and will die because the insurance company refuses to pay for the life-saving bone marrow transplant , for which his twin brother Ron is the ideal donor. Rudy experiences first hand how the uninsured die in American society. In a society full of wealthy doctors, with hospitals with modern medical equipment, and a multitude of Nobel Prize winners around the world, Rudy is indignant that someone like Donny Ray would still languish and die without proper medical treatment.

Since Rudy loses the promised job in a smaller law firm before he could start it when it is taken over by a larger one, he is desperate to look for new work. After many rejections, he was able to get a job as an assistant in a larger law firm by offering the law firm the case of the Black family, but after a short time he discovered that the law firm had taken over the case, but did not employ him becomes. When the office building burns down shortly after the news, killing a security guard with whom Rudy had an argument shortly before the fire, he is suspected of being arson. From the seedy bar owner Prince Thomas, in whose bar he has worked for years, he is referred to his unscrupulous but successful lawyer J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, who offers him the opportunity to join his law firm. In order to earn his fee, he has to ambush potential clients in the hospital in order to represent them in claims for damages. He gets to know Deck Shifflet, who has already failed his law exams several times, but who turns out to be talented in acquisitions. However, this position is also short-lived, as Prince and Bruiser are hunted by the FBI and suddenly have to go into hiding. With their share of the fee from a legal settlement, Rudy and Deck go into business for themselves after Rudy has passed his exam, and throw themselves on the case of the Black family. However, Rudy has never argued before a court or jury and is faced with an overpowering opponent. Insurance company Great Benefit is represented by a large team of lawyers, led by Leo F. Drummond, who also doesn't hesitate to bug Rudy's phone . In addition, the judge is an old college friend of Drummond and is not known to be positive about lawsuits against insurance companies.

However, when the judge suddenly dies, the tide turns. The new judge sees it as his job to help little people to get their rights and from now on supports Rudy, who also comes across more and more inconsistencies in Great Benefit.

Donny Ray dies before the trial begins. Already in the selection of the jury, Drummond made himself unpopular with the potential jury, because he fell for a trick by Rudy and Deck, who talked over the bugged phone "praising" possible jury members who they do not want to have on the jury , because they fear that they tend to tend to the opposite side. During the trial, Rudy manages to uncover the machinations of Great Benefit and to prove that Great Benefit will reject any application from insurance members in the hope that the injured parties will not be able to afford a lawyer or a lawsuit. These machinations are confirmed by a former employee of the insurance, who was dismissed as a witness from Great Benefit shortly before her interrogation and was initially not found, but contacted Rudy after the start of the process to make herself available as a witness. The trial ends with a $ 200,000 sentence in damages and a $ 50 million fine, of which Rudy and Deck would be entitled to a third. After the judgment, Great Benefit declared bankrupt. As a result of the ruling, other victims sued the insurance company and the parent company had speculated with foreign currencies, so that Great Benefit finally had to withdraw completely from the business. For Dot Black, however, it does not ultimately matter that she will not receive any money, as she claims that her lawsuit drove the company into bankruptcy.

While preparing for his exam, Rudy had met Kelly Riker in a hospital, a young woman who had been brutally beaten up by her husband but who refused to file a complaint several times out of fear of him. However, after she was beaten up by him again towards the end of the story, Kelly hides from her husband Cliff in a women's shelter because Rudy wants to help her. Rudy, who fell in love with her, finally convinced Kelly to divorce Cliff. While trying to get Kelly's things from their shared apartment, the two are surprised by Cliff. Cliff threatens to kill Rudy and reaches for a softball bat . Rudy succeeds in snatching the softball bat from the drunken Cliff and hitting him on the skull with it. To protect Rudy, Kelly sends him away before Cliff dies and calls the emergency number when he dies. Suspected of killing her husband, she spends a day in jail before Rudy can convince the prosecutor to drop the charges based on the background. Meanwhile, Kelly has received multiple death threats from Cliff's vengeful family, friends, or work colleagues, and Rudy's office is also being shot at.

Rudy and Kelly leave the state to start a new life. Rudy, disappointed with the law, wants to work as a teacher and Kelly wants to graduate from college to attend college.

filming

In 1997 the book was made into a film under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola . The main role in the film was played by Matt Damon . Other contributors were Danny DeVito as deck and Jon Voight as drummond.

literature