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The Pelican Brief was (to the best of memory) the first "grown-up" movie my parents took me to see when I was younger. I barely remember it now, except for one character's death scene that stuck with me for some reason. Now, the time has come to read the source material, both to correct my status of having seen the movie before reading the book and to restore canon knowledge to my fan brain.

Spoilers follow for the novel version of The Pelican Brief.

The Pelican Brief is . . . fine. Not great, not terrible. Just okay. My main issue with the story-line is that the only reason it maintains suspense for as long as it does is simply that Grisham doesn't allow the characters to talk about for a good chunk of the beginning—like, more than half the novel, I think. On the one hand, this makes sense, as it avoids the "as-you-know" type of dialogue that we tend to hate around here. But it left me feeling out-of-the-loop. I'm used to characters sharing the same level of knowledge that I do, by virtue of following alongside their perspective. But in TPB, knowing that the characters had some huge clue that I didn't ruined the sense of suspense for me. Rather than discovering clues alongside the principle actors, I was just . . . waiting for them to tell me.

A technical aspect that frustrated me is the way Grisham sometimes starts new scenes using pronouns for a paragraph or two before naming the character who's actually being followed by the action. This mostly didn't matter when Darby was the focal character, since she comes very close to being the only named female character in the entire novel. But when it starts out with "he" I had a big range of characters to wonder about. The professor? The journalist? The FBI lawyer? Another FBI person? The president, or his prime lackey, or that prime lackey's lackeys? The White House janitor or his policeman son? Khamel or one of the other bad guys? When your novel has so many characters, and nearly all of them are one sex, you don't get to open scenes with bare pronouns. It's disorienting!

I'm glad Grisham isn't reading this, because I'm fairly short on positive things to say. He does convey a strong sense of danger to Darby, thanks to him not being afraid to kill characters off violently. I like Khamel the terrorist; he actually has one of the less stereotypically straightforward mindsets out of all the bad guys, and doesn't derive much pleasure from his assassinations. It's just a job to him, and doesn't really bare any ill will towards his victims. His killings are also memorable simply because of how brutally efficient they are. Matiesse is an interesting example of taking a real world character way over the top and not having it seem cartoonish. His wish to avoid contact with people outside of the staff he relies on, to the point where his living space is divided into places he can walk, and places everyone else can week, show how secluded his money has allowed him to become. His thirst for wealth has driven him away from the very land he owns and wants to drill; he thinks he is above the rest of the world, but his plan still gets exposed by people in the society he tried to leave behind, and thanks to the initial efforts of a mere student. It's good symbolism.

But a lot of the politically oriented characters are pretty baldly flat characters, only out to fuel the agenda of their political parties . . . which, okay, applause, he pretty much predicted the U.S. government through the 2010s, but that doesn't make for an interesting read. I also super-duper don't like that Darby is apparently into older men, especially not with her having an affair with her professor when the novel opens. Eeeeew.

Well, short review, but it didn't really live up to the hype for me. What can I do?

—doctorlit is disappointed that not a single pelican appeared on-page. The title implied pelicans would be present. Zero out of ten, not enough pelicans, would not read again.

"You get that pit bull off my [butt], keep him away from me, and I'll forget the pelican spoiler." "You get that pit bull off my [butt], keep him away from me, and I'll forget the pelican spoiler." "You get that pit bull off my [butt], keep him away from me, and I'll forget the pelican spoiler."

I don't know the words. Dangit.

*looks up the lyrics to the DuckTales theme song*

Your newbie gift is a recording of me singing the DuckTales theme song. Except it's only a virtual gift, because I don't have the right setup to record right now.

Anyway, I'm Twistey, the most chaotic Boarder to ever never be banned! I think. *whisper* I haven't verified that claim, but just go with me, it sounds cool. */whisper* I think that's all I can say about myself. You'll find out more as you go along.

Nice to meet you, my waterfowl friend. I hope you have a great time here, and welcome to the PPC!

-Twistey

Why is that? Did you think you could keep me away?

Just Monika

...her cupcakes will be better than Natsuki's.

Just Monika

And I don't think three girls is most of my classmates, I mean, I attend a high school, don't I?

Just Monika

I mean, one of their agents is a Reptilian (Reptoid? Whatever, I forgot what they're called), for crying out loud, and they even built a culture for said agent. Which I admit was pretty cool.

-Twistey

Only constructive criticism I have is how much the hunter seems like he's surmounting challenges a little too fast, but I know it's a very short, abridged story and that can be fixed by expanding it more. I'd like to hear more about it, though.

Anyway, I'm Twistey, or you can call me Twisted, 'cause it fits me. I'm the PPC's resident catalyst of chaos. If you have an idea that likely won't fly by the rest of the Boarders, you can bet I'll take interest. I also write original stories, but none of them involve dinosaurs. I believe that's all I can say right now.

As for your newbie gift, here's a grab bag of Jurassic Park merch. I figured you'd love to have one. No, there's no amber with a mosquito in it. I've trusted newbies with powerful genetics-altering substances before, but I can't trust a newbie with that. *wink*

Nice to meet you! I hope you have a great time here, and welcome to the PPC.

-Twistey

Congratulations, you overcame your fear of the big scary Board!

As your newbie present, here's access to the code I use on my computer to communicate with computers in alternate universes. That's how I found Nightmare, Jake, and Dusk, three of my alternate selves who have all written for the Badfic Games. And Shadow... but we won't talk about her.

Welcome aBoard, and I hope you have a great time with my online friends. *hugs*

-Twistey

You have stumbled upon the PPC, enjoy the goldmine you have found.

Well, have a broomstick, complete with self-cleaning charms, I recommend not trying to fly though.

And a Miss Peregrine fan, huh? I've only seen the movie but I'll definitely have to read the books now that agents from that continuum are a thing apparently. I've heard a lot of good things!

May I ask what fandoms you have, and how you happened upon the PPC?

In the meantime, have one of my own shed feathers and a complimentary kit of Spikes!

Have one of my own shed feathers and a replica of Holly Short's synthetic wings! (Warning: not guaranteed to enable you to actually fly.)

Pretty cool story, and I appreciate that you've put a good amount of of research into it - looks like we've got another budding writer in the works!

Aside from one of my own shed feathers, have a replica of the One Ring that actually makes you turn invisible, and a live Darwinopterus modularis. Be sure to feed it plenty of mealworms and crickets!

Was the little orange suitcase from Chapter 2 with the T-shirt inside it. Y'know, the shirt with the slightly bungled light spell on it? That one. Siobhan's spell was a claudication to reach through to her bedroom and grab it, which she was able to do by drawing a spell diagram in the sawdust on the floor (a common feature of old pubs in the UK) and rambling about stuff - which is how she actually casts spells. =]

Have a multi-tool, a lockpick, and my pocketknife (I won't need it anymore).

hi i’m new what’s good

And here is a bag of black-hole chocolates for you.

Please let me gift you with a pot of black-hole coffee.

Thanks for all of your welcomes, people! Much appreciated.

I would question why you have a black box just lying around.

But then I remember that they have a tendency to crash.

But still...

Welcome to this awesome community. You'll probably be inundated with replies soon enough.


I give to you a pack of cards, be careful that they don't go to war whilst your not looking!

Flamel and Septimus Heap? Good series, lovely systems of magic, very unique.

As such, have a Chocolate Charm! Good for food, and escaping.