Structure, as it relates to John Grisham's "The Rainmaker," must be broken into two distinct categories called, for the purposes of this essay, physical structure and narrative structure. The elements of physical structure relate to the physical aspects of the book, for example, publisher, copyright date, and number of chapters to name but a few. Narrative structure, on the other hand, relates to the choices made by the author in the telling of the story. The results of these choices dictate, in large part, the effect that the book has on the reader. The decisions that John Grisham makes as they relate to point of view, plot structure, and dialog structure make for an engrossing read.
There is much that can be said about the physical structure of a book. This subject covers everything from the thickness of the paper used to the method of binding. All of these things can change from printing to printing, hardcover to paperback. As such, they have no real bearing on the story being told. There are some elements of physical structure that are constant, however. John Grisham "s "The Rainmaker," was published by Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc. in 1995 and reprinted by arrangement with Double Day in February of 1996. In this printing, it consists of 598 pages arranged into 53 chapters and is dedicated "To American trial lawyers." "The Rainmaker" is John Grisham's sixth novel.
Narrative structure is a bit more complicated to define than physical structure. It might be described as the framework within which the author chooses to display the story. An important aspect of this framework is the point of view in which the story is told. In the case of "The Rainmaker," the point of view is exclusively first person. The antagonist, Rudy Baylor, tells the story. All perceptions, ideas, and observations contained within the narrative are filtered through his perceptions, ideas, and observations.
