Rating: 
Summary: Street Smarts
Review: John Grisham has done it again. And this time with a very important moral message. In, "The Street Lawyer", we meet Micahel Brock. A young aspisring attorney in the dizzy fast paced world of billing hours & large firm politics.When Michael goes out into the streets, he is faced with reality at its worst. As he overcomes his fears, he becomes a true fighter for social causes. He even takes on his old firm. And they just might want to eliminate him. In my opinion, one of Grishams best since his first, "A Time To Kill". Thanks -- CDS
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Summary: A campaign against social problems would be better than this
Review: Everytime I write a review on Jonh Grisham's books, people seem to hate what I say. But I know that it's true. This year, I read the wonderful THE TESTAMENT. Even not being so good with the endings, Grisham knows how to keep the pace of the book and the story interesting to read until the end. But that's not what happens with that one. This book is a whole terrible thing. When you start reading it, the action just in the opening pages, you think you're up to read a book full of suspense and twists. Soon you discover what the book is all about: a lawyer that saw a poor man be killed under his eyes - exactly where he works, when this poor man tried to kill him and his lawyers friends - and, with problems of his own conscience - "why haven't I given some money to the poor", "why haven't I payed attention to these people" and things like that - starts to get to know who the poor killed man was and starts to help poor people doing charity. All this while his marriage is almost braking and he realizes he wants to be a lawyer helping poor peopl. Be sure that I have nothing against this subject. The problem is: the usual suspens, twists, action and adventure we are always expection from John Grisham does not happen with that one. Grisham, as a Baptist writer, wrote that book certainly only to make his readers think about the poor people and maybe to make his readers give money to them and pay more attention, certainly unaware that give money and food to these people and not solving the social problems is not the solution. I really think that, as popular as John Grisham is, it would be much better using his popularity to make a national - or perhaps an international - campaign to try to solve the social problems that usually leads people to go to the streets and write a book full of action and great happening instead. At least it would be better than this dull book. Believe me. Zzzzzzzzzz... Marco Aurelio.
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Summary: Deeper Insight About The Homeless
Review: Briefly stated, the plot involves an attorney, Michael Brock, who is held at gunpoint by De Von Hardy, a man recently evicted. The eviction also effects several other poor people who are forced to homelessness when their building is scheduled to be razed to the ground as a future constuction site. The story tells about the reasons behind the evictions and the effect those reasons have on others. One of the many reasons I enjoy reading a John Grisham novel is his ability to describe social issues within the context of an absorbing, provocative story. In "The Street Lawyer", he tackles problems of homelessness and poverty. He challenges the reader's values. When Brock was deciding to quit his high paying position at his reputable law firm, I was hoping he'd be persuaded to give up the idea. When it became evident he had made the committment to serve the less fortunate I admired him greatly and cheered for the plaintiffs in the pending lawsuit. Grisham did a credible job of bringing attention to the problems associated with homelessness. Drug addiction, mental illness, parenting, unemployment are conditions exacerbated by homelessness. The most important insight however, is the awareness that with a few bad breaks homelessness can happen to most anyone. Hopefully, this realization will have a positive effect on readers' attitudes and behavior toward the less fortunate.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: The ending killed this book. Really, Grisham could have thought of SOMETHING better. Anything is better than the ending. It's very *cute* and all, but really, give us something REAL. The only reason I bother giving this book three stars is the story before the last 30 pages or so is very good. If it didn't just expire as it did, this book would be his best yet.
Rating: 
Summary: My Favorite Book
Review: This is my favorite book. I read it in about a week. It's about a senior associate with the largest firm in D.C. named Michael Brock. Michael's life is turned around when a homeless man named DeVon Hardy takes him and eight other lawyers hostage in a conference room with a gun and twelve "sticks of dinamite". When the man's blood and brain fluids splatter on Michael's head after he was snipered by a police officer, he decides to meet with Mordecai Green, DeVon's former lawyer at the 14th Street Legal Clinic, Michael is intantly charmed by Mordecai and starts working with the homeless. When Michael leaves his fast track for partnership for a $30,000 a year job at the non-profit 14th Street Legal Clinic, he's in for the ride of his life. Divorce, law suits, grand larceny, and more cross with Michael's path. This book is an interesting tale of homelessness and law that will pull the reader in and never let him or her out until they finish the book. I reccomend this to anyone.
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Summary: Read between the lines!
Review: To be enjoyed, this story must be "studied" while read. On the surface, Michael Brock is a hard-working anti-trust lawyer on the fast-track to partnership at his white-shoe firm in Washington; once a partner, he should be set for, at the least, a million dollar salary for the rest of his career. Then one day he and several other lawyers at his firm are held hostage by an armed "homeless" man. Because of the final words uttered by the hostage-taker, and a few other discoveries associated with him, Brock decides to throw away his career and become a "street lawyer," apparently Grisham-slang for public interest lawyer/activist. It is a rather dull and preachy story (on the surface) deserving of one or two stars. However, if the reader reads between the lines, and questions that which is being preached, the book becomes much, much more interesting. That's what happened to me; I read and questioned. I caught myself thinking through the actions of the characters and the associated social issues. Whether intended by Grisham or not, the effect of reading The Street Lawyer has been to clarify why the political positions espoused by the characters can best be described as misguided and hypocritical. All in all, I found the time I spent reading the book worthwhile and satisfying. This book would likely be most enjoyed by readers who are interested in public interest lawyering or social issues, regardless of political leaning.
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Summary: The Street Lawyer
Review: The Street Lawyer was the first novel I read by John Grisham. Depsite bad reviews on this sight that put down Grisham's efforts to shed light onto problems of the "street people", I really enjoyed this book. The Street Lawyer doesn't waste any time getting into the action. Within the first chapter, a homeless man takes a large DC firm hostage. Michael Brock, a rising lawyer in the Drake and Sweeny firm, is one of the 9 lawyers taken captive in a plush office. When he comes out alive, Michael visits a poor section of the city and his eyes are opened to the world of the homeless. He decides to quit his high-paying job to work with fee for the street people of Washington DC. A major case against Drake and Sweeny causes him to steal a file and land in jail. I really liked this book and recommend it for any Grisham fan or someone who hasn't read his works at all.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is the first Grisham book that I have read, and I couldn't put it down! Imagine a lawyer who had everything giving up everything to help his fellow man. I always was guessing the next part, and never was right! I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Fiction with a heart from a master storyteller
Review: A terrifying incident causes an uptown corporate lawyer to turn his life around, end his empty marriage and take to the mean streets helping the poor and the homeless. But his help comes too late. He follows the tangled trail leading to those responsible for a young black family's tragic deaths -- and it takes him to all-too-familiar territory. Not only is he a master storyteller, but in this book, Grisham deals with our society's forgotten people in a compassionate manner. We cannot simply dismiss the homeless as not our problem. He makes their humanity show through, so that we do care about their despair. This is fiction with a heart, and it is recommended reading.
Rating: 
Summary: My Grocery List Is More Interesting Read
Review: I just can't believe that John Grisham is a major player in current fiction scene and is considered to be in the same league with Tom Clancy and Stephen King (though I don't like horror stories at all but at least SK knows how to form a sentence). I have read all JG's books and the only ones I enjoyed were "The Chamber " and "The Rainmaker". His worst book ever, to me, was "The Partner" and the "Street Lawyer" could be a hot contender for that position had it not been for the subject which I found thought provoking (that's why 2 stars). It seems that JG has run out of ideas (which were never abundant to him in the first place) but his books are at least serving one purpose i.e. we have one less lawyer to worry about. Sorry Mr. Grisham, but from now-onwards, you are on my "borrow only" authors list.
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