The Street Lawyer

Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book, but not as much as I enjoyed reading "The Client" or "A Time To Kill", which are my two absolute favorite books. I bought "The Street Lawyer" right before I was going on a trip to San Diego, California to read on the plane ride. It was a good read for that circumstance, but I'm not entirely sure if I would have enjoyed it that much if I was reading it in my arm chair at home.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT, easy to read, not boring
Review: It is one of the best by J. Grisham. It was very easy to read, nice and not cruel (even though the matter is). I really apprechiate reading it.

Rating:
Summary: I wish I hadn't bought it!
Review: This is the first John Grisham book that I have regretted buying before learning more about it. This book was more of a political agenda than a novel. Next time, John, if I want to have your political views shoved down my throat I'll ask for it. Give us The Firm & A Time To Kill not The Street Lawyer.

Rating:
Summary: Glad I didn't pay for it
Review: While I am a true lover of Grisham book, this one was terrible. It was slow, anticlimatic, and just flat out dragged on. The story lacked in excitement and was overburdened with sentimental details about the homeless. I want the courtroom excitement of a Time to Kill, the suspense and legal strategies of the Partner, the Firm, and the Pelican Brief. I am just glad I borrowed this book rather than paying for it.

Rating:
Summary: One of Grisham's best...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and rank it second only to A Time To Kill of his novels. While it was not a "page turner" like The Firm or Pelican Brief it was a good story. There were characters you could care about, and a nice lack of violence. It made me think. I think it is certainly an improvement over some of his more recent novels, most notably Runaway Jury.

Rating:
Summary: Donate your $20 to an aid agency indeed!
Review: You do not buy this book to read Grisham. You buy it to learn about the daily life and problems of the homeless. And I am sure there are other places and organizations that would give you a better service for your Dollar! Grisham has such a big ego that when he wants to do a charity service, he goes and writes a book. But because he forces his creativity the book turns out to be rather mediocre. John! If you are really sincere about the problems of the homeless, then write a really superb book and donate all of its income (including movie rights) to a trust that spends the money for the purpose of helping the homeless. Otherwise I think your readers have a right to expect the best you can give to them.

Mihael Brock is a star lawyer on the fast track to partnership in one of the Nation's top law firms. One day a homeless, DeVon Hardy, walks in and takes several hostages including our star lawyer. During the rescue operation a bullet kills the homeless and misses Micha! el by several inches. He then sees the light and decides to devote his life to the homeless cause. Before his departure, though, he learns that DeVon Hardy's selection of his firm was more than a random event but rather a calculated act because of a clandestine and unethical act of one of the partners. This is the plot, which is rather plausible. There are also his usual stuff. A bad marriage, good lawyer, bad lawyer and a crooked lawyer. A female appears in the middle and then there are some small stories on the homeless. Everything is OK except that you lose concentration. The plot is itself too weak to fill 200+ pages and he constructs a poor story with haphazard links.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense, very believeable in todays world. Excellent
Review: I could not stop listening to this book, the suspense was great. Of course I do like the author style of writing. But I do believe this is one of the best. It is so believeable that you can picture this happening today in USA. As a so-so reader, I must say it drew my attention.

Rating:
Summary: The Street Lawyer is NOT Grisham's finest
Review: The Street Lawyer has re-proved that John Grisham is not america's best author- but he is over-hyped. Don't get me wrong, some of his books are very entertaining, and although the street lawyer has it's moment, it is not even close to his best. John Grisham's novels lack the complexity of truly good authors like Tom Clancy or Robert Jordan, or the suspense of someone like Michael Crichton. The Street Lawyer attempts to be heart-wrenching, but coming from a rich ex-lawyer, this fails.

P.S.(and this is serious-I'm not trying to be overly critical) What percentage of the money you made from this book went to the homeless?

Rating:
Summary: Elsie([e-mail]) from Panama, 07/19/98
Review: Reading this book let me see the writer on the other side, not the firm, the one that really need help and justice. Also, give us a detail how is people leaving on the streets and the reason why they are on it.

Rating:
Summary: One word: Library
Review: This is the first Grisham I've borrowed from the library and not purchased, and the second one I've hated ('The Chamber' being the other). If Grisham keeps it up he is going to lose a large part of his loyal following. I could care less about a person's politics as long as he write's a good story, but when he attempts to preach and convert he loses all appeal to me. Grisham's caveat in the afterword in which he states "before writing this book, I had not cared too much about the homeless..." is facile coming from a multimillionaire. The tone of the entire book was so condescending. If Grisham phones the next one in too , I'll be content to re-read 'The Firm' and 'The Pelican Brief' again instead of wasting a trip to the library.