A big shot young lawyer leaving behind one hell of a fortune - from a million dollar antitrust lawyer to a mere thousands dollar street lawyer- to fight for the betterment of homeless. The story couldn't be better!

Unputdownable.

Not a bad book. There were places where it lagged a bit. A lot of repetition because we are in the main characters head, then repeating that same information to colleagues and friends. More action or at least more activity within the story would have been nice. Not much of a writing stretch for Grisham.

If it would have been any longer this rating would be a 2 Star.

Un libro que engancha con una escritura sencilla sin florituras o subtramas que te hagan perder el interés. Un abogado de la élite, un acontecimiento traumático que le cambia las prioridades, un nuevo entorno y un gran cambio en su vida... La clásica lucha de poder en la que el débil, reforzado con la figura del protagonista, planta cara al fuerte para hacer justicia en nombre de los sin hogar.

I read a few of Grisham's early books years ago (The Firm, A Time To Kill) and thought they were, for the most part, formulaic legal fiction. I wouldn't normally have picked up another one of his novels,but years ago I read a short article he wrote for a high school magazine about how he researched The Street Lawyer, and I was intrigued. I finally grabbed the book last week and read it over the weekend. Standard fare for a Grisham novel: a young lawyer going up against a corrupt, powerful legal firm where dark deeds have been committed at the expense of the little guy. What made The Street Lawyer interesting was the head-on way in which the author dealt with homelessness in Washington, DC. It's quite remarkable to think that, in the most powerful and wealthy country history has ever seen, our capital is absolutely filled with poor black people. Nearly 20% of all the people living in the District of Columbia are poor (and that's using the Census Bureau's numbers, which are notoriously inaccurate). Having been to DC many times, I can tell you that the difference between the capital and some of the surrounding neighborhoods is stark. So the author does a good job juxtaposing the wealthy and powerful elite of Washington with the hopeless, homeless, drug-addicted human refuge that tends to wash up on the front steps of the mighty. It made for a compelling, page-turning story even as I knew it was going to end up in tense courtroom standoff during the last twenty pages, with an outcome that was never in doubt.

If you are looking for a quick and surprisingly thoughtful read, this one is for you. Fun, light stuff with a soul.

With this being a John Grisham novel I had better expectations for it. It was slow in developing and moved kind of slow and methodically for me. The ending came rather quickly, but finished up with a good message and a feel-good ending.

This was the first John Grisham book I've read. The story was straightforward and interesting, but the book was surprisingly less gripping than I expected from Grisham. I expected more plot twists, betrayals, and fast action. Instead, the story was actually quite predictable. On the other hand, it certainly never dragged, and it was actually quite believable, which is more than I can say about the Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, or Michael Crichton books that I've read (which is sort of the pop-fiction group I've always put Grisham in).

I'm planning to return this book to the library and check out one of Grisham's more famous books, like The Firm or The Client or The Pelican Brief or something like that. Maybe this book wasn't typical Grisham. I'll let you know.

Un libro de poco más de 400 páginas de las cuales rescató al rededor de 100 que están divididas entre el principio y el final del libro, lo demás es mera paja que bien se pudo reducir en otras 100 páginas.
Además de esto el mensaje que quiere dar el libro no me gusta, yo estoy en contra de lo que el autor nos dice aquí, y como quiere victimizar a la gente de la calle, la verdad no me gusta y si fue algo tedioso.
De los peores libros que he leído este año.
2/5

I don’t consider myself a Grisham fan and I am sure at one point I have said that I will never read another book by the author. His best was Time to Kill and he seemed to lose his interest in quality and invested in quantity and producing as many books as possible from then on. That said, this one was a smooth read with an understandable plot and a fairly interesting main character.

Here is a novel of contrasts. The big corporation lawyers live in wealth and luxury, driven to work 80 hours a week, in order to make more money. Money is what it's all about. Then there are those who are dedicated, not to the pursuit of wealth, but to helping the street people who live in crime ridden areas. Some of those on the streets are there because they are mentally ill, or into drugs and petty crime. Others are on the streets because their minimum wage jobs can't pay the rent. And they are at the mercy of politicians who strive to balance the budget by reducing services that help the poor. They are at the mercy of city ordinances that criminalize such acts as sleeping on a park bench or sitting on the sidewalk.

Michael Brock's dream is to become a partner at the giant law firm where he works. All that changes when he discovers the company is responsible for evicting people onto the streets, thereby causing the death of a family when a snow storm hits. Brock puts his future on the line when he exposes the firm's wrong doing.

The story is riveting and fast paced.

4.5

This is one of my favorite books of all time. Not only does one of the most admirable characters I've ever come across, it has a meaningful moral lesson thrown in for good measure.

The book is great and moves for the first couple of chapters... And then falls off a cliff and remains stale and boring. This book had potential, and while it is excessively preachy about the sins of rich folk, the message still could've made a good book. The problem was that I didn't care about any of the people. The main character is whiney and obnoxious so its hard to even care about the supposed transformation he's going through to become a "better person." Whether you believe that the books definition of better person is true or not, it's hard to care about the character when you just want them to shut up.
Further, the book spends an excessive amount of time on the characters failing marriage and the issues with his ever charming wife (not that he's an angel either), but ultimately that entire plot line is pointless. Just more of him whining and then they don't even get back together. I understand it's supposed to show the additional stress he's under, but it completely detracted and pulled attention away from the preachy rhetoric, which was supposed to be the point of the book.
Ultimately, if you're a liberal and want to read a book and go yeah screw rich people, or if you're a self depreciating rich person that wants to feel guilty about not doing enough charity work, than this book is for you. If not then you'll probably hate yourself for the hours of your life you'll waste trudging through this 400 pg preachfest.