Preview

Book Review on "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
404 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Book Review on "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham
Gale Ann A. Sayson
John Grisham's books are usually described as “legal thrillers”. He does share with the world the conscience of a critic and the soul of a preacher. He is able to entertain you in his stories which makes you much more of a viewer than a reader. From the start of his career, he has been very successful and very intelligent, taking over issues from racial injustice and children's rights to the death penalty and homelessness.
In The Street Lawyer, some scenes become civics lessons and has many dialogues which I just had to search in the net to understand what it meant. Such as my reaction when I read his novel “Angels and Demons” which became physics lessons and the world revolving on the gap between religion and science.
In “The Street Lawyer” ,thirty-two-year-old Michael Brock, an antitrust lawyer working in the swank D.C. offices of Drake & Sweeney, is taken hostage, along with eight other attorneys, by an armed street person who identifies himself only as "Mister." Although Mister threatens to kill everyone, his motives remain a mystery. His only demand is to be told how much money his prisoners earned last and how much they gave away to charity. One deadly shot by a police sniper ends the six-hour standoff, but it results a life change for Michael Brock. Discovering that Mister had recently been evicted from his squatter's apartment, and, further, that the eviction was orchestrated, illegally, by his own law firm, Michael flirts with the notion of leaving Drake & Sweeney to join the staff of a legal clinic as a public-interest lawyer; when it appears likely the deaths of a young mother and her four small children, Michael not only quits his job but also goes after his powerful former colleagues with a vengeance.Everything happens with speed. In a span of just 32 days, Michael Brock changes careers, ends his soured marriage, swipes a file of sensitive documents, nearly gets killed in a car crash, is arrested and beaten up, tracks

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    A bad man and lawman- Burton Alvord was originally the son of a justice of peace and was appointed Deputy Sherriff at the age of 20. He had the change of heart and joined a gang. The gang was put in jail and he shot the guard to free the 25 members. It was then that he went from a lawman to a bad man.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discuss the presentation of the legal establishment in Act One Scene 2 and elsewhere in the play…

    • 857 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Patterson is a man of strategy. Every word that goes into his pieces is carefully handpicked for a purpose. He spends extensive time developing the criminals in particular. His method in doing so works very well in his novels…. Patterson’s portrayal of criminals is effective because he allows their identity to remain unknown, his use of metaphors gives them animal-like characteristics, and the reader is able to enter deep into the villain’s mind.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shon Hopwood's Law Man

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Law Man is an inspirational book because Shon Hopwood realizes that he did wrong but yet while he is paying his time he tries to turn his life around. This book lets you know that even the worst mistakes can be redeemed through faith, hard work, and the love and support of others. Shon knows that he did wrong, yet he wants to help others with their cases because he enjoys law. He grows and becomes a different person because he accepted that what he did was wrong and he changed his actions.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “The Code of the Street” by Elijah Anderson, he allows a glimpse of everyday life through the eyes of two completely different worlds wrapped up within one universe. He compares street families to what he refers to as “decent families”. Although the meaning can take on different perceptions to the eye of the beholder, the author described it as a code of civility at one end of conduct regulated by the threat of violence. Within these most economically drugged, crime-related, and depressing neighborhoods, the rules of civil action have been severely weakened, and their stead of survival known as this “code of the street” often holds many their key to survival.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No Heroes, No Villians

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I enjoyed that the book challenged some of the biggest problems in our legal system, or even society as a whole. There is still a lot of racism going on, and this book was not afraid to exploit that. I enjoy those kinds of readings. They are the things that will eventually spark a change and shed some light on the problems that are happening right now.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Civil Action Analysis

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Past each families' inevitable touching story, Harr shows readers just how the American judicial system doesn't work. Through the example of this mystifying case it is evident that the system of justice strays away from the truth and rather toward a contradicting system in which either side fights for its self without any interest in the value of its opposition. The interaction between the lawyers and between the lawyers and the judges depicts just how everyone is out to get each other in a seemingly flawed legal system.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frank Trippett

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It seems these days the average, everyday citizen has trouble abiding with everyday laws, maybe nothing severe as murder or rape, but more mild, simple things such as traffic/driving laws, littering, not using a crosswalk, etc.. Frank Trippett in his excerpt “A Red Light for Scofflaws” coveys and points out the problems of everyday citizens who would never consider themselves lawbreakers by any means, but actually are breaking laws which may be minor, but are nonetheless laws like any others that are in place for good reason. Trippett is conveying this message in hopes of alerting and waking up the average citizen to the importance of following and abiding to each and every law, minor or severe. He uses a very crucial and strict tone for any everyday citizen that may think they’re doing nothing wrong, but actually are.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Your book ‘Study Hall of Justice’ is one of my favorite books in the whole world! I love the idea of superheroes as kids. What intrigued me was that it was in the form of a comic book. The illustrations in the book were simply extraordinary. My favorite part in the story was the part when Diana/WonderWoman said that she had a jet, but Bruce/BatMan said he wouldn’t believe it until he sees it. I loved that reference to the INVISIBLE jet. One part that I didn’t understand was when Diana and Clark turned bad. I don’t understand what did it to them. Was it the mind control helmet? If it was then that was a great idea to show us what the mind control helmet could do. Thank you for your…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Book Review

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The book, Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community, and the film, Salt of the Earth, both relay to their audience, the pursuit of happiness within the Chicano community in which they live. These works aim to show how Mexican-American immigrants fight to keep both their honor and value systems alive in the United States of America, a country which is foreign to their traditions. The Mexican-Americans encountered in these works fight for their culture of honor in order to define themselves in their new homeland, a homeland which honors the American dream of successful capitalism.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sample Case Brief

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In 1985 Michael Savage placed an ad in the Soldier of Fortune Magazine (“SOF”) advertising “Gun For Hire”. The ad ran from June 1985 to March 1986 generating an average of 30-40 call per week for jobs ranging from murder, kidnapping, assault and other criminal activity. After three previous failed attempts on his business partner Richard Braun’s life by Bruce Gastwirth , he contacted and hired Savage to commit the murder of Braun. Savage along with associates John Moore and Sean Doutre went to Braun’s home to carry out the act shot and killed Braun in front of his sixteen year old son Michael Braun who was also shot and wounded by the assailants. Michael and Ian Braun filed a lawsuit against “SOF” magazine alleging negligence.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All of these events molded Michael into the character we see at the end of the film. A hard-boiled, tough, aggravated, and ruthless mob boss. Who doesn't take crap from nobody and takes care of business the only way he knows how,…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most influential persons in this movie is Michael Carleone. The audience sees a tremendous transformation throughout the move. We are first introduced to Mike at his sister's wedding. He has just returned as a war hero and absolutely has no plans in joining the family business. The attempted assassin on his father's life, deeply changed him. When Mike was visiting him at the hospital and the guards were not there to protect him, he realized that the cops were not on the family's side. I think the point that he changed his mind about the family business was when Captain Mark McCluskey punches Michael in the face and breaks his jaw. After meeting with the family, it is decided that he will murder McCluskey and Virgil Sollozzo during a…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Grisham is an author who writes what he knows, and that’s small town injustice, which is why he implements an autobiographical feel by using first-person point of view in most of his novels and The Street Lawyer is no exception. The action unfolds through the eyes of the protagonist, Michael Brock, a jaded lawyer disillusioned with the American justice system who eventually becomes an advocate for the poor. Because Grisham only gives only Brock’s perspective he is easily identifiable as a round character, his personal narration highlights his quick change from conscientious legal lackey to socially committed attorney in a way that would feel detached from any other point of view, for example, he opens with, “The man with the rubber boots stepped into the elevator behind me, but I didn’t see him at first. I smelled him though—the pungent odor of smoke and cheap wine and life on the street without soap”, establishing that he has a sort of prejudice towards the homeless. Later, he becomes determined to get the homeless who were kicked out of their makeshift homes justice, “If we found…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Law Abiding Citizen

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The film, Law-abiding Citizen, is a prime example of the problems in the justice system in our society. The movie is about a loving husband and father who witnessed the torture and murder of his wife and daughter after two vicious criminals broke into his home. He takes the law into his own hands and systematically avenges his family’s death by taking down the criminals and the people involved in setting one of the killers free, one by one. I liked this movie because it reminds me of the inadequacies our current justice system. Director F. Gary Gray created the main character, Shelton (Gerard Butler), to take the law into his own hands, an act that many Americans only think about doing.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics