Bhadra 15, 2077, Monday
The Street Lawyer - Michael Dean (Adapter), John Grisham (2007)
[Penguin Readers Intermediate (Level 4)]
Genres: EnglishGradedReaders/ Fiction/ Legal Story/ Adaptation
Pages: 80
Rating: 1/10
Themes: The Legal System in the United States/ Homelessness
Opener:
“The old black man got into the elevator behind me. He smelled of smoke and cheap wine and life on the streets without soap. His beard and hair were half-gray and very dirty. He was wearing sunglasses, and a long dirty coat hung down to his knees.”
Summary:
Michael Brock is a wealthy and successful lawyer in Washington DC, but one day a homeless old man walks into the office armed. The old man is shot by the police, and Michael soon realizes that his law firm, Drake & Sweeney, had made the old man homeless. With his marriage breaking up, Michael decides that he can no longer work for the law firm. He meets Mordecai Green, who runs a law firm that helps the homeless, and decides to join him. He steals a file from Drake & Sweeney’s which proves that the company evicted the old man and other tenants. Michael leaves his wife and begins work in a shelter for the homeless. When the police arrest Michael for stealing the file, Mordecai Green defends him. An agreement is reached and Michael starts a new life.
Final Review:
The story was so insipid that it is infuriating. Bland, lifeless storytelling in what looked like a promising setting. I went into the book expecting some Boston Legal type shit, but this was a travesty. Stripped of all and any courtroom eloquence, memorable characters, or even a half-interesting plot, reading this was like trudging across a desert.