John Grisham is known for his legal fiction novels. I recently read The Street Lawyer which follows the main character after a tragic event. Once focused on money, the main character changes his life and his career to help the homeless. There's a common theme in most Grisham novels. The little guy fights the big corporation; big legal firm; big government, etc. I enjoy his books because they are thoroughly researched. The Street Lawyer, while an older book, still rings true as it sheds light on a problem that remains unsolved. Homelessness in America plagues cities even though government spends millions to solve the issue. The central question is if a man loses everything of that the world holds as important, but gains an inner peace. Is that man complete? And is it wrong to commit a crime that causes a greater good?
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I followed up The Street Lawyer with John Grisham's novel Sooley, which is a basketball novel. Grisham has written a few books about sports. Sooley follows a South Sudan player's journey from a war-ravaged country to America. The first three-quarters of the book are exceptional. Once again, Grisham sheds light on a human issue, in this case destruction of a country by warlords and fighting. Sooley has one shot of making it out of South Sudan and maybe a chance to save his family from a refugee community.
The writing is crisp and the flow is well. However, the book struggles at the end. The main character was developed as a kind and gentle soul with wisdom beyond his years. I won't spoil the ending, but Grisham shifts the main character's behavior abruptly and without enough development. The last quarter of the book feels more like an author who tired of the process and decided to wrap up the book early.
That said, the book is well worth reading. The discussion of immigration and political asylum in the United States still rings true today. And the struggles of refugees across the global continues to be a world problem. The book is well researched and tends to give a great overview of college basketball. Even more so today, the sport at the collegiate level is now driven by money and the book touches on how that money is reaching down into the high schools and across continents to develop players, whether for the good or bad.
I enjoy John Grisham books and these did not disappoint as good summer reading.