Customer Reviews

The Paper Chase

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been looking for this book for years, since I lost my dog eared copy that was published in conjunction with the television series back in the early 80s. The show was what initially turned me on to the novel, and then I saw the film. If you remember the series, and have seen the film, then the book will offer not that many surprises, and I mean that in a positive way. They follow Osborn's novel pretty faithfully, with the addition, as a reflectionof the time in which they were made, of female students. All three follow the education of first year Harvard law student James Hart, during which time the true test for him is not the grades he will get (as his lover Susan tells him, he is the kind of guy born for law school), but more to the point, will he, as he slaves away to earn those precious A's, lose his...well, heart, his soul, the spark of humanity made up primarily of compassion that seems to be the first casuality of the cut-throat world of the law school. Osborn's book is low-key, is subtle: to its credit, it does not inflate this conflict unrealistically. As in the movie, Hart never loses sight of the ring: the Harvard degree that will make him most likely wealthy and powerful. But the question Osborn presents is how does one get the ring and keep his soul intact? Is it possible? What compromises does it call for? Heady stuff for a little book, but Osborn pulls it off effectively and convincingly.
It's a very very good novel: if you cared for the film, if you remember the travails of Hart and his crew in the series (depicted much more kindly than they are in the book), then you should read the original. It's worth it.

What a novel! Back then people read it for Osborn's portrait of himself as Jim Hart, the young, idealistic law student, still kind of a do-gooder underneath the long hair. Jim busts his ass trying not just to pass but to excel at Harvard yet runs afoul of the dread Professor Kingsfield, whose course in the bleak Langdell Hall is legendary for being arduous and still finally rewarding. Now, thirty years on, Osborn has attained Kingsfield status himself as he teaches nearby at the law school at USF (University of San Francisco, the Jesuit School here in SF), and students are said to quake outside his office door but, once they encounter his warm smile and kindly handshake, the fear abates.

I hate to disagree with a previous reviewer who said that Osborn's novel is a 1960s revision of a 1940 novel. I don't think so, my friend. You must be getting your facts wrong from someone else.

The TV version and the movie version of THE PAPER CHASE fleshed out the rebellious, seductive daughter of Kingsfield, and the movie version was notable for the scene in which Jim was caught in her bed and had to leap out the window is just a pair of boxers to escape the professor's wrath.

Harvard, which allowed no women into its law school until the 1950s, was paradoxically proud of its law program, and they say this novel (together with LOVE STORY by Erich Segal) caused the flurry of admissions for Harvard to leap up 200 per cent when it was first published.

You have to read this book if you loved the movie and the TV show.

Recieved the book in 2 days from order. Book arrived in perfect condition as was stated in review. We were completely pleased with the service. Couldn't have been better.

A good story - though it no longer gibes with the experience of a law student at HLS perfectly.

I have seen the movie several times, enjoyed the TV series, and only now, decades later, have I gotten around to reading the book. And the book is not bad; certainly it is excellent for a first novel, as indeed it was. I went back and forth as between three stars and four, but fairness seems to dictate that a book as influential as this one is worthy of at least four stars.

As probably everyone knows, this is the fictitious story of one James Hart, and his various study-buddies at Harvard Law School, sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. In my opinion the novel, in common with the film, exaggerates and over-dramatizes the stress of law school. Having said that, there is enough truth in the novel (and the film) to have made this one an instant classic.

The writing style, while imperfect, is impressive for a first novel, and this one is a quick and easy read. Highly recommended. RJB.

I absolutely loved this book. I am in my twenties, so I obviously missed the movie and TV show, this book never needed the visual stimulation. Greatly recommended for students thinking about law school. Extremely entertaining and stimulating. The characters are colorful, I absolutely know these characters in my own life. Beautifully written.

Could have been so much better. It's dull. The characters are weak and unbelievable. The only good parts are the talk about what it's like to be in class. That at least makes law school majestic and surreal. But the "story"--using that term loosely--is pretty bad

Both the book and the movie are first-rate entertainment.

The author finds a way to make fascinating the travails of first-year law students, through expert characterizations and a dramatic presentation of the technical aspects of learning the law.

It's a good book. "...law is rational, people are not." Without getting into the experience of the tradition, one would never know how much fun is to become part of it. One would only know "...how difficult is to extent the tradition." Enjoy!