Books: One L by Scott Turow

One L is a first-person, slightly fictionalized narrative of a rather famous lawyer's first year at Harvard Law School (all first-year law students are called "1Ls"). Turow takes all the feelings most law students have at the beginning of their legal education and manages to amp them up to near-hyperbolic levels.

The personalities of the students and professors described by the author will be familiar to most grad students; something about post-grad education in general seems to attract certain types of people. There are the enthusiastic go-getters, the social-networkers, the underachievers - Turow paints in caricature, ensuring a response from a broad swath of readers.

The book is entertaining as a time capsule (Turow attended law school in the 70s) and as a look into the neuroses that afflict students who choose to pursue advanced degrees of any sort. The monumental workload, the permanent changes in attitude and outlook, and the inevitable satisfaction and regret will ring true with many.