A Civil Action

Rating:
Summary: A brilliantly written masterpiece of modern litigation
Review: Jonathan Harr has set a standard which may remain unparalled. Compelling is an understatement. This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride through the short, but amazing career of a determined young attorney who is pushed to the edge by the legal system of which he is a part. Anyone remotely interested in the art of litigation must read this!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Review: This is the best book I have read in a long time! I just could not put it down. It is almost like reading a John Grisham only it is a whole lot better, and it is true. This books is just as, if not better than the classic non-fiction novel "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. A true masterpiece! I can not say enough about "A Civil Action"

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books I've ever painfully read.
Review: After reading all the glowing reviews, imagine my dismay when I read this book, a birthday gift from a good friend. Poorly written and constructed with an unsympathetic protagonist, why would anyone want to get to the end?

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: A phenomenally very written and important book. Harr does an incredible job of bringing realism to the reader. It is extraordinarily well-balanced and tells an important tale that is an anecdote for many of the challenges facing the legal profession. Fascinating to people in and out of the legal profession and very edifying for non-lawyers. No matter your perspective, you can not help to appreciate this book. Six stars.

Rating:
Summary: a shocking glimpse into the inner workings of the courts
Review: harr has taken a true series of events, woven a readable and absorbing story, and in doing so, has given us more than a mere page-turner. he has given us a shocking view of how our lawyers, our judges, and our courts work. excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Good start but then looses it
Review: I did not like this book. Environmental waste, a hot issue, good subject, but the writer could not hold my attention. I lost my attention after a good start, but never finished the last approxemately forty pages of the book. I just didn't care anymore. Good grief, please bring it to an end already!?!?!?!

Rating:
Summary: Best book I read all year
Review: Highly recommended for those who want to step up from the Grisham led genre of legal mind candy. It's all here - big business, politics, courtroom drama - and it's all true. Terrific stuff.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: Such an intense book. This book is a thriller unmatched by the likes of John Grisham and David Baldacci. This book is real, and shocking.

Rating:
Summary: A glass of bottled water please
Review: Wow! Powerful and absolutely griping! I stayed up until 3:00 am, reading until my eyeballs hurt. The descriptive character development was brilliant, the legal descriptions were easy to follow, and the emotional buildup was tense. I went through a turbulent rollercoaster ride of tears, excitment, hopefullness, and eventually, empty sorrow. Read this book and face the realism of our legal system.

Rating:
Summary: Why read fiction?
Review: Why read fiction when nonfiction comes as good as this?

Jonathan Harr has shown how great nonfiction can be in this, which even John Grisham endorses as the finest litigation drama he's ever read.

You're bound to come to feel for the characters, and Harr does us the favor of not turning those on the "other" side of this case into monsters. Indeed, as he has endeavored to be true to a true story, many questions are left unanswered as they would undoubtably be in real life.

Right down to the very un-Hollywood ending (although I hear a movie is in the works), the whole thing is heart-wrenchingly and invigoratingly real. I very much look forward to Harr's next project.