Rating: 
Summary: Well written and engaging yet sketchy and shallow
Review: I enjoyed this book but it has big holes - Turow seems to have turned his largely neglected 1L journal into a book. We get bits and pieces of his year pasted together with a little retrospective insight. The best thing about the book is his honesty about how competition affected his behavior. However, again, the book is fairly superficial and so there is not much depth of description or insight. Turow's saving grace is his writing. The book is readable and engaging. So, if you don't care about the missing pieces and somewhat shallow approach it will be an interesting book to read for people planning on law school.
Rating: 
Summary: Your first year of law school is NOT like college -
Review: One of my classmates told me about this book about six weeks into my first semester of law school. I read it and it scared me to death; I'm glad I didn't read this book BEFORE I submitted my application to law school. As an academic prima donna in college who really never had to WORK to get good grades, the tenor of this book was something of a shock. Looking back, I found it to be pretty accurate. It also helped me to understand that I wasn't the only one who felt out of my league. Turow's descriptions of the mood of his first year class in those innocent, early weeks to the shell-shocked dread he describes just before finals is really close to what I saw in my first year. Unlike the other reviewers, I saw some of my classmates crumble. I heard about the panic attacks first hand. I saw marriages disintegrate, nice people become really weird and pedigreed academics like me get cut way down to size. Finally I watched as the attrition rate kick in, and I knew it for what it was. This book helped me understand what it was I had gotten myself into. Turow doesn't hold any punches. I, for one, appreciated his candor. It was something to hold onto during those sleepless nights. My advise to anyone who is thinking about trying for law school: Look before you leap and find out as much as you can about what you are getting into. Law school is nothing like college. And Turow illustrates that pretty clearly in this book. That having been said, don't let Turow scare you. Your first year is going to be ugly, but once you make it through, and you will, you're a completely different person. Dan Lobnitz - University of Denver College of Law (2L)
Rating:
Summary: Thank God, things have changed
Review: Turow writes a gripping account of his first year at law school. Fortunately for many future "1L's" this account is a less then accurate depiction of a first year law experience. Law school is intense, especially the first year. No one doubts that. But his accounts of grade comparing, crying, panic attacks, etc. are not what law school is about. Law school is an academic challenge that is not impossible. Turow does encapsulate the friendships built in law school quite well. A delicate balance between loyalty and hard work, with a dash of competitiveness. This is not unlike anywhere else in the world; including undergraduate academia. I enjoyed reading this novel, and would recommend it to others as long as it was understood that law school has changed. Sure the Socratic method still prevails, but professor aloofness, backstabbing competitiveness, and law review or bust mentalities are all things of the past. I recommend it as an easy read for someone who understands the context under which the book was written(HLS in the 70's), but not for someone seeking an insiders account to law school in the 21st century.
Rating:
Summary: a peek into a self-contained world
Review: This is a great read, and I would recommend it to anyone, but especially the spouses of law students. Just like it happens in other areas of academia, these graduate students have to block out the larger world in order to focus and succeed in their own sphere. It's fascinating to watch the political struggles that go on over various issues and professors. This is among Scott Turow's best work, as his fiction beyond "The Burden of Proof" really deteriorated.
Rating: 
Summary: Good For Me!
Review: As a future law student I'm seeking out anything that will familiarize me with the first year experience. Through Turow's introspection and detailed analysis, I found this book to calm my nervousness rather than what many other reviewers mention. I also think this book is good for spouses/partners/parents of law students to read. Turow explains his relationship with his wife, and I think it is helpful for loved ones to understand the experience as much as it is for the student.
Rating:
Summary: ONE L
Review: It's very interesting for students who live in a country with german-roman system, because they can learn more about the common-law.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not a primer...
Review: There should really be two separate ratings for this book: realism, and entertainment value. As entertainment, insofar as it tells a great story with the skills of a good author, it's a good read. As a primer for law school, it will prove a disservice for those prone to paranoia. Unfortunately, in law school, over half the students are paranoid and over-stressed. Also, as some reviews have said below, not all law schools are created equally. Harvard is surely at the bottom of the quality-of-life scale, as can be seen in objective magazine reviews. As a contrast, law school constituted three of the best years of my life. I made great friends and have terrific memories of my time in Tucson, AZ at an upper-echelon school. Turow, however, focuses on the worst year of law school at a school containing mostly kids who are educational zealots by definition and thus not well-rounded. In that sense, it's not a very educational book insofar as it purports to "prepare" the reader for law school. In sum, most law students will enjoy "One-L" for its entertainment value and to appreciate how much better they have it than did Turow. Prospective students, however, should not read it as a Bible regarding whether the law school environment is for them.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly on point!
Review: This book should be required reading for every person who's ever wanted to go to law school. There simply is no other book available that does a better job of telling the reader what the experience is like. The outcome is self-ordained: if you like what you read, you'll like law school; if you hate what you read; you'll hate law school. So before you decide to go, BUY THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Great recitation of the first year experience
Review: In this book Turow does an excellent job of describing the first-year experience. This book should ideally be read after at least one semester of law school, I read it between my criminal law, and civil procedure exams. If you do read it before beginning law school, fear not, its not as bad as it sounds.
Rating:
Summary: Prologue
Review: I read this book before I went to law school. I read it after I finished first year, and after I graduated. Not all law schools will be as hellish as Harvard, but many, such as Boston U and Hastings are. This book will prepare you for that by showing you that people can survive a sadistic socratic orator. If you are considering law school, this book might scare you, but it will also prepare you for the worst and most likely you will find you actual law school experience, a kinder gentler version of the book. It will show you the ropes and provide you with good warnings about becomming somebody you are not. It will also make you proud, in a twisted way, to study law.
| 
