Rating: 
Summary: Baz Luhrmann Meets Law School
Review: ...I initially found myself struggling to decipher which of the stories/characters portrayed in the book were based on reality and which were not. Then, the story took hold, and I stopped caring what was real and what wasn't. Like all good books and movies, I suppose, The Law Review is a fantasized construct of law school. It feels like law school, and the characters talk and act like law students, but it isn't exactly law school. The competition of law school is exaggerated, and the characters use their intelligence and connections in blunter ways than would usually be socially acceptable, at least at my law school. Though I winced every now and then at the plausibility of a given character's actions, the plot served a coherent artistic purpose, namely shining a spotlight on the subtler forms of competition and political maneuvering by law students that are all too socially acceptable (perhaps unjustifiably so). Slippery slopes aside, civilization is made up of gradations, and it is but a small step from the acceptance of one shade of gray to the next darkest one. Really, The Law Review is a clever satire of competition in law school. The characters abuse and ridicule each other, exposing their follies and raising questions about what matters in life. For example, the murder weapon is a really big law book, which ought to symbolize justice and the rule of law, the antithesis of its use in The Law Review. That was a really nice touch. The bottom line is that The Law Review is hard to place in any particular box. In any event, don't look for reality in The Law Review any more than you would look for it in a Baz Luhrmann film. Stepping beyond reality, though, can sometimes make for a much more interesting read.
Rating: 
Summary: Craptacular!
Review: A friend gave me this book and he wouldn't take it back.This book is so bad I cannot imagine anyone who has not attended the University of Chicago wasting their time reading it. And, aside from the thrill of recognition, I can't imagine anyone who did go to U of C taking the time to read it either. Painful characters. Abhorrent dialogue. Plot twists that felt like he just got bored and started a separate book. My mother visited, saw this on a shelf, picked it up as a quick read, and couldn't put down something this awful. It was unquestionably the worst thing she'd ever read. She just had to see how much worse the book would get. It makes me sad that people think this is an accurate representation of law school.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding and Provocative - Excellent!
Review: A great read - excellent first effort by Gaille. This book was hard to put down. Though structured as a mystery, the murder and investigation are a device to advance the real story, a study of the ambition, self-importance and altered sense of reality that can afflict the most dedicated students at a top-tier law school. Simply being accepted is a victory, access to a successful career assured, but to Grayson Bullock and Aris Byrd attending classes and formal legal education are a side show - the real struggle is for and about the law review. Those who fall short are failures; those who succeed are a self-anointed royal class destined to clerk for the Supreme Court and walk the halls of power. In their insulated, artificial world intellectual superiority justifies any action, any manipulation regardless of the impact on other's lives, to assure success. Grayson struggles with a dying conscience as he watches Aris and her law review cohorts destroy lives and use sex and love as a weapon. He comes to understand that he is just like Aris, kindred spirits in a world that does not understand or appreciate them.
The book hints at the personal changes and self-evaluation that occur when Grayson graduates and enters the real world, leaving the reader wondering about a possible sequel. Dark, sometimes disturbing, The Law Review is fast-paced and provocative, a must-read for anyone thinking about law school. For others, it is a great story, well-told.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding and Provocative - Excellent!
Review: A great read - excellent first effort by Gaille. This book was hard to put down. Though structured as a mystery, the murder and investigation are a device to advance the real story, a study of the ambition, self-importance and altered sense of reality that can afflict the most dedicated students at a top-tier law school. Simply being accepted is a victory, access to a successful career assured, but to Grayson Bullock and Aris Byrd attending classes and formal legal education are a side show - the real struggle is for and about the law review. Those who fall short are failures; those who succeed are a self-anointed royal class destined to clerk for the Supreme Court and walk the halls of power. In their insulated, artificial world intellectual superiority justifies any action, any manipulation regardless of the impact on other's lives, to assure success. Grayson struggles with a dying conscience as he watches Aris and her law review cohorts destroy lives and use sex and love as a weapon. He comes to understand that he is just like Aris, kindred spirits in a world that does not understand or appreciate them.
The book hints at the personal changes and self-evaluation that occur when Grayson graduates and enters the real world, leaving the reader wondering about a possible sequel. Dark, sometimes disturbing, The Law Review is fast-paced and provocative, a must-read for anyone thinking about law school. For others, it is a great story, well-told.
Rating: 
Summary: The Law Review
Review: After reading this book, it was hard to believe that the staffing of a law school publication was less on merit and more on influence. That Supreme Court Clerks are selected from a pool of Law Review hierarchy rather than due to academic achievement. Unless being an Editor of a Law Review publication is in of itself a measure of accomplishment. The author was on the staff of a Law Review publication which would indicate that there is a kernal of truth to this premise. Then there is the concept of "getting away with murder" that is difficult to digest. Although one who is familiar with the law can use it to manipulate their innocence. I don't agree with the morality, it is a good and easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Nouvelle One L
Review: Gaille's Law Review is a fun, even funny read, about law students who kill one of their own. Its cast of intellectual hooligans chase each other from the portrait-lined halls of The University of Chicago to a beach in Hawaii, wounding with every means at their disposal, from wit to sex to (finally) brute force. The characters sometimes remind one of Dickens, particularly Bleak House. Ultimately, though, the book's unusual style, a blend of farce and tragedy and optimism (think Voltaire's Candide) is what explains its growing cult following among law students. These days, who needs the bonds of autobiography to capture the law school experience? How boring. Law Review is the nouvelle One L (credit to Rousseau).
Rating:
Summary: Nouvelle One L
Review: Gaille's Law Review is a fun, even funny read, about law students who kill one of their own. Its cast of intellectual hooligans chase each other from the portrait-lined halls of The University of Chicago to a beach in Hawaii, wounding with every means at their disposal, from wit to sex to (finally) brute force. The characters sometimes remind one of Dickens, particularly Bleak House. Ultimately, though, the book's unusual style, a blend of farce and tragedy and optimism (think Voltaire's Candide) is what explains its growing cult following among law students. These days, who needs the bonds of autobiography to capture the law school experience? How boring. Law Review is the nouvelle One L (credit to Rousseau).
Rating: 
Summary: U of C Law Student from Sixties Sees Many Changes
Review: I attended the law school during the Vietnam Era. I thoroughly enjoyed The Law Review but am not sure how much was nostalgia and how much was the plot, which is highly disturbing at best. There was competition for Law Review but not as cutthroat as Scott Gaile (Class of 1995) portrays. The University has sired the best writer of law based fiction in Scott Turow. Gaille's book is more in the Grisham mold but was certainly a good first effort. It is worthwhile reading for anyone who has been subjected to three years of
Rating:
Summary: Fallen Law Students
Review: The Law Review is about a first year law student, in law school lingo, a "One L", named Grayson. Shortly after starting classes, he falls for a "Three L", Aris, who, unbeknownst to Grayson, is embroiled in an abusive relationship with another law student. After Grayson becomes the third leg of this triangle, he increasingly compromises his ethics to win Aris and other prizes. Though he catches glimmers of redemption, he repeatedly opts for Aris and her deceit. Hardly a happy ending, but perhaps all too real in this world of Enron, etc. In sum, it is an interesting story of how easy it is to be compromised -- permanently.
Rating:
Summary: This is a Masterpiece!
Review: This book was so good that I could not put it down. In some ways this was like Grisham's novels but without the fluff. I found the text so powerful and realistic that I'm hoping the murder was fiction and not a real life memory of the author. The novel is about a group of ambitious law students wanting to advance their careers by being on the Law Review. The Editor of the Review is murdered. This is unlike the normal "who done it" because these top law students knew far more law than the police or prosecuters. This has more twists and turns than a vineyard. Scott Gaille had more gratuitous sex than was necessary. But he certainly conveyed the pressures these law students were under. Many Law Review types really are under the delusion that they are more than pretentious clerks. Gaille picks up these delusions very accurately and creates actions that are not implausible. This is an incredible read. This book is also evidence that one needs a strong publisher to give a novel adequate exposure. This should be a best seller but probably will never receive the promotion is deserves.
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