- Paperback: 249 pages
- Publisher: Whitston Publishing Company Inc; Special Anniversary Ed edition (1 Sep 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 087875539X
- ISBN-13: 978-0878755394
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,011,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
"The Paper Chase" was widely acclaimed as the first novel to realistically describe the experience of students within American Law Schools.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I first read this book about 20 years ago and must have re-read it a dozen times. This new anniversary edition is beautifully presented and has a very easy read text. The story is that of a gifted law student, John Hart, who takes us through the ups and downs of life as a first year law student at Harvard University. The book led to a film, a play and then a successful TV series.
Hart, although certainly gifted, is still young and vulnerable. He is fascinated by one of his professors, Kingsfield, whom he places on a pedestal at an early stage and this is a touch problematic when Hart begins a relationship with the Professor's daughter. As the work piles up we see that some students fall by the wayside and tempers occasionally flare.
This is a story of love, ambition, and survival. It tells us about the long nights of study, the pressures of exams, and the strains that friendships can suffer from in the process. It is a book that you can read again and again and take away something a little different each time. It is a tremendous read and the film is apparently required viewing at nearly every law school in America!
The anniversary edition also comes with alternative endings to various scenes in the book that the author for one reason or another decided not to go with; they make interesting reading.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Paper Chase will take you right inside the famous Harvard Law School. Beyond the students picnicking on the lawns and into the fine old buildings to meet Hart and his fellow students.
Hart is a boy from the Mid-West, clever and ambitious, caught up in the cut-throat competition, the agony and the ecstasy of impending exams and the extraordinary spell of Professor Kingsfield. And tangled up with all this is Susan, the enigmatic girl who first fascinates Hart, then captivates him completely. The professor's daughter she stands aloof from the law-school rat-race and is able to dismiss all the things Hart cares about most, except perhaps himself.
Hart is a boy from the Mid-West, clever and ambitious, caught up in the cut-throat competition, the agony and the ecstasy of impending exams and the extraordinary spell of Professor Kingsfield. And tangled up with all this is Susan, the enigmatic girl who first fascinates Hart, then captivates him completely. The professor's daughter she stands aloof from the law-school rat-race and is able to dismiss all the things Hart cares about most, except perhaps himself.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Glad to Have It Back in Print
27 Mar 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Thirty Years On
24 Mar 2005
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
If you loved the movie and the series....
31 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
You have to read this book if you loved the movie and the TV show.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
