The Curve: A Novel

by Jeremy Blachman

The students at Manhattan Law School, a decrepit institution on the edge of the toxic Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, are geographically-challenged and mad as hell in debt up to their eyeballs and fighting over the few legal jobs left for those who are far outside the Ivy League. Our hero, Adam Wright, is a newly minted professor with high hopes and low expectations. But nothing has prepared him for a classroom of digitally distracted students, a rebellion of grade grubbers, a Law Journal staff at the helm of a school-wide scam, and a corrupt administration that runs the school as if it were a personal ATM. Adam regrets leaving his lucrative corporate law firm for the wilds of academia, until he finds an ally in the brilliant and fetching Laura Stapleton, a colleague with her own troubling secrets. Now the two professors may just have to save legal education... or join their students in the unemployment line or worse.With its colorful cast of eccentrics and law school misfits, a satirical plot that without too much of a stretch could be ripped from the headlines, and a proven author duo who know this world and have six previous books between them, The Curve continues Ankerwycke s trend of publishing high quality/highly readable legal fiction with an edge. The Curve is a hugely entertaining and deeply felt novel that satirizes the current state of higher education and reads like a cross between Dangerous Minds and The Paper Chase."

Genres: Law, Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 7, 2016

Reviews

[Kevin Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Curve, co-authored by Harvard Law graduates Jeremy Blachman and Cameron Stracher, is a scathing satire of the contemporary law school paradigm. Set in the fictitious Manhattan Law School, aptly located on the borders of Brooklyn's polluted Gowanus Canal, the story exposes the dysfunctional interplay between a disconnected faculty and apathetic student body, for whom teaching and learning are of little or no interest. The most notable exception among the faculty is newbie professor, Adam Wright, a decent fellow who has fled the law firm grind for what he hopes to be a more rewarding career in academia. Wright soon discovers that almost none of his students has the interest or ability to become successful attorneys, and what's worse, that Manhattan Law School is so poorly regarded by employers that even the committed and successful students have no real chance of paying down their student loans. As if things couldn't get any more pathetic, Wright stumbles upon a scheme in which students are encouraged to bribe their way toward better grades and Law Review membership. The stakes rise when Wright is forced to choose between the path he knows is wrong, and a moral high road that runs the risk of his being blackballed by the administration and dumped by his beautiful colleague, Laura Stapleton.

The logistics of the law school's corrupt scheme push the bounds of the believable, but this is a satire after all, and the authors send a strong message about the need for reform in higher education. I especially enjoyed some of the witty observations targeted for a legal audience, the most memorable for me being that teaching a law student constitutional law is every bit as impractical from a career preparation standpoint as teaching a plumber's apprentice quantum physics. This novel is a must read for students considering whether to saddle themselves with law school loans, for those working in higher education, and for lawyers (and lawyer-haters) looking for a good laugh.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wicked satire of law school gets top marks, not even grading on a curve. The author does for the law what Carl Hiassen does for the environment of Florida. I received an ARC from Netgalley.com and will definitely recommend it to all my lawyer friends. My one big complaint has nothing to do with the writing, but the e-book format from Adobe. It was not available for the kindle format but I did not anticipate any problems with reading it on a different app. I have used Adobe before, and although it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Kindle, it is serviceable. This time the pages frequently wouldn't advance, the font size had to be adjusted on each individual page and sometimes I had to quit and then re-enter the app to get things moving. I hope the publisher migrates to kindle when it is available.
Be that as it may, I want to give high marks to the wit of the authors and their sharp observations of human nature, students, teachers, administrators and lawyers alike. I particularly enjoyed the supplemental chapters scattered throughout that added office memos, menus, letters and posters, all presented without comment and devastatingly funny. The book was not just a hatchet piece, however. There was a good story with a clever ending that gave the reader hope for the future, as long as you don't take it too seriously.

[Paige Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book! Manhattan Law School is the misfit of higher education . Each chapter reveals a new blemish that vividly illustrates a sinking institution. I especially enjoyed the humor and style of writing that kept you laughing throughout this entire well written novel. I would highly recommend this as a quick and entertaining Summer read. It will keep you smiling.

[Alyx Pedraza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It captured me at first, then started to lose me halfway because I felt like none of the characters were really likable or had a reason to root for. However, it did make a great comeback at the end and honestly touched me.
I currently go to a law school that is thought to be like the school described here. I won't spoil the ending, but it renewed my hope that everything will be okay.

Will say it was refreshing to read something, not school assigned. I had to re-teach myself to appreciate the fluffy poetic language

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. The sort of send-up Starbuck O'Dwyer and Christopher Moore did about PR marketing. The authors know how to deliver the unexpected, couched in lighthearted prose that stops just short of serious commentary upon some deep academic issues. If they write more, I'll read it.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

How did I not know about this book until now? Can't wait to read it.

Update: Fun premise, but never really grabbed me. There are too many characters (and none particularly relatable) and too many points trying to be made. Though the assessment of higher education and law firm life are spot on, as I expected, perhaps observations were a bit too on the nose to be funny. There were a few laugh out loud moments in the book, but mostly I just found myself nodding along.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laugh-out-loud hilarious.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan.