The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
A pack of students in their third year at a for-profit law school are befuddled by the large amounts of money they owe for their tuition and living expenses. They feel cheated because the job market is soft and resentful because they believed the lies that led them to enroll. In addition, their friend, another student, committed suicide because he was overwhelmed by his situation. But not before showing them a web of greed surrounding eight for-profit law schools in the country that he'd uncovered in a fit of madness before ending it all.
In addition, Zola, a member of the pack, is having problems because her family is illegal and being deported. Back to Senegal they went after over twenty years in America. Grisham was clearly pissed off about the conditions in which people are detained by ICE.
But how does that all fit? And who's the real villain here? The students got involved with their own illegal activities when they'd had it with their law school and started racking up felonies. Why should I care about their welfare?
I like that Grisham teaches me things about the law, and how our legal system works. He does it in his acerbic, liberal way that I've come to love.
Yet, I did not love this book. There was no hero. There was no big showdown we were heading to. It was a mess and I didn't side with anyone. Everyone was an asshole (was I supposed to believe some criminals were Robin Hoods?), and I had no idea where we were going. I wasn't even really sure I cared. The dialogue was unconvincing and the writing was flat.
But it moved, so I chugged along, moving with it, constantly checking the page count, and looking forward to the end.
General consensus: Come on, John.
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