Martha Kimes' blog The Random Muse, is probably one of the first blogs I read with any regularity when I started reading blogs. Martha is a former lawyer, a mom, a blogger, and quite possibly one of the funniest writers on the planet. When she announced that she had gotten a book deal to write up a memoir about her law school experiences, I couldn't wait to read it. Like the neurotic blog-stalker that I am, I pre-ordered on Amazon. Such is the extent of my devotion to Martha.
Unfortunately, even though I paid my own cash-money to purchase this book (sorry free book providers who have been waiting months for me to read and review your books), I wasn't able to squeeze it in between working, end-of-school activities, my second stealth job, my non-profit board membership, stalking various Democratic candidates, and writing for three blogs. Reading? I barely have time to read a stop sign these days.
I finally got the chance to read Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student last week, on a very long travel day to the midwest for a funeral. I was not disappointed (in the book, I mean). It's a terrific book that kept me entertained through through fourteen hours of tedious airplane flights and weather-induced flight delays. It's a great book for traveling, summer beach reading, or just when you need a good laugh and a peek into another world. In other words, go buy this book.
There is a great deal about Martha's story that resonated with me. She's from the midwesterner who finds herself thrust into an Ivy League law school for a ride that is both thrilling and terrifying at times. I went to Barnard as an undergrad, sight unseen, and her descriptions of the Columbia campus brought back some great memories for me, and reminded me of some of the initial insecurities that plagued me when I arrived. It's easy to look back at your academic experiences with a hazy nostalgia brought on by the passage of time, or to paint something in an entirely negative light, but remembering the good and the bad is much harder.
I went to one of the 15 or so schools in the "top ten law schools," one not as highly ranked as Columbia, but just as competitive in the Chicago market. A good deal about my law school experience I've selectively blocked out of my memory, but all of it came flooding back while reading Ivy Briefs. Her journey from Wisconsin barmaid to the swanky halls of a New York Lavish Law Firm is hilarious, poignant at times, and oh-so-true.
In the book, Martha goes off to Columbia Law with Ivy League aspirations and some trepidation. Fortunately, she has an understanding new husband and a razor-sharp wit to get her through. She talks about the fast friendships formed at orientation based on little more than the fact that the people you bond with are not jerks, the archetypal law students that you find in nearly every school, and the seemingly sadistic professors who actually teach you a thing or two. I laughed when I read her description of the "do-gooder," because that was me, without the trust fund safety net. My first-year Socratic nemesis was a certain property professor, who ironically now teaches at Columbia. I think I threw up before several of his classes. Of course, the first job I got was as a landlord-tenant lawyer for a non-profit legal services office in the Bronx, where what I learned in his class actually came in handy. Twenty-two years later, I'm still waiting for the payoff for all the time I spent learning the difference between a springing and shifting executory interests.
Martha describes the rituals of law school, from sitting through the unwelcoming Dean's Welcome Speech through the ordeal of sitting through the New York bar exam. Along the way, she endures the Socratic method, Moot Court, writing for a law journal, a judicial clerkship, second year job interviews, and a summer job at a big lawfirm. Her writing style is fluid and conversational, and it's as if you're being told a long, funny story by one of your best friends. It's an easy, fun read.
I think the part I enjoyed the most was a little passage near the end where she takes an impromptu trip to Slovenia to deliver documents for the law firm she works for as a summer associate. At first, she doesn't even know where Slovenia is, and is terrified when she learns it is part of the former Yugoslavia. She does her duty as courier, then takes time to enjoy a little of the country:
I walked along narrow pathways beside a meandering river, marveled at the stately red-roofed homes and graceful willow trees flanking each side, wandered down coblestoned streets past tiny green-awninged sidewalk cafes...Yes, I am a long way from Wisconsin. Hell, I'm a long way from New York. Shit, at this point, I feel like I'm a long way from earth--I had no idea there was anyplace this beautiful on my home planet.
I loved her description of how this one roller-coaster ride of a trip changes her outlook on her life, her career choices, and the world itself.
I recommend this book to anyone who went to law school, is in law school, is thinking about going to law school, is glad they dropped out of law school to go to film school, or anyone who just wants to read a great story by an engaging, funny writer. I'm passing this one on to my blog buddy HongLien of The Lotus Life. HongLien's thinking about going to law school.
I hope as soon as her book tour is over, Martha gets to work on "Lavish Law Firm Briefs: Tales of a Neurotic First Year Associate" or something like that. I promise I'll pre-order on Amazon, and maybe not wait for another funeral for an excuse to read it.
Cross-posted at The Silent I Speaks, my new review blog.
