I Am That Fool - Cornell, Rick

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Résumé :
Read this novel twice; once for the plot, and the second time for the themes of the meaning of contemporary American life. The first read will be fast, and you will be entertained. The second read will make you think not only about the criminal justice system in modern-day America, but also what it means to modern-day Americans as they live life under mythical circumstances. Meet Ryan Browne: The egotistical, brilliant trial lawyer whose life is turned upside-down as a result of an extramarital dalliance at a notorious strip club, The Proud Stallion. How would someone like him work his way out of the hell that he and others have created for him? In today?s society, is that even possible? Meet Tania Browne: The once beautiful Costa Rican immigrant wife who, in her ?old world? mentality, refuses to bail her husband out of jail. Pero al final del dia, isn?t she just as susceptible to sin as everyone else? Meet David Schlegel: The prosecutor who successfully thrives on putting innocent people in prison, because in his world, ?nobody is innocent.? But is he really that evil, or is he simply a puppet for the corrupt district attorney? Meet Celeste L?Hoir: On a scale of 1-10, physically she looks like an 11. But is she a player or a victim in the world of sin that she populates? Meet Jessie Parker: Ostensibly the finest investigator in the state, a nonpareil ?schmoozer? with eyes that are a cross between Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Lawrence and Charles Manson. Is she all of that or is she somebody even more than that? Is this woman Christ in female form? Meet Laurie Linton: The brilliant, quirky judge who is fiercely dedicated to the concepts of due process of law. But for ?her thinking chair? and her proclivity for Eminem, would she be a lackey to law and order, just like most of the others? Meet Buddy McCall: A wise man in the form of a lower-class perpetual inmate immersed in the drug world, is redemption even possible for him? Or is he just one of those that you meet on the ?journey of life? before he gets off the train? Chances are great that you know these people, or at least most of them. This story is fiction; but there can be no doubt that it could happen today. Rick Cornell, a long-time criminal appellate attorney from Reno, NV., has written this novel for three reasons. First, he wanted to convey the point that the system of criminal justice truly is arbitrary; why some people receive justice and others don?t is inexplicable. Second, he wanted to show that in those cases where ?perfect justice? happens, the concept of redemption does not at all look like ?It?s A Wonderful Life? or ?A Christmas Carol.? Third, he wanted to show what a jury trial actually looks like in terms of the strategy, planning, and instinct that goes into it. By the second read, you will agree: He succeeded.