First published 1995
Oscar Crease finds himself tangled in multiple lawsuits that consume his life and sanity. He sues a Hollywood studio for stealing his Civil War play about his own ancestor, while simultaneously facing a personal injury claim after an accident with his own car. As Oscar navigates depositions, legal briefs, and courtroom drama, his world becomes increasingly absurd. Lawyers multiply like parasites, bills pile up, and simple disputes spiral into byzantine legal nightmares. Family members get drawn into the chaos, relationships fracture under the weight of litigation, and Oscar discovers that seeking justice through the courts may destroy everything he values. Gaddis exposes how the legal system transforms human conflicts into profit centers for attorneys while leaving plaintiffs exhausted and broke. The novel reveals the gap between legal theory and messy reality, where technicalities matter more than truth and procedures trump common sense. Oscar's quest for vindication becomes a journey through a system that feeds on conflict and grows fat on human misery.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, academic, legal-thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: bureaucracy, unreliable-narrator
Period: Civil War
512 pages · Paperback · Scribner