Maudlin. ( )

I wasn't sure if I would like this book, since it is such a departure from Grisham's law books. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a great read. It is the story of Neely and his love-hate relationship with his high school football coach, who is now dying. ( )

There is no doubt that Bleachers is not your typical John Grisham book. There is no legal intrigue. There are no courtroom heroics. Nobody is murdered. However, there is a good story here. At 163 pages, this book is closer to a novella than to a novel in length. I read the entire story in one day (I know, pretty lame) and it was a fun read. The story revolves around the return of football star Neely Crenshaw to his home town because of the impending death of his football coach Eddie Rake. Coach Rake made himself a town legend, but a controversial legend to be sure. Players from generations of teams migrate back to the field they played on – each for their own reason - to tell stories of their time in the program, both good and bad. Some see Rake as a hero while others can’t shake the man’s obvious flaws. But the real story is Neely trying to come to grips with his relationship with Rake – whether to hate him or respect him and the ‘incident’ kept a secret for 15 years – and the town’s reverence for both Rake and Neely over a ‘silly game.’ The book shines a light on the way sports can become far more than just sport and how people come to grips with their past when they are forced to come back to it. I think Grisham was wise to have written the story as such a short piece. It would have dragged if he attempted to turn it into a 350-page novel. But as it stands, it is a quick, fun read and I really enjoyed characters and the story. ( )

A good shot at literary fiction written by a talented writer of popular fiction. ( )

Bleachers by John Grisham is very much similar to "Friday Night Lights" and "Varsity Blues" while the players are taking the field, stretching in warm ups, or listening to a pregame speech by their coach. However, it is what goes on off the field and more so off the high school campus that makes this novel differ from the previously mentioned works.

In this novel, Neily Crenshaw is the apple of every person in this small town's eye. He is more than that. He is one of the few that is actually going to make it. BIG. His arm, his legs, and his mind are all in tune. He is a triple threat. He is headed to one of the nation's premier football programs. Everything is smooth sailing for Old Neily. Until irony strikes and his leg is smashed to bit. From here, he has to discover what life truly is. And fifteen years after this incident occurs it seems as if he still has not mapped this out. While returning to his high school community, because of the recent death of his high school coach he reaches out to the one girl he truly loved. The girl that he dumped for some cheap sex. Although she is married and has kids, Neily still reaches out for her. In the eyes of many, this scene may seem like rejection at its finest. But to Neily, it means hope. And hope is something that can never die. No matter what life throws at you.

Small town foot ball coach is dieing and team members return to bury him. ( )

I finally finished this tiny novel,. I guess
it's odd that it took me so long to finish such a small book, I was at it
for nearly a week. My only excuse is that it was a busy week. Plus, I'm
not a real sports fan, either, and the passages that detailed football games
were hard for me to read since I don't know (nor do I really care to know!)
much about the game.

Still, this was a good quality book. It's a character study of a character
who never appears in the book except in the recollections of others. It's
about a man named Eddie Rake, a legendary small town high school football
coach who had the best teams every year of his career. But the ruthlessness
of his training, the heartless way he drove the kids and his cruelty that
resulted in the death of a boy and his eventual downfall is the common
thread among all the remembrances. Digging deeper, though, the reader
learns of Coach Rake's tender moments and his humanity. He is a man that
his teams hate with a passion, yet love deeply even against all evidence to
the contrary.

For most folks, this would be a quick read, but I would advise you to eat
this thin book in small chunk and stop and think about it. It's not
Grisham's best work, by a long shot, and it doesn't resemble his typical
legal roller coaster rides in the slightest. But it's a good little book.
I'd recommend it. ( )

This is an interesting little book. And when I say "little," I mean it - at just 163 pages, I'd call it a novella myself, even though it says "A NOVEL" right there on the cover.

I'm a high school football junkie - as much for the human drama it provides as for the action on the field - so I thought this would be right up my alley, and I was mostly right. I'm also a fan of good writing, and on that account, well...it was okay.

I think the book would have been a lot better if Grisham would have left out the subplot about Neely's high school romance, but it also would have been a lot shorter. That part of the story felt contrived, and the character of Cameron was so flat and one-dimensional as to be barely there. It just didn't seem to serve a purpose, other than to provide enough pages to qualify the story as "A NOVEL." But at least she didn't swoon at the sight of Neely and fall back into love with him, so I suppose that's a point in Grisham's favor.

Outside of that one obvious misstep, the main characters felt real enough, and I think they provided enough story on their own. I enjoyed the banter that went back and forth between them, and the bond they still felt despite the different paths their lives had taken since their playing days. And I was fascinated by the Bobby Knight-esque figure of Eddie Rake, the coach they've come back to mourn, the brutal dictator they all loathed during their high school days but who actually turned out to be a pretty decent, if fatally flawed, human being in the end. ( )

It was a compelling story that kept me reading, but I am sickened by this sort of abuse of power in education ( )

Audio

Recommended by Alan Fisher.

Pretty good little book. Coming back from 30-0 at halftime seems like a stretch, but I guess it's possible. ( )

OMG, this was the worst book ever. I don't like sports and I didn't realize the whole thing was going to be about football. This was so bad, don't read it. ( )

4230 Bleachers, by John Grisham (read 10 Nov 2006) This is not about lawyers but about a football coach in Messina, Mississippi. He is brutal to his players but he wins a lot of games, including 13 state championships. The story is told by Neely Crenshaw, 15 years after a fantastic game where the team came back in the second half after being behind 31 to zip. The story is not like most Grisham stories, and I found it quite poignant, and to high school football players it might be even more moving. A good book, I thought. ( )

This story was a fast read, not to mention a smaller book. I don't remember being "wowed" or anything. Typical-ish mall town Texas football story. Similar to Friday Night Lights (movie and television series). ( )

The PHS Book Club will be discussing this 2008 Abe Lincoln List novel on Thursday. I just finished re-reading it and I still like it. But, oh, how it makes me think about high school! I used to date a big football star, so this book hits home in a lot of ways.
Neely Crenshaw was an all-American quarterback for Coach Rake. Now Coach Rake is dying, and Neely and tons of other players come back to the town of Messina for the wake. Messina lives and breathes football, thanks to Coach Rake, who won hundreds of football games and helped raise tons of boys. But some hated him and some loved him. ( )

A very different Grisham book. It was an easy read about a former high school football star who returns to his home town after many years. It was an enjoyable read, but in the end I felt like it lacked any real "punch" like a typical Grisham book would have. ( )

John Grisham's first non legal thriller, and it holds up. This is a decent story, but nothing fantastic. The writing is solid, but nothing earth shattering. However, if you are a Grisham fan this is an enjoyable read. ( )

I didn't really like this book. Although I have read practically everything Grisham has written, I didn't consider this to be one of his best works. Not all that enjoyable. ( )

I really didn't enjoy this novel, partly probably because of the cultural gap between the US he describes as growing up in and personal experience. It all started with the title - what is a Bleacher anyway, to a Brit it is a completely alien word. I'll stick to his legal novels in future. ( )

This is a great psychological drama! The characters are "real" and the action is possible (with a little suspension of disbelief). The ending is poweful, and Gresham has done another good writing job, outside legal genre. ( )

The book narrows in on a small town football coach and the extraordinary measures he takes to ensure that his team wins. Makes you question the whether winning at all costs is warranted. ( )

Short novel about small town football team, involves the reader well but not a stellar book ( )

A quick read, only 176 pages. Read it if you are a fan of Football...... ( )

Author's Website: http://www.jgrisham.com/ ( )

Great book if you're a former football player. If not, you probably will miss it. ( )

Just didn't go anywhere or say anything. Unfortunately, very boring! ( )