Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: Grisham's short novel about high school football in a small texas town was a disappointment. I generally enjoy Grisham's digressions from the legal arena, but this story was under-developed and not up to his usual level of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: One to Miss
Review: In this lurching yarn, Grisham tries out new territory and fails miserably. In A Painted House, he created a deep and satisfying sense of place, memorable characters, a moving story. Here, well, it all just comes up flat and depressed. There are many potential subplots and avenues to explore, but Grisham just plods on toward the inevitable end badly. Yes, it's a quick read. Yes, it resurrects memories of small-town football. But it fails to move, fails to involve, just plain fails.
Rating: 
Summary: Grisham continues to stretch and entertain
Review: I long ago stopped reading legal thrillers. When I did read them, Grisham was at the top of my list and as I gradually lost interest in the genre, Grisham was the last I stopped reading, largely because he is an engaging writer (a fact for which I do not think he gets enough credit). I was pleasently surprised when he produced "A Painted House," and, in fact, began to wonder why Grisham even bothered to write legal thrillers, he seems to have a deft hand for turning the commonplace of life into entertaining reading. "A Painted House," while not great, was a very good read and remains in my library to this day (despite the fact my two-year-old daughter chose to add her artwork to the inside cover). So when I saw "Bleachers" I immediately grabbed it and read it. Trolling in the waters of sports stories can be pretty dangerous for even the most seasoned writer (let's just say that originality is not always a highlight of such tales), but Grisham pulls it off. More of a novella than a novel, it tells the tale of Neely Crenshaw, a former star quarterback of the local high school who returns to his hometown on the eve of his former coach's impending death. Naturally, it s a small town high school (are there any other types in tales of former high school heroes returning home?). The small town is Messina, a town with a population of 8,000, but a with football stadium that seats 10,000. The town lives and breathes football, so the approaching death of the football coach is the focus of all who live there. We learn that Crenshaw has learned the hard lesson so many former athletes learn, having had a moment of glory early in life, life may seem pretty worthless in the years that follow. Basically, Crenshaw has learned that fame is fleeting. Crenshaw's potential future in football had ended following a knee injury and he has essentially been rootless ever since his glory days 15 years earlier at Messina. A theme of regret and lost opportunities seems to run throughout the book, but it is not as mauldin as that may sound. Some of the characters are pretty much standard for this type of story, e.g., the former class slut, the disillusioned football player, the sadistic coach who for some reason still inspires love from his players, but Grisham makes most of them work well. The story heads toward a predictable ending, and in other hands, this might have been a pretty pedestrian effort, but Grisham manages to breathe life into most of the characters and the tale and we, the readers, are the ultimate beneficiaries. No, its not great literature, but it is a good, quick, and worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: I am a big fan of John Grisham. I love his legal books and I very much enjoyed the Christmas Story and I think The Painted House is one of the best literary efforts I have read. However, his latest book, The Bleachers, is a very boring and very poor effort that isn't worth the cost of the cover. Don't buy this!
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it Loved it Loved it!!!
Review: I am a woman,62 years old. Out family moved to a small Texas town in 1972, population 21,000 (then). Where football was KING!...especially on Friday night. To read this book brought back to me all the nostalgia of a by-gone time. When there was unity in a town, where everyone pulled together for one common purpose, shallow for some, very important for others. A great book. I felt the emotion, I could hear the crowds again, the thrill of the team entering the field. Thank You John Grisham!!
Rating:
Summary: Solid and great for light reading
Review: Grisham's latest novel was very easy to read and is much better entertainment than the usual fare of reality TV and daytime talk shows. It's not intense like his legal thrillers and short enough to finish in two or three hours. The book is a vignette on the life of the forgotten local hero and a small town in the South whose lives revolve around high school football. Although the character development is not deep, I felt like I didn't want to delve into their lives anyway. I think the author's intent was not to do that, but to help us sympathize with what they're just feeling during those few days that the plot spans. It's a nostalgic look on how things were and how things could have been. Read it if you're feeling older than you really are. I'm 18 so it just helped me relate to what people my parents' age feel.
Rating:
Summary: Just as Exciting as a Close Super Bowl Game!!!
Review: John Grisham is back!! I've read every one of his books and this is definitely one of his best! Grisham's last few books have been kind of off; the characters have been less than memorable and you feel no real compassion for them. In Bleachers, however, the characters were wonderfully developed just like at the beginning of his career. This was a very emotional book and almost made me cry at times. I would love for Grisham to write a prequel to this extraordinary book. Grisham proves that he can still write like he use to. I highly reccomend this book to everyone!!
Rating:
Summary: A joy to read
Review: There are no lawyers, judges, juries or DA's in "Bleachers" by John Grisham. It is a simple, unpretentious story eloquently told. The high school football team put a small Southern town on the map after a new coach was hired. Eddie Rake, the coach for 34 years won numerous state championships and had an eighty-four game winning streak. More important than the stats was the influence, inspiration and affect he had on his players. They were considered the elite, not only of the school, but the town as well. The coach is dying and players return for the vigil and funeral of the man they both loved and hated, revered and feared, adored and abhorred. Generations of players mingle, stories are swapped and long held secrets are revealed. A powerful book that will make you laugh, cry and cheer---and in the end feel uplifted and reaffirmed. You cannot ask for more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Good start but falls far short for a Grisham story.
Review: Grisham once again goes outside of his normal area but this time he falls far short of meeting his normal standard. The story idea was good. The characters started off interesting but Grisham did not develop them. By the end of the book I did not care about any of them. I wanted to know more about the Coach, the quaterback, the punter etc. Grisham needs to go back to letting us meet his characters.
Rating:
Summary: Boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I love John Grisham, however, I wanted my money back on this book. I thought it stunk!!!!!!!!!!!!
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