Bleachers

Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: I read this book in just over 3 hours. I couldn't put it down.

Having grown up in a small town and playing H.S. football many of the themes resonated as true to life for me.

I liked the message(s) Grisham is laying out for people to form an opinion about.

This style of writing for Grisham is by far my favorite, it is along the lines of "A Painted House." The episode with "the rabbit" getting splatted on the field just about had me falling off the bed laughing.

This is a fun, light read for those beautiful Saturday afternoons out in the back yard on the deck or wherever it is that you like to read.

Highly Recommend this book

Rating:
Summary: Good afternoon read but not much more
Review: I enjoyed this book however, I didn't find much worth noting. The story doesn't invent much when it comes to hard nosed football coaches who drill tough love into their players. I wish that Grisham would have developed more areas to expand the book to be a novel instead of a novella. For example, Rake's friendship with Nat or his relationship with his wife are very rushed as is the ending which is all too predictable. Fans of Grisham should read this book as I did however, people looking for a good and new high school football story may want to give this one a miss.

Rating:
Summary: Bleaches
Review: The Book Bleachers By: John Grisham is totaly different then all of his others. I have thurley enjoyed it. I am on day 3 of reading it and it is a pleasure reading time. Keep up the good work John Grisham you have many fans.

Your Bigest Fan
Holly Sample

Rating:
Summary: Solid writing...refreshing and sharply drawn characters
Review: Grisham steps out onto the field and throws a touchdown. A solidly written book...sharply drawn characters...Grisham knows football.
His main character, Neely Crenshaw, comes home to say good-bye to his coach and discovers more about his own character and his life choices and finally lets go of the past. A departure from most books since Grisham's protagonist is never directly part of the dialogue...The story is told in vivid flashbacks of games never-forgotten, memories never out of reach and lessons that are kept for a lifetime through Coach Eddie Rake's players. This book will be read in an afternoon and is a nice introduction to Grisham's books that don't have a courtroom involved in the main plot. (But never fear, there is a lawyer in this story, too.) :-)

Rating:
Summary: Original and Well Done
Review: Not your typical Grisham courtroom thriller, but a well thought out book that keeps you wondering what will happen next. A quick read, but well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: small town tale of tradition, resolution and redemption
Review: One of Grisham's best, this is a small town tale of a town, high school football, and a complex coach who delivered both pride and pain to a community. Neely, a high school All-American quarterback in the 80's, returns to his hometown with mixed feelings to await the impending death of his iconic coach, Eddie Rake. As Neely and the other former Messina Spartans sit in the bleachers at their alma mater and recall their glory days as local football heroes, long-buried truths and secrets emerge that defined the complicated relationship Coach Rake shared with his players. Ultimately, this is a story of returning home and reconciling a complicated past. While this story may not resonate with all readers, it will hit home for those who grew up, for better or worse, in "touchdown towns" where "football Friday nights" command the same reverence as major holidays.
Grisham scored with this one-it will make a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: A Different Grisham Novel, but Equally as Enjoyable
Review: BLEACHERS takes us to the community of Messina, Mississippi during four days in October as the town anticipates the death of Eddie Rake, the legendary high school football coach who molded the Messina Spartans into a state high school football dynasty. The four days are viewed through the eyes of Neely Crenshaw, the high school All-American quarterback who exemplifies the glory days of Spartan football. Sadly, his recollections and experiences differ substantially from the glorious memories that the townspeople harbor.

Grisham's characters are typical of the individuals all of us can recall from our high school years. There is Crawford, the outstanding athlete who everyone thought would play professional football but who never lived up to that promise. There is Cameron Lane, the homecoming queen whose beauty stellar, but limiting, the high school couple who everyone thought would marry, but never did and the big man on campus whose life was destroyed by an addiction to drugs. While Messina, Mississippi may be a fictitious community, the stories of its townspeople are familiar to any town in America. In a way, this is part of the attraction of BLEACHERS --- its characters strike a familiar chord.

While we never actually meet Eddie Rake, the legendary coach whose death has brought many back to Messina, he is the glue that holds the story together. His players remember him as both a vindictive slave driver and a mentor who made them better persons. Throughout the deathwatch and the eventual memorial service, the players and the community must decide once and for all whether they love Eddie or hate him. It is the conundrum that many of us face when important figures in our lives pass away.

John Grisham has written BLEACHERS as a paean to the high school football experience that he and numerous others have enjoyed. But there is much more than football in this story. In this short novella about life, growing up and growing older Grisham has given us a haunting look at the years in our lives that we often look back upon with a sense of nostalgia that is difficult to characterize. Just as we did in A PAINTED HOUSE and SKIPPING CHRISTMAS readers see a different and more thoughtful John Grisham. His knack for great storytelling remains and it reminds us why he is recognized and remembered as more than the writer of the legal thrillers he has become known for.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman from Bookreporter.com

Rating:
Summary: Another Grisham Hit
Review: Great, great book! I would recommend it for any Grisham fan. A light read but still another great show of writing by Grisham. I am beginning to love his non legal books just as much as his trademark legal thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham keeps putting out winners.
Review: Being from the south, and knowing what kind of importance an entire town can put on highschool football, I can relate to this book. The book is about an ex Messina highschool football star named Neely Crenshaw, who comes to pay his final respects to his old coach, and possibly rid himself of some old demons as well. This book to me hit the nail right on the head on how teenagers are immortalized as god's when they are good in high school sports, it also illustrates the dangers as well. Neely, who had a carreer ending injury in college is like so many teenagers across the country who are immortalized in high school but just dont quite make it at the next level. A great read I would reccomend to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: No Meat on the Bones
Review: You have to had it to John Grisham. He has such great name recognition that anything he writes will become an instant best seller.

On the cover, beneath the author's name, the words "A Novel" are printed. I think a "Short Story" would have been more appropriate.

That being said, I enjoyed the book (or should I say pamphlet) for what it was. It just went by too fast, was too shallow, and left me thinking that had the author taken the time, he could have expanded this work into a very good novel.