Rating: 
Summary: A satisfying and uplifting read
Review: I read this book in eight hours, with numerous breaks. As a woman who enjoys sports literature, I still found that some of the game replay by characters was not of great interest. But it was easy to skip over those parts and not miss anything.Bleachers is nostalgia, regret and coming of age. I appreciated the way Neely Bradshaw, the main character, returned to the site of his greatest pains and made amends. It takes some of us a long time to grow up and to come full circle with the choices we make and the way we deal with the hits that we have to take. In many ways, this reminded me of the football dynasty at my own high school, but there are thousands with the same stories. From a female point of view, Neely's coming to grips with the girl he hurt was extremely satisfying. I really enjoyed reading this and was moved by it. I'm amazed that Grisham always manages to captivate me. I like his philosophies, which are in a Christian attitude but without preaching or moralizing.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD, QUICK READ
Review: I had sworn off Grisham a while back. However, I got this book as a Christmas gift and read it in a couple of sittings. It is predictable in many ways but the plotting kept me interested and intrigued. The "You can't go home again" theme has been played many, many times throughout literature. Grisham holds his own with his attempt at it. The book is a snapshot - recreating a time and place, a mood and feel. The character of the unseen coach is revealed in graceful complex style, through the eyes of those who knew him. The awakening of the protagonist is somewhat predictable but Grisham still manages to avoid making it unbelievable. A very good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Only some can relate...
Review: This is a wonderful book for those of you who have played high school sports under a coach like Eddie Rake. After the fact, you realize how meaningless those years were despite the vicious importance placed on them by little people like Rake. However, you do learn lessons that stay with you, although I don't have any burning desire to constantly seek approval from my high school coach, who was no more than a control freak and a loudmouth, like Grisham's characters do. Nonetheless, Grisham writes an enjoyable novella. Not his best work, but still worth the purchase. I understand those that didn't enjoy it, but not many people can truly relate to such an experience.. and if you cannot, you may not like it as much as others. But Grisham continues to be one of our most wonderful authors. I never hesitate to pick up a book of his.
Rating:
Summary: A good quick read...
Review: This is an enjoyable, quick read. The story doesn't seem that original and where it takes you is very predictable but Bleachers was worth reading. It's a Tuesday's with Morrie kind of story (only not quite as good).
Rating:
Summary: His best work yet
Review: The Bleachers is one of the best books i've ever read, and i'm getting ready to read it again. I can't understand why some people would find it boring, 'cause it's not.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: Don't bother with this book. It reads like the script of a bad made-for-television movie. The dialogue is implausible and the story boring. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: After reading Grisham's other non-law stories, I anticipated more from this story. Those who have played football can probably relate to the feelings of the players in this book, but those who are not sports fans will have a little more trouble finding enjoyment in the book. Typical of Grisham, the book does read fast and pull you along, but definitely not one of his best. I would recommend this book to sports (especially football) lovers butI hope to see better in the future.
Rating:
Summary: been there done that
Review: fantastic book..clearly defines many of the great lessons
one learns by being a part of any special team or program...
for all those who have played team sports for a tough
taskmaster you will appreciate grishams ability to
quantify the lessons we take with us into later life
from those experiences..with the exception of a few pages
it is a great book for young adults to read and learn from..
i thoroughly recommend it..
Rating: 
Summary: Grisham Fan
Review: It was not Grisham as he usually is, for one thing (which we knew ahead of time) it is not a 'lawyer story'. Secondly, it was a story without a major plot. It was more like a guy reminiscing about the past. It did have an ongoing 'thing' that happened in the past that throughout the story you really didn't know exactly what had happened. When revealed, it wasn't really a huge thing, no big secret or twist.
Overall it wasn't bad though, just not Grisham as usual. But if you are a Grisham fan, you'll still like it. And, one of the benefits about this audio book, is that the story is read by Grisham himself!
Rating:
Summary: I don't know much about football, but "Bleachers" was okay
Review: I'll openly confess that I hardly know anything about football (I disdain sports in general), but I read this book simply because John Grisham wrote it. I read Grisham's latest offering, "Bleachers", in about three hours (Tuesday evening, December 16th). From a literary standpoint I don't know why this book is considered a novel, since all that "Bleachers" really can be considered is a short story bound in book form; I detected no real plot, there was hardly any character development at all, plus there wasn't much description of any kind; and, what's more, character dialog wasn't that awe-inspiring or memorable.
I can't figure out why Grisham doesn't stick to writing what he's fairly good at writing--somewhat suspenseful legal-thriller-genre novels. Yes, I tolorated the short story "Skipping Christmas", which was also bound in book form and considered a novel. Yes, I really liked "A Painted House", the six-part magazine story--having been published in "The Oxford American"--that turned out to be a full-sized novel. But I guess I didn't expect Grisham to, after two regular novels ("The Summons" and "The King Of Torts"), again depart from the legal genre.
I'm thinking that with these other stories, "Bleachers" included, Grisham is writing what he *desires* to write; but with his legal novels, Grisham is writing what he *has* to write.
Nevertheless, Grisham knows more about football than I know, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee a worthwhile book.
I collect Grisham books, so I'll be adding a copy of "Bleachers" to my bookshelf, but I'm glad I was able to read it beforehand.
I'm mildly anticipating John Grisham's next legitimate novel--"The Last Juror"--due early next year.
If Grisham wants to write outside the legal-thriller-genre, that's fine with me, but why not develop stories with enough substance to make them worth the time and effort it takes to compose them, which would then make the stories full-length novels?
Meanwhile, Grisham's latest offering fell a bit *short* of my expectations; and, as if that weren't enough, "Bleachers" didn't teach me a thing about football. Yet, ironically, I didn't read the book for the story, I read the book for it being a product of Grisham's body of work.
Perhaps someday John Grisham will realize that he's better off writing his legal novels; then, instead of putting out a book a year, he can maybe take the time and creative energy used to create short stories and put such time and creative energy into continuing to write decent legal-thriller books (to make up for a few of his earlier works that weren't all that they could've been).
But, in the meantime, I still don't care a thing about football.
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