Bleachers

Rating:
Summary: Good but unrealistic
Review: I love football and I love John Grisham books. I had high hopes when I began reading Bleachers. I would marginally recommend this book but not unless you're a football fan or at least like Grisham.

The book is about a high school quarterback who goes back to his home town when the local coach dies. The town is "Messina". I'm not sure if this is a real town in the South or fictionalized. I think the state they are in is Georgia. Well, this QB has a lot of demons to get rid of. Namely his relationship with his coach and the high school girlfriend he dumped for the town slut. All the old players do a lot of talking in the "Bleachers" (hence the name). Funny stories are told and an old game is rebroadcast on a boom box.

I liked the plot itself. Some of what I didn't like was the stereotyping of the characters. It seems Grisham likes to paint people in black and white. Everyone in the book was so uniquely different. I guess that's a good thing but in a small town like that it would seem to me that these folks would have much more in common than different. One other thing that bothered me was the football inaccuracies. During the game rebroadcast the opposing team starts the second half by running three plays trying to eat up the clock. By the time they have to punt the clock shows "ten and a half minutes". Anyone who knows football knows that it would take much more than three plays to burn 4.5 minutes of clock. It's literally impossible with a play clock. Which I know they had because this game took place in 1987. Reading parts like that make it a little un-credible.

Overall, Bleachers is a nice little read during football season but I wouldn't go out and buy this book.

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!