About this title: John Grisham ventures out of the suspense field and onto the football field in this story of a once-great high school quarterback, Neely Crenshaw, who, years later, returns to the scene of his glory days to attend a memorial to his old coach, the controversial Eddie Rake--a man about whom Neely has decidedly mixed feelings. And those are what he ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"This was one of the best stories i have ever read. Everyone should read this novel because it teaches life lessons that we all need to learn before we pass through. This story will most likely connect to you because I am sure we all have been through a similar situation to what Neely goes through. Maybe not to the same degree. The story takes place in Messina, Texas in the 21st century. Most of the book takes place on Rake Field or in the bleachers of Rake. Neely, a talented quarterback who went to Messina, and his a lot of his ex-teammates have a question on their mind that they have not been able to answer for fifteen years about their coach. I took a lot of this book. Even if you do not like football you can still connect to this. If you do like football it is an advantage. It's a quick read that can really make you think. I believe you will enjoy it just as much as i did. John Grisham is an outstanding author. He has written numerous books such as Playing For Pizza and many great law fiction novels. He has a way with connecting to people that you feel you are a character in the story."
"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."
"Take the town in this book, shrink the population by about 7,600 people, move it to Oklahoma, and it's almost like the town I grew up in. It was sort of surreal reading this book. Partly because it was so darn accurate to what life is like in a football town. Partly because I've hated football for years and I didn't know why I was reading this book. I still don't really know why I did, but I enjoyed it anyway. I even saw myself in a character toward the end, when Grisham introduced us to the main character's ex-girlfriend, who used to sit on the wrong side of the field so she could cheer for the away team and who chose a college without a football team just so she could get away from the football obsession she'd had to deal with in school. (Both true of me, though I never dated the star quarterback, or any of the football players.) In the end, I think the book stayed fair to both sides. It didn't demonize the people who lived and breathed football, but it didn't glorify them either."
"Its the classic love/hate story, this time played out by a football loving small town and its former coach. The plot should be trite and the story like a song that's been sung before, but its not.
Grisham makes everyone remember high school and the fact in in most school's Football IS KING!!
In 160 pages you see many of the players Eddie Rake coached over many years. Eddie's one of the main character's in this novella but he's really in the background, as all you hear of him is in the form of back story. In the present, he lies in his home awaiting death.
You share their stories of their glory days and their accomplishments once they've finished playing the game all while waiting for the news of their coach's death. Sure there is a bit of bitterness and lost opportunies, but in the end there's a lot of forgiveness too. Each player has some reason that the coach has never left their mind. Sometimes those reason's have nothing to do with Messina Spartans football, but through the eyes of Neely Crenshaw a former All American, you learn to love and hate him as much as they did.
By the end of the story, all hatchets are buried along with the coach and many tears are shed, some of them are your own."
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