Bleachers

I side with the folks who liked this book. In fact I continue to be awed by what a skilled writer Grisham is. No matter what the subject he seems to always succeed in crafting an interesting tale, well worth the time spent reading it. This one goes fast, strikes home and brings tears. It most likely will revive nostalgic memories in all of us lucky enough to have loved/hated a coach or a teacher who entered our self-absorbed teenage sphere and made a real diffence in our life. I don't give it a 5 (reserved for hall of fame classics) but am glad for the small amount of time and money spent on this one, will definitely look forward to his next.

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.) :-)

This slim (168 pages) novel follows a week in the vigil and funeral for an historic high school football coach in a small town devoted religiously to the sport. Actually, fanatics, crazed, zealots, insane boosters and other, even stronger words come to mind to describe the town's commitment, The pending death of the coach gives reason for a goodly number of his 700-plus former athletes to come into town. Neely - the knee-damaged super quarterback of the stunning 1987 state championship -- is back, for the first time in a long time. He, not the dying coach, is the center of the story.Supporting Neely is a good array of colorful characters, high school jock stereotypes - the gangly, misfooted punter who later comes out of the closet and now owns a book store, the star receiver now managing the local bank, the convict, the ex-convict, and the current sheriff, the scrawny back who suffers a terrible fate, and more. And there is the memory of the perfect, dumb, devilish, blonde cheerleader, who is out of town but on the mind of more players than just Neely. She took Neely away from another stereotype: the cute girl who grows up to be perfect. Neely can't forget her and she can't forgive him for leaving her for the legs and lungs of the vixen.There is not much time to develop the characters, not in these few pages. Two threads run through the book: the death that led to the coach's firing and the mystery behind that 1987 state championship when, trailing 31-0 at the half, Neely and Silo (Yes, he's built like a silo; there's also one athlete named Hindu.) lead the team back for a miraculous win. Best of all, one alum drags out a tape of the second half, allowing a radio broadcast to magnify the mystery: Why did the coaches not return to the field for the second half.The funeral and the final showdown with the jilted first love provide answers. While no great novel, and no great work of art, "Bleachers" offers a sweet trip down memory lane for any boy who ever fastened a leather chin strap on an old high school helmet, and who never got the girl, the championship, or the short-lived, bittersweet glory. And you can read it in ninety minutes. Or rent "Everybody's All-American" to watch Dennis Quaid play someone quite like Neely.

Despondent and adrift, former high-school All-American football star Neely Crenshaw returns to his childhood home to grieve -- for his terminally ill coach, lost dreams and an adult life of frustration, futility and fear. It's hard not to feel for Neely, and John Grisham trots out every convention to enlist the reader in the star's legion of fans. "Bleachers" is an effective, sensitive and tidy portrait of the impact of high-school football on the men who played the game and an examination of the enduring legacy of a coach who inspired loathing and love in his players. The novel is also melodramatic, predictable and manipulative, and instead of a being a genuinely moving tribute to a coach's undying presence, "Bleachers" meanders in familiar territory, forfeiting integrity for clichés.Before there was Neely Crenshaw, there was Chip Hilton, whose wholesome exploits on the athletic field made him an icon for the Baby Boomer generation. Hilton's coach was a genuine role model, never compromising his athletes' need for authentic validation to the altar of victory. In turn, Hilton's inevitable victories comforted readers who needed assurance that right prevails, honor is worth the effort and adult role models exist in America's high schools.Crenshaw's Coach Rake is a complicated but flawed man, driven to win, devoted to excellence, and inflexible in his insistence on practice, execution and fearless performance. His former players never seem to grow up, suspended in memory, frozen on the picture-perfect gridiron of Messina High School. As stereotyped as Chip Hilton was in the 1960s, Neely Crenshaw is even less complicated. His angst is tiresome, his hidden secrets obvious. Even before Coach Rake dies, we know his players will revisit the past, confront their ghosts and come out of the valley of death ennobled.What makes this pat formula work is Grisham's gift with dialogue. Neely confronts teammates (one a model of middle-class stability, one an inmate, one gay) as well as his spurned former girl-friend with a combination of stoic pain and courageous determination. Through this gentle odyssey, we watch a grown man truly become a functional adult. But the observations require us to wade through saccharine vignettes, absolutely contrived conversations and stereotyped characters.In the most painful sense, Grisham is preaching to the choir. Those who are less than enthralled with football or who are aware of its limits will find "Bleachers" effective propaganda but inadequate literature. Those who have played the game, who constantly relive their pasts and faithfully advocate the sport as the salvation of our society will sleep with the novel under their pillows.

I can certainly identify with the main theme of this story and how a coach shaped his athletes. A very good read.