Bleachers - John Grisham

John grisham came out of courtroom and law, and the fruit is bleachers. A nice tell of a small town where people is mad about football and doesn't give a damm about anything else.

All the characters are the regular people whom you meet in the streets of any small town with a thing in common, their passion for football. Then their is eddie rake, the evil coach of a school football team whose training camp is no less than war. bleachers is not just a story of football, it narrates the emotions of the people who loves the game.

The emotions of those who doesn't adore the game and gets frustrated of the excitement. and the ex footballers coached by rake who are always confused if they should respect him or hate him. the flashbacks of the historic games, the hall of famers sitting together in the field, bleacher is must read for everyone who loves sports and mis his\her childhood

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Most ardent Grisham fans would have already wasted time reading this book. I consistently resisted temptation of reading this book since it came out in October 2003 until couple of weeks ago.

I was on my way back to Fort Lauderdale from Orlando. Surprisingly the roads leading to the airport in Orlando were not clogged and the security queue moved quickly. I had about 10 spare minutes and decided to browse through a bookstore. I actually went there to purchase a newsmagazine but none of them had an interesting cover story.

Just while I was leaving the store, my eyes got stuck on big words on a book – John Grisham with a photo of light tower in a football stadium with bleachers in the background. I decided that I shall not purchase the book if the price was more than 5 bucks. Much to my misery it was $3.99 and I bought it without even thinking that if a store at an airport is selling a Grisham book that cheap, something has to be fishy. And I started wasting time in that 45-minute flight to Fort Lauderdale.

Plot:

Is there really any plot in this book? Well there is one but truly paper thin. Basically, high school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. It’s been fifteen years since those glory days, and Neely has come back to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, who is dying of cancer and the man who transformed Spartans into an unbeatable football team.

Now Coach Rake’s boys, the team players over successive years have gathered at the bleachers waiting for the lights to dim and turn off signally passing of Coach Rake. They recall their glory days, replay old games and bask in the golden memories. They try to decide whether they loved Coach Rake or hated him.

For Neely Crenshaw who had an unforgettable experience with Coach Rake, the stakes are high. He attempts to relive his heydays and try to make a judgment whether he loved Coach Rake or hated him. Ultimately the lights at the stadium go off signaling demise of a legendary coach in the US Football history and unarguably the best coach of Messina Spartans.

Grisham Disappoints:

John Grisham - the author of some of the best fictions – The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time To Kill, The Chamber, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament disappoints big time. This is not the first time he has disappointed. His last few books – The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas and The Summons were below the high standards set by himself. I am yet to read The King of Torts and The Last Juror but going by the declining standards of his books, I assume they will not be as enjoyable as his earlier work.

The book moves from one incidence to the other without any continuity whatsoever. In essence, the book is a compilation of different incidences that happened around a famous quarterback Neely Crenshaw and a mysterious football game of 1987 in which Spartans pulled off a miraculous victory after going down 31-0 against A&M East Pikes. Something happened during the half time between Neely and Coach Rake – so much so that Neely’s face was almost red and Coach Rake did not return to the game. It remained mystery until the funeral service where Rake’s daughter read out his open letter in which he ‘apologizes’ for his behavior that night.

If this were to be the main plot, I fail to understand why Grisham injected Neely’s affair with Cameron and eventual breakup because he was caught in ‘awkward’ condition with a slut on the backseat of his car! Why did he bring up the issue of a gay bookshop owner of the town? Why did he waste many pages talking about a player who is languishing in jail paying for his crimes? These incidences do not seem to have any direct linkage with the main storyline.

Additionally, Grisham devotes nearly fourth of the pages on 1987 championship game. He goes too technical and people who do not understand football can easily skip those full chapters without missing anything. Fifth of the pages have been allotted to the funeral service of Coach Rake which is meant to create an emotional atmosphere where he can be forgiven by those who did not approve of Rake’s way of handling issues. The whole climax is lame and fails to create any feeling other than tedium.

So, What Does An Avid Grisham Fan Like Me Thinks?

Thoroughly disappointed. When I was on my last two pages standing in a queue at the flight gate in Fort Lauderdale, a gentleman standing near quipped – he wrote this book just to make easy money because anything on football will sell here and something from Grisham on football will definitely make it to #1 New York Time Bestseller irrespective of the quality of the content. How true he was because I myself bought the book for the same reason! Avoid it unless you are a big time football fan.

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I have read every thing that John Grisham has put out, except for the Christmas novel. It didn't sound like standard Grisham. I have it in my stack to read though.

Getting on to Bleachers. I was disappointed in it. I found it very technical. The story dragged on and was not very interesting. I guess you have to be a football fan. It was a short novel. I could not get lost in it like all of his other books. I didn't find it up to the high standards of all his other books.

The first one that I read was 'a Time to Kill'. I immediately decided right then and there that Grisham was going to be one of my favourite authors, if not, THE favourite. The book made me angry at first. I couldn't put it down for fear that I would not be able to get a chance to sit down again to read it any time soon. I read the whole book in one day.

When I finished I called my friend to tell her about it. I passed it on to her to read. Now every time I buy a Grisham novel she comes to get it.

I think that since Bleachers is the only one that he has written that I did not like, its o.k. Thats a pretty good record, considering all the others he has written. I would recommend his novels to anyone out there.

John Grisham takes you to so many places that you have never been. You will soon be like myself and find it hard to wait until the next book rolls off the presses.

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''The road to Rake Field ran beside the school, past the old band hall and tennis courts, through a tunnel of two perfect red and yellow maples planted and paid for by the boosters, then over a small hill to a lower area covered with enough asphalt for a thousand cars. The road stopped in front of an immense gate of brick and wrought iron that announced the presence of Rake Field, and beyond the gate was a chain-link fence that encircled the hallowed ground. On Friday nights, the entire town of Messina waited for the gate to open, then rushed to the bleachers, where seats were claimed and nervous pre-game rituals were followed.''

Nelly Crenshaw was once an All American Quarterback who played on the very field in Messina, Mississippi. He was a member of the army of football players under the rule of Coach Rake. Yet, a horrible injury in college shattered Nelly?s dreams and desires?joining the NFL. He appears now to just be drifting through life, like he has nothing to do. He hasn?t accomplished much. He doesn?t have much money.

He says all the time, ?I wish I had never seen a football. Just be another guy with two good legs.?

The town of Messina fed on Eddie Rake's success. In his 34 years of coaching the Spartans, his record stood at 418 wins, 62 losses, 13 state titles and an undefeated streak from 1964 to 1970. One death, as well.

15 years after he played under Coach Rake, Nelly finds himself back in Messina. He hasn?t been back since they retired his number in 1989. He is surrounded by many of other members of Coach Rake?s football dynasty, all of them in town for the same thing. To await the death of their beloved coach, who inspired not only his players, but also the whole town. They are also keeping a secret from the championship game in 1987. Something that occurred during halftime that resulted in Crenshaw pulling off a miracle to win, playing with a broken hand, even as the coach was mysteriously absent from the field. The mystery begins.

Though quite short, (163 pages) Grisham masterfully delves into vivid details and fantastic character development. At the end of the tale, I felt as if I knew these guys. However, as developed these characters were, Bleachers as a story doesn?t really develop. It starts off promising, and then it?s all down the drain from there. I was actually wondering why Grisham even took time to write it. Maybe he wanted to take another little step away from all the legal stuff. Maybe he wanted to bring back the days when he was a quarterback in high school. Whatever may be the case, this book is quite a disappointment. Grisham miscalled the play on 3rd and long, and everyone seems to be aware of that.

In Bleachers, John Grisham?s third timeout since law thrillers, a story is told, following a group of guys coming to a small town to wait for their coach to die. That?s it. There is no mystery, no suspense, no nothing. Just a damn bad fumble by John Grisham.

Being in law school, hoping to be a litigator one day, I truly enjoy books by John Grisham. His courtroom novels. Law. The stuff he?s good at. If you?re not going to buy this book in paperback, I find it difficult to recommend to anyone.

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I have been a long time fan of John Grisham, being a lawyer myself. I have always looked forward to curling myself with his book and he has never let me down. His books have a certain amount of thematic consistency, the recurrent theme being an underdog hero fighting uphill legal duels to battle wrongs, in the process, brings out the tragic flaws in the American legal system.

I picked up the latest offering of Grisham, ? Bleachers? in the hope of filling my time with a thrilling legal yarn. I was quite surprised to see that Grisham has struck a new path, leaving the tried and tested courtroom sagas. It is one of the characteristics of a successful and confident author that he can venture into new genres and still hold the reader?s attention. In fact, I never knew earlier that Grisham writes on topics unrelated to law.

The book is quite a small one, about 182 pages, some change from the usual thick tomes, which flow from his pen. You see the differences from the usual Grisham starts here evidently. The cover photograph is eye catching with a portion of a stadium with the floodlights on. The book is published by Arrow Books and is being distributed in India by Rupa & Co. The book will set you back by Rs 195.

Now that you have the book in your hand, I will take you through a slow-guided tour through it. The book is about Neely Crenshaw, a high school All-American who was probably the best quarterback to play for the Messina Spartans. The story is set in Messina, the very archetype of a small town American town that has nothing to boast about except of its formidable American football team. The town is obsessed by football to say the least and their joys and sorrows of the inhabitants are inextricably linked with the fortunes of the team.

Eddie Rake, a martinet if that could be a polite word to describe him, coaches the team, Messina Spartans. He coaches the team with a maniacal intensity with a motto of success at all costs, which gets him success. He spurs them to greater heights and the team is unstoppable winning everything in sight. Like all good things, the heady days of Rake?s helmsman ship of the team comes to an end due to a combination of circumstances, which takes an inexorable and tragic turn. In a tragic incident, one of the trainees under Rake, Scotty Reardon dies collapsing due to the strain of training for which Rake gets blamed for the death. As a result, he gets sacked from the post of Head Coach. This all happens about 15 years back circa 1987.

Fifteen years later, Neely Crenshaw revisits those old playing grounds and tries to recapture the past days of glory, which are forever lost. His attitude towards his fame and to the game is ambivalent, he does not know whether football has made or destroyed his life. He visits Messina when he has been told that Eddie Rake is on his deathbed, fighting a losing battle with Cancer.

Crenshaw, at his height of his popularity makes some wrong decisions whose consequences haunt him .He is a broken man since he gets his knee busted in a football game in college which ends his football career. He marries a girl who deserts him early, his career is in ruins and the world around him is slowly disintegrating. He is on mission to find himself and come in terms with his relationship with his coach.

As a sub plot, he has a longing to visit Cameron Lane, his lost love and seek her forgiveness for what he had done many years back. I will not be revealing the plot more than this, you should read and find it for yourself.

A few words on the structuring of the book would not be out of place, so I seek a few more minutes from you. The craft of the author is evident when you see that Rake is an invisible presence in the entire book and his entire character is described in third person singular despite this fact, he is a looming presence throughout the book.

The book is about self-introspection, nostalgia and longing, it will prompt you to do a self-introspection and make you think whether your so-called past glories are really that or just one of those things, which have no meaning after efflux of time. John Grisham pulls out one more rabbit out of his hat.

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This is the second novel that I have read for John Grisham that is not a Courtroom Thriller ( the first one was the heart touching (Skipping Christmas) ) , and based on my reading I think that Grisham Has proved so much talent in writing those 2 off genre books . The story focuses on the main Character (Neely Crenshaw) who is returning to his hometown after several years of being absent , but his coming back is not for vain , he was the most famous Football player in the Legendary Messina Spartans Team , and his also Legendary Coach ( Eddie Rake ) is living his last days , Neely arrives in town , heads for the bleachers , sits there , meets his old Friends and collegues and begins to remember the old glories . Things is not actually this easy , for Neely there is some complicated matters , his relationship with his Legendary team has ended from many years in such tragic events , and it was the main reason for leaving his hometown , also he is still regretting his cheating on his Girlfriend (Cameron) who was the only girl he loved during his Glory days . Neely beging to question himself , trying hard complete the unfinished business , ties the loose ends , and above all that trying to decide if he is Fogiving his coach or not . there are many heart touching themes here mixed in this novel , the longing for the past days , the grieving for peole both dead and alive , and trying to find the happiness among all the sadness surrounding the characters of the novel , but the most amazing thing about this novel is Grisham's ability to create a very ALIVE characters , he will make you sympathy for them , hatem them or even cry for them , and here comes the wonder....how Grisham was able to create such ALIVE characters in very small space (163 pages) because you have used for the thickness of his past novels where he sits relations and events during a very comfortable space , but here in this book he was able to make you engage with those characters in only a very limited space , even some charcters gets only mentioned in three or four spots during the novel , but belive me they were very effective characters , and that is a part of Grisham's Talent .

The most effective chacter here is the coach (Eddie Rake) , we have't met him during the novel only from the stories that is told by the other people which their lives were touched by him , and you will realize that he has affected them not only during their Team's days , but during all the days of their lives . Grisham has delivered a very sweet book full of emotions and questions , it really touched me , and it sure will touch you , it even has given me a brief information about the American Football(which I almost didn't know anything about it ) , but this book is not about the Football , it's about memories , life and death , and the sure thing that when you are folding the last page of this book you will do it with a HIDDEN tear in your eyes and a BITTER smile on your face.

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