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Audio CD Description With Bleachers John Grisham departs again from the legal thriller to experiment with a character-driven tale of reunion, broken high school dreams, and missed chances. While the book falls short of the compelling storytelling that has made Grisham a bestselling author, it is nonetheless a diverting novella that succeeds as light fiction. The story centers on the impending death of the Messina Spartans' football coach Eddie Rake. One of the most victorious coaches in high school football history, Rake is a man both loved and feared by his players and by a town that relishes his 13 state titles. The hero of the novel is Neely Crenshaw, a former Rake All-American whose NFL prospects ended abruptly after a cheap shot to the knees. Neely has returned home for the first time in years to join a nightly vigil for Rake at the Messina stadium. Having wandered through life with little focus since his college days, he struggles to reconcile his conflicted feelings towards his former coach, and he assays to rekindle love in the ex-girlfriend he abandoned long ago. For Messina and for Neely, the homecoming offers the prospect of building a life after Rake. Physically a narrow book, Bleachers is a modest fiction in many respects. The emotional scope is akin to that of a short story, with a single-minded focus on explorations of nostalgia and regret. The dialogue, especially that of Neely's friend Paul Curry, is sometimes wooden as characters recall Messina history in paragraphs that were perhaps better left to the narrator. But Grisham has otherwise written a well-made, entertaining--if a bit sentimental--story. --Patrick O'Kelley

Customer Reviews Athletes will Love This One John Grisham again leaves the legal drama behind with BLEACHERS and instead focuses on the high school football field and all that goes with a successful football program. The main character, Neely Crenshaw, is a former Messina Spartan who became an All-American, only to have his chance to play in the NFL stopped short by a knee injury. Seems the entire small town of Messina lives and breathes football. The controversy is the ex-coach, Eddie Rake. Neely hasn't been back to Messina in 15 years, yet he returns along with many other teammates as his coach is dying. Many gather in the football stadium bleachers to drink beer, tell stories about Coach Rake, and relive the glory days, while waiting for word that Rake has passed. But the thing is, with those glory days come some hard facts about what it takes to have a successful team. The 13 state championships did not come without hard work and a coach who would do anything to get his players to perform at top level. To be held on it's own merits, the book falls to mediocre. However, it will elicit a process of remembering for any athlete who has had a coach like Rake. The endless Suicide Runs, basketball drills, and yelling that the players are a bunch of "cupcakes" became uppermost in my mind once again. Remembering the toughness in the coach who brought out the best and at times the worst in a player, was a sure bet while reading. I didn't just read about Neely and his teammates' experiences, I remembered living those experiences, and empathized. The seasons are rehashed by the teammates sitting in the bleachers nightly. One brings a tape of the '87 championship game, surrounded by mystery. Seems the coaches didn't return to the field after half time and no one has ever said why. Once the tape is played and the players give their interpretations of what was happening on the field, everyone knows what occurred during that game, both on the field and in the locker room. Since no one talked, Rake continued as coach. However, a few years later, he was fired when a player died during his August Hell Week. And this controversy continues in Messina. Character development is not up to Grisham's usual standards. Neely is perceived as a guy floundering and feeling sorry for himself because he never made it to the NFL. Rake is a king who had gotten away with anything he did and given anything he wanted, as long as the Spartans kept winning. Other players and Neely's ex-girlfriend are only glossed over and few words given to their development. Some subplots left me wondering why. Why did Neely see his happily married ex-girlfriend to tell her he still loved her? This didn't seem important to the story at all. The stories should have remained on the field and in the bleachers. Overall, it was an ok book. You'll enjoy it more if you are an athlete and can remember your coach being tough, yet believing in you before you believed in yourself. If you can remember sweating through the pain and tears and performing to your top level because anything less was unacceptable, then this book will be an enjoyable read. And I thought "Varsity Blues" was ridiculous... Grisham hacks out every small town stereotype in this novel. I read this after having it recommended to me by several coaches who work in my school. Typical. This book is written for those who read a book maybe once a year. The dialogue is ridiculous, the story line trite, and the characters are so stereotypical, it's insulting. Save yourself the trouble! bad book. dont waste your time Dont waste your time reading this book. It has nothing....storyline, suspense or even effort. Waste of time and money.