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    Bleachers
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    Bleachers
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    Bleachers
    Audiobook4 hours

    Bleachers

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty.

    Now, as Coach Rake's "boys" sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake - or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach - and himself - before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 9, 2003
    ISBN9780739310175
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Bleachers

    3/5

    827 ratings37 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book is a departure from the legal fiction with which John Grisham established himself. In this book, a number of former football players return to the town of Messina to hold vigil for and then mourn their former coach, Eddie Rake. One of those players is Neely Crenshaw, a former star quarterback who was destined for great things until he sustained a career ending knee injury. In fact, the last time he'd seen Rake was in his hospital room just after the injury. For years, Neely and his teammates have kept a secret. During halftime of the 1987 state championship game, Rake struck Neely. and Neely struck back. The team then finished the second half without any coaches and came back from a 31-0 deficit to win the game. Neely would like nothing more than to forget the glory days of his past. Slowly, Neely reintegrates into life in Messina, where the town revolves around football. He ties up some loose ends in his life.
    • 3/5
      I probably would have liked this better if I was a football enthusiast. The non-football parts (relationships other than with the coach) were what I liked best.
    • 3/5
      As usual, his writing is exceptional. The story line was interesting, but kind of slow. I prefer the books about lawyers and intrigue.
    • 4/5
      A great read, short and for the most part a good flow.
      Anyone who has ever participated in any group or team activity , whether it be sports, scouts, church, sewing, music, etc..., will appreciate this.
    • 4/5
      Fun read, only took a few hours
    • 4/5
      The story while interesting is rather sad and disappointing. The events could easily have been based real characters. Grisham identifies some truths in life about victories and regret. I mildly recommend this book. Perhaps those interested in football would be best served.
    • 3/5
      A nice read about making peace with your history. Grisham writes well, of course. The book centers around past football players in a small Southern town as they gather to await the death of their former coach, the man who took them and the town to the pinnacle of football glory -- multiple state football championships. The good, the bad, the painful, and finally the acceptance are the story of Bleachers.
    • 3/5
      I'm not a football fan, so I admit to having glazed over some of the passages which were a little heavy on the jargon. However, I did enjoy the descriptions of small town life, the passion for the game and its excesses. The character of Rake was well defined: neither a saint nor a demon but somewhere in between, a personality to big for a small town but one to remember it by. I enjoyed the little bits of suspense without which this would have been a rather dull read.A light summer book, perfect for a long plane ride!
    • 4/5
      it was kinda like all the great teen football movies only in a book.
    • 4/5
      Over the course of the last few years I’ve come to the realization that I mostly don’t review fiction titles. They rarely stick with me in the way non-fiction titles do. However, this one is one of the few exceptions.One of John Grisham’s non “Southern law” titles, Bleachers (like Calico Joe) is set in the world of sports. Unlike all or mostly all of his titles, it wasn’t clear whether this was set in the south. If not for his multiple Packers’ references, I’d have assumed it was.Neely Crenshaw, all American everything. A promising football career cut short by an injury in college. Eddie Rake, local hero football coach. Hero to everyone but Neely Crenshaw, yet it’s the news of Rake’s impending death that brings Crenshaw back to Messina for the first time in 15 years.Paul. Nat. Rabbit. The Screamer. Silo. Hubcap. Jesse.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This is by no means Grisham's greatest work. The chapters are painfully long. The story-line may be of interest to those who are keen followers of American football or small-town America. A certain level of knowledge about American football is ideal to understand all parts of this book. I read this book to in my effort to read all of John Grisham's novels, but I certainly wouldn't rave about it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      So I didn't actually read the book, but I did listen to it on tape and I did like it. The book told of a man coming back to his hometown because high school's head football coach of like 30 years was dying. While the whole town is waiting for this legend of a man to pass away, the main character talks to old teammates and relives some of the good and bad memories.I liked the book in general, I just didn't like the fact that the town because of its view on football and how everything else got pushed to the back burner. I would have hated to go to that school as an athlete other than football.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      He never disappoints!
    • 4/5
      An interesting book, for the non-American reader that I am, in that it shows a facet of the American culture and its fascination with sport and success. The book is well written, with a load of emotion coming through to the reader at the climax of the story.
    • 4/5
      Neely Crenshaw has come back to Messina where he was the best quarterback ever to play for Coach Eddie Rake's legendary Spartans. Coach Rake is dying now, and as Neely and some former teammates sit in the bleachers and wait for his passing, they trade stories about their lives and the man they came to love and hate with mixed and equal fervor. For Neely, this may be his last opportunity to find it in his heart to forgive his coach, and himself. A fine short novel that moved me; I've enjoyed every one of John Grisham's non-courtroom books and have yet to read one of the genre for which he is most well-known. I may have to correct that.
    • 4/5
      Quick read and very emotional, touching.
    • 3/5
      I think this book will be most appreciated by 30 something year old men from small southern towns who played football in High School. As a 29 year old female from a small southern football town, I got it. It just didn't resonate with me like I think it would the target audience. An emotional read, not bad but not great.
    • 4/5
      Small Town Football combine to create a wonderful story. In "Bleachers", John Grisham took me on a trip to the small town of Messina, Mississippi, where Friday night football reigns supreme. No pro football here, just the home grown college and high school teams. The story brings back lots of memories and if you enjoy football this is the story for y. In the story, Coach Eddie Rake, who has had a long career as football coach that he built into a football dynasty. Because of it, he is the most important man in town, and he is loved by everybody in Messina and of course the players, both present and past, of the Messina Spartans.This story takes place over the course of four days as the Spartans from different eras return to stand vigil over their dying coach. The players sit in the bleachers, share stories and memories. They relive old rivalries and victories. Most of all, they remember the times, both good and bad, that they had with their coach. They also, remember the miracle 1987 game, and in the process, let out a secret that had been kept for a decade. While this short story is out of Mr. Grisham's usual genre, it still has the elements of a down home, wholesome story with a twist. Enjoy.
    • 3/5
      I jumped into this one looking for a thriller and found...well...not a thriller. No bodies, cover-ups, or government corruption - at least in the traditional sense. A man does die, long-held secrets are revealed and the steamy underbelly of championship football is aired. Grisham takes a break from his usual genre to provide us with a sensitive look into the rough and tumble world of high school football and the incredible bonding experience of playing for a charismatic coach in a small city of rabid fans. Generations of players - cops, criminals, bankers, and gay book sellers - meet on the high school bleachers to relive old games, gossip, and come to terms with their own feelings about The Coach who is on the edge of death from cancer. As someone who went to OSU during the heyday of Woody Hayes, I have some insight into the phenomenon. This was an interesting exercise - not what I expected - but interesting.
    • 3/5
      Not a great book, but is okay. Basically it's about a bunch of guys that were small town High School football stars who come together again as their legendary coach is dying. I didn't much care for it, but it was a great commentary on the 'glory days' fof High School athletes, and how seldom their stardom lasts for long, leaving them with nothing but the memories and a broken body to show for it. But, it's also a commentary on the lasting influence, whether positive or negative, a well-respected figure such as a coach can have on the young people they're around. Not a bad read, and it doesn't take long either.
    • 4/5
      Good book! I'm a football fanatic, so this book instantly appealed to me. I also live in a small town where the football program is highly anticipated and appreciated much like in this book, (though not to this extreme).Neely comes back to the small town of Messina out of respect for his high school football coach who is on his death bed. Though Neely expresses and explains his love/hate relationship of the man, he hopes to get the shadow of the man out of his head without giving up all the life lessons that the man instilled in all of his players.This book is about passion. The coach's passions for his players and his teams. The player's passion for the game of football and desire to impress Coach Rake. Grisham does an incredible job with drawing emotions from the reader.Thoroughly enjoyed this book and am passing it on to my husband and brother-in-law who is a coach in this small football town.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      I finally finished this tiny novel,. I guessit's odd that it took me so long to finish such a small book, I was at itfor nearly a week. My only excuse is that it was a busy week. Plus, I'mnot a real sports fan, either, and the passages that detailed football gameswere hard for me to read since I don't know (nor do I really care to know!)much about the game.Still, this was a good quality book. It's a character study of a characterwho never appears in the book except in the recollections of others. It'sabout a man named Eddie Rake, a legendary small town high school footballcoach who had the best teams every year of his career. But the ruthlessnessof his training, the heartless way he drove the kids and his cruelty thatresulted in the death of a boy and his eventual downfall is the commonthread among all the remembrances. Digging deeper, though, the readerlearns of Coach Rake's tender moments and his humanity. He is a man thathis teams hate with a passion, yet love deeply even against all evidence tothe contrary.For most folks, this would be a quick read, but I would advise you to eatthis thin book in small chunk and stop and think about it. It's notGrisham's best work, by a long shot, and it doesn't resemble his typicallegal roller coaster rides in the slightest. But it's a good little book.I'd recommend it.
    • 3/5
      This is an interesting little book. And when I say "little," I mean it - at just 163 pages, I'd call it a novella myself, even though it says "A NOVEL" right there on the cover.I'm a high school football junkie - as much for the human drama it provides as for the action on the field - so I thought this would be right up my alley, and I was mostly right. I'm also a fan of good writing, and on that account, well...it was okay.I think the book would have been a lot better if Grisham would have left out the subplot about Neely's high school romance, but it also would have been a lot shorter. That part of the story felt contrived, and the character of Cameron was so flat and one-dimensional as to be barely there. It just didn't seem to serve a purpose, other than to provide enough pages to qualify the story as "A NOVEL." But at least she didn't swoon at the sight of Neely and fall back into love with him, so I suppose that's a point in Grisham's favor.Outside of that one obvious misstep, the main characters felt real enough, and I think they provided enough story on their own. I enjoyed the banter that went back and forth between them, and the bond they still felt despite the different paths their lives had taken since their playing days. And I was fascinated by the Bobby Knight-esque figure of Eddie Rake, the coach they've come back to mourn, the brutal dictator they all loathed during their high school days but who actually turned out to be a pretty decent, if fatally flawed, human being in the end.
    • 2/5
      It was a compelling story that kept me reading, but I am sickened by this sort of abuse of power in education
    • 4/5
      Audio Recommended by Alan Fisher. Pretty good little book. Coming back from 30-0 at halftime seems like a stretch, but I guess it's possible.
    • 1/5
      OMG, this was the worst book ever. I don't like sports and I didn't realize the whole thing was going to be about football. This was so bad, don't read it.
    • 3/5
      A very different Grisham book. It was an easy read about a former high school football star who returns to his home town after many years. It was an enjoyable read, but in the end I felt like it lacked any real "punch" like a typical Grisham book would have.
    • 3/5
      John Grisham's first non legal thriller, and it holds up. This is a decent story, but nothing fantastic. The writing is solid, but nothing earth shattering. However, if you are a Grisham fan this is an enjoyable read.
    • 1/5
      I didn't really like this book. Although I have read practically everything Grisham has written, I didn't consider this to be one of his best works. Not all that enjoyable.