<![CDATA[Bleachers]]>

false <![CDATA[Bleachers]]> 5347 20 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 6365798 book 2003 Bleachers total:5234|5:655|4:1326|3:1961|2:998|1:294| 5234 16752 6418 382 4 3 false false Wed Jun 18 16:00:32 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 16:00:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 1 false false Thu Nov 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 06:40:27 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 06:41:04 -0800 2008
Mrs. Baltz

Pre AP English 10

12 December 2008

Bleachers by John Grisham

If you gave ever watched a high school football game, then you will know how they are filled with intense moments and not so intense ones. For coach Eddie Rak...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Jul 19 18:08:31 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 18:09:13 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 19:50:32 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 21:39:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Mar 08 18:49:58 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 19:30:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 26 05:00:40 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 05:02:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Dec 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 14 06:28:06 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 06:40:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 11:33:32 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 11:51:12 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 10 14:59:48 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 15:00:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 18:33:16 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 21:06:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Mon Aug 24 14:29:06 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 14:29:21 -0700 2009
Grisham makes everyone remember high school and the fact in in most school's Football IS KIN...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 10:36:20 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 10:52:26 -0700 2009 This book touched me because of the unbelievable truth it tells. High School, even though it only lasts three or four years, has a huge impact...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 17:37:19 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 10:37:17 -0700 2009 Bleachers before but I had a yen to read it again. I appreciated it even more the second time around. I was intrigued with how Grisham handled his narrative. Unlike his legal thrillers or his more recent soapbox-message novels, this story is about a legendary football coach in the small ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 19 13:29:38 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 13:37:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 15 05:42:13 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 09:55:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Dec 03 18:21:50 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 19:11:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false true Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 18:47:50 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 17:06:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Jul 08 05:07:27 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 08 05:07:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 18:48:01 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 10:39:59 -0700 2009 This novella is about a historic football coach whose lingering death brings back his most 'famous' of players--including a washed-up former college quarterback who has his own demons to battle ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 11:20:53 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 01 07:56:21 -0700 2008
Imagine the movie Varsity Blues, then add about 15 years with the full cast of characters coming back to town because the death of the former coach is imminent. That is the plot summary in a nutshell.

Cheeeesy.]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5347