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Bleachers

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Bleachers

By: John Grisham
Narrated by: John Grisham
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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Winner of the British Book Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007.

Neely Crenshaw was once star quarterback for Messina High School's football team. His playing days ended with a sickening injury. Afterwards his life went nowhere: his marriage foundered and his real estate business drifted. For fifteen years he's been trying to forget his glorious past as sporting hero but hasn't been able to move on. But now the man who moulded him, Coach Eddie Rake, is dying and Neely returns to Messina. Rake has acted as football coach for 34 years at Messina High; his teams have won 13 state championships and been on an 84 game unbeaten streak.

The town idolizes him. Players old and young have returned to pay their respects. Neely congregates with them on the bleachers as they wait for Rake to finally pass away. It is in the many conversations and revelations that follow that Neely can confront what his explosive relationship with Rake really meant to him and, in the moment of loss, find redemption.

©2003 Belfry Holdings, Inc.; (P)2003 Random House Audiobooks Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Sports Thriller & Suspense Crime Thriller Suspense Law
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Critic reviews

"I defy even the hardest jock not to shed a tear." ( Daily Mirror [London])
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Great story great listen glad to hear it you should definitely give it a listen

Beautiful book

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I've read the book twice and was delighted to find it is an audiobook. it's very similar to varsity blues but not the worse for it

Comfort food

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i have read this a bit per day i thought it was good but i did not understand it as much untill i listen to it in all at once because reading it is using my thoughts not the authors! but listening is the author's thoughts and experiences.

the bleachers

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I enjoyed the book. It brought back memories of my time in high school. Because I am American and grew up in the South, I knew of what was mentioned in the book, i.e. JV ( junior varsity), boosters, and the way small towns support their high school (American) football teams. There were reviews that said the narrator/author had an annoying voice and should stick to writing. I didn't find his voice annoying. He simply has a typical Southern accent, not like the fake ones in movies or on Audible that I have heard in some of these books. In a review, someone said that she didn't enjoy the book because it is about an 'over the hill' football player. That's not exactly an accurate description of the book. The book is about someone who spent his life playing football from a child and excelled at the game. Just when it looked as if everything was going his way, he ended up with a devastating and permanent injury at the age of 19 that caused him to never play again. Years later, he is still dealing with everything in his life, while feeling that he has let everyone down. I found Neely's journey back to his hometown to be interesting while sprinkled with a little humour. One review talked about not enjoying the book because there were things regarding the sport that she didn't understand, which I guess would put off a British person just as talk of cricket makes my eyes glaze over. So, the humour when describing some of the game incidents from the past would not be funny to someone who doesn't understand the game. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

Good book

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Great book. Simply written but emotional if you have experience of this sport and achieved excellence in your past. Makes you reflect...

Need to have played , to understand.

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