dailyBooks - Sooley--A Novel by John Grisham--Conversation Starters

Sooley

John Grisham

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EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER THAN the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive through the words on the pages, yet the characters and its world still live on. Questions herein are designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into the world that lives on. These questions can be used to:

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Introducing Sooley

I t was the year 2016 . Samuel Sooleymon, also known as Sooley, is a 17-year-old boy playing on the dirt courts of South Sudan. One day, a basketball scout goes to different villages to find kids that have potential talents. When he meets Sooley, he notices the way he leaps and runs, thinking the boy might just have a gift. The only problem is, he cant shoot. He then invites him to the big city to participate in a boys basketball camp. The camp is for scouting young, talented boys to become the next players in America. Having Stephen Curry as his idol, Sooley practices everyday like his life depends on it. The time comes and the coaches have to do what they hate the most: pick the final 10. Sooley is the last one to be called.

Going home to his village, he took a dangerous bus ride back home. Inside the vehicle are outlaws and brigandswanting to ambush the bus and kidnap people. Because of this, he became more determined to go to America, achieve his dreams, and give his family the good of life.

Soon, Sooley leaves his hometown for Orlando, Florida. Along with an all-star Sudanese team, he showcases his skills to be noticed by college coaches. As Sooley focuses on his training, something terrible happens back in his hometown. A rebel group starts to burn villages, including his family's. Sooley's father has not survived while his sister was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, his mother and two younger brothers manage to escape and follow the millions of refugees heading towards Ugandan camps. All of this happened with Sooley not knowing anything. Hearing the news, Sooley almost gives up, desperately wanting to go back home and find his family.

Driven by despair, Sooley works harder until he gets recruited to a small college in North Carolina. Finally, the coach of North Carolina Central takes pity on him and offers him a scholarship. He is seen as an amazing athlete because of his speed and high vertical leaps, but his lack of skills makes him one of the teams bench warmers.

Sooley is not that special compared to his other teammates, but what makes him stand out is his determination. His family needs him, he must move fast and get them. Every morning at dawn, Sooley gets up to go to the gym and practice his shoots; when his teammates leave, he stays. He is now ahead of everyone in practice because of his hard work. When the Central team continuously loses their players to injuries, Sooley finally gets called off the bench.

After showcasing his incredible skills, Sooley starts to get recognition. He is now becoming famous, but his family's situation back home simply doesn't help him appreciate his achievements. When their first-ever NCAA tournament arrives, Sooley's coach tells them, "Men, we don't deserve respect. Yet. Respect is out there on the floor, just waiting for us to go get it."

Sooley finally gets into the game, he performs well, his team barely scrapes into the NCAA tournament as the very last seed, and now they have to play against the number one team. In the end, Sooley becomes the hero people back in his hometown want him to be.

For John Grisham, the author, the school setup has to be small for it to fit the main character. Since Sooley wasn't considered much of a prospect at first, and he liked the idea that North Carolina Central is the "other" school in Durham, Grisham thought the school and Sooley complimented each other.

Grisham admits that it wasn't easy for him to write the book because "there was too much basketball." But with this, he would remember how it was a real challenge to play basketball as a kid. Grisham was a 16-year-old junior when the picture at the back of the book was taken. During their first year, they had the brand-new high school at South Haven. There he played football, basketball, and then baseball. Unfortunately, Grisham noticed not long after how he had big dreams that did not match his lack of talent.

Another challenge for him was how the book covers eight games in the summer showcase, and then an entire 30-game season. Afterward, March Madness and the playoffs come in, and the team makes a team run into March. "You can't describe 40 plus games without killing your reader so I had to brush by some pretty fast because for other games you have to go into some detail," he said.

Although a story about what happens in basketball is challenging, Grisham's favorite scene in the book is when Sooley hits five consecutive three-point shots in a short period of time to bring the team back from near defeat. He shared how he was so excited when writing the part.