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| Categories | Genre Fiction |
| Author | John Grisham |
| Publisher | Anchor (February 22, 2022) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 496 pages |
| Item Weight | 9 ounces |
| Dimensions |
4.15 x 1.04 x 7.5 inches |
I. Book introduction
Sooley is a New Blockbuster Novel From Bestselling Author John Grisham Where He explained in the summer of his seventeenth year, Samuel Sooleymon gets the chance of a Lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basketball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true.
About Sooley
In the summer of his seventeenth year, Samuel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basketball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true.
Samuel is an amazing athlete, with speed, quickness, and an astonishing vertical leap. The rest of his game, though, needs work, and the American coaches are less than impressed.
During the tournament, Samuel receives devastating news from home: A civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ransacked his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp.
Samuel desperately wants to go home, but it’s just not possible. Partly out of sympathy, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholarship. Samuel moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season. There is plenty of more mature talent and he isn’t immediately needed.
But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America. He works tirelessly on his game, shooting baskets every morning at dawn by himself in the gym, and soon he’s dominating everyone in practice. With the Central team losing and suffering injury after injury, Sooley, as he is nicknamed, is called off the bench. And the legend begins.
But how far can Sooley take his team? And will success allow him to save his family?
Gripping and moving, Sooley showcases John Grisham’s unparalleled storytelling powers in a whole new light. This is Grisham at the top of his game.
Editorial Reviews
“Hard to put down … the pages turn quickly … building to a climax that won’t leave readers doubting whether this is a John Grisham novel.”
—Associated Press“An intensely moving story, told with the same eye for character and descriptive detail Grisham brings to his crime novels. His occasional forays into general fiction are usually interesting, but this one is considerably more than that. It’s skillfully written, with a deeply compelling central character and a story that is full of raw emotion and suspense.”
—Booklist
About John Grisham
John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.
Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.
Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.
II. [Reviews] Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham
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1. NILTON TEIXEIRA review Sooley: A Novel
What can I say?
Love it or hate it, I will understand.
This is not a courtroom drama.
This is not the usual book that we expect from Grisham.
But one thing is for sure, Grisham is an amazing storyteller.
There were plenty of dramas and the conclusion was truly heartbreaking.
But if you are not into sports, especially basketball, you may have a hard time enjoying this book, unless you have no problem skimming (expect lots of skimming!).
I’m not a fan of basketball, however, because the author describes everything with such skill and passion, I was completely absorbed by the storyline. I even had goosebumps when Sooley hit the basket
The development of the storyline is terrific.
I loved the main character, Samuel Sooleymon.
I was truly entertained and I enjoyed this work.
The best part is that I had no expectations. I did not read any review or the synopsis.
I went blind and I was surprised.
2. BRANDICE review Sooley: A Novel
Sooley follows 17 year old Sudanese basketball player, Samuel Sooleymon (Sooley), who has the chance to travel to America for an international tournament and be scouted by college coaches. While he’s a great player in Sudan, he’s not up to par with most of the others at the tournament. He also receives devastating news about his family back in Sudan when he’s in the US. This of course shifts Sooley’s focus from basketball to family — Heeding the advice from his coaches to stay put for now due to the dangers and limited communications in Sudan, Sooley commits to do whatever it takes to help his family, including playing for and working at North Carolina Central College.
Sooley is different than the handful of Grisham legal stories I’ve read over the years — The basketball focus is heavy here. As an avid bball fan, I enjoyed this, but can see how others may not enjoy it at the same level.
Sooley is a classic underdog story — You want to root for this young, ambitious man who has been through so much already. The story took some turns I did not see coming, and didn’t necessarily like, but overall, it was a good read.
3. MATTHEW review Sooley: A Novel
I am in the middle of a reading slump which has lending itself to a reviewing slump! I finished this book weeks ago but have not been inspired to review it . . . or any others I have finished in that time. This is not a reflection on the book, it is just where my head is at right now.
This book is another entry in Grisham’s sports series of books. Along with Bleachers, Calico Joe, and Playing for Pizza – this book helps to firmly plant Grisham in a genre other than legal thrillers. I have loved all of this sports books and I think he does a pretty good job with them. In fact, lately I have been kind of lukewarm on his legal dramas, so Sooley is some of his best recent work in my opinion.
This time the sport is college basketball and you should give it a try if you are a fan of the sport. It also touches a lot on the situation international refugees go through and the contrast between life in war torn countries and the United States. So, while there is a lot of sports to be enjoyed here, there is also a lot to be learned about the world.
If you are just a fan of Grisham’s legal dramas, you may not enjoy this one. But I think it is worth giving it a try no matter what your interests.
4. BLAINE review Sooley: A Novel
“Give him some time. He’s just a kid.”
“They’re all kids, Ecko.”
“They are indeed, but this one is special.”
…
Still, venturing out on a raw, cold Sunday afternoon to watch two teams with losing records was not appealing to many fans. Months later, thousands would claim to have been there for his first game, but the number was closer to five hundred.
The first 85% of Sooley reads like a fairy tale. Samuel “Sooley” Sooleymon is a 17-year-old basketball player in war-torn South Sudan. He earns a spot on their U18 National team and gets to play in a tournament in Orlando. While Sooley and his new friends are in the US, rebels attack his village, kill his father, kidnap his sister, and send his mother and brothers fleeing to a Ugandan refugee camp. Grieving and unable to go home, Sooley accepts a scholarship offered by North Carolina Central University. With his natural talent and limitless work ethic, Sooley eventually begins to earn playing time, and his legend begins.
The first 85% of Sooley is a joy to read. There’s sadness to be sure with what is happening in South Sudan—and be prepared to learn some depressing real world facts about what’s happening there and in the neighboring refugee camps. But Sooley is a relentlessly optimistic character, always smiling, and the reader quickly falls under his spell. The middle portion when Sooley is playing and leading NCCU on its miracle tournament run was an absolute delight (even if Mr. Grisham flubbed a few basic tournament ideas: the University of Florida could simply never be a 16-seed, and a 10-seed can never play a 4-seed in the first weekend). You don’t need to know or like basketball to enjoy this feel good, inspiring story—it’s like The Blind Side or Rocky. But if you are a college basketball fan, it’s a great ride through a one-bid league, as if UMBC was being led by a 6’8” Steph Curry who averaged 40 points a game. Realistic? No, but an absolute delight.
And then.
And then in the final pages, Mr. Grisham apparently decided to take this beautiful fairy tale and make it into something else, a parable perhaps. Something bad happens, I won’t spoil what. But after texting my wife updates of this story as if it were a real tournament in real life, when the bad thing happens I texted: “I’m going to cut John Grisham’s heart out with a spoon. I can’t believe he took this sweet story and turned it into [redacted].” Realistic? I mean yeah, I guess, but I didn’t like it. At all.
So in the end, I really don’t know how I feel about Sooley. I loved it until I didn’t. Mr. Grisham rarely writes a book anymore that doesn’t have some kind of cause angle, but the one here fits perfectly. The story of what’s happening in South Sudan and the refugee crisis there really enhanced Sooley’s character. Recommended I think, but please go into the book with your guard up, prepared for a late emotional sucker punch.
5. RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN review Sooley: A Novel
Even as an old Grandpa now… I can still honestly say that I spent half my life playing competitive basketball. And combine that with my avid love of reading… I literally jumped for joy at the opportunity to read a fictional basketball- based book by the legendary author John Grisham. On one hand I was quite disappointed regarding the non-jaw-dropping… let alone… almost mundane… basketball portions of the book. There was no rhythmic… poetic (that’s what a real basketball experience is to a purist and former player like myself) hypnotic… hoops action… that engulfed the metaphysical… or physical mind… or spiritual soul that magically and soothingly engulfs a participant or fan of this athletic… measured… physical competitive endeavor.
On the other hand… the disappointment in the “flat”… choppy… sports tale… the reader expecting a much higher quality basketball experience… is caught completely off guard… and hit in the heart with the very real story of the war torn country of Sudan. The main character Samuel Sooleymon… aka “SOOLEY”… (The nickname given him by the leading player of the North Carolina Central College football team… that Sooley gets a job with as an assistant team “cleanup guy” while waiting for his first college season to start) who starts the whole story off by being selected to play on Sudan’s under eighteen year old team that will be traveling to the United States for a basketball tournament.
The reader is quickly informed of the constant civil wars… and the poverty… and third world existence and travails of the Sudanese people. Tragedy starts early for Sooley’s family (not a spoiler)… as the exhalative pride of an entire village… and perhaps even an entire country… is obliterated by yet another civil war… that leads to Sooley’s loving Father being killed… a sister stripped naked and taken away by soldiers… and a Mother and children homeless… food-less… traipsing… like hundreds of thousands of other Sudanese in search of food and lodging. The reader is almost slapped awake… to the fact that the purpose of this book is not the mundane basketball descriptions… but the horrific… sad… predicament that Sooley’s surviving family members along with the rest of the country find themselves trapped in.
The overwhelming mode of influence over the reader by the author… is to constantly flash back and forth from Sooley’s new life at an American college on a basketball scholarship… at massive multi-course dinners at teammates and coaches homes… with “typical” Americans arguing over how many different foods and deserts to serve… to unlimited cafeteria food every day for ballplayers… to Sooley’s remaining family living in poverty and waiting in one food line after another for hours every single day for a bowl of rice.
The story is a wonderful wake-up call and meaningful reminder of the horrid human condition spread around the world… but the basketball attempt to support the story in a unique way… is close to an “air-ball”!
6. LSMITH review Sooley: A Novel
While John Grisham is mostly known for his legal thrillers, he has also written some popular novels centered around sports such as Bleachers, Playing for Pizza and Calico Joe. Now he turns to basketball with Sooley, a novel about a young man who escapes war-torn South Sudan by making a basketball team that would be playing in a tourney in the United States.
Samuel Sooleyman, a 17-year-old with raw but untapped basketball talent, was the last player selected for this team. Considering this a lucky break, he gets even better news when he learns that he will be provided a scholarship to play basketball at North Carolina Central. This was done by the school’s coach mainly as a favor to the coach who brought the team from Sudan to America. While at NC Central, Samuel’s family is fleeing their village which has been burnt by the fighting. His mother Beatrice and two siblings find refuge at a camp in Uganda, but Samuel is anguished at their plight. In the meantime, his basketball skills improve greatly and he becomes an instant star as NC Central makes an improbable run for a great season.
Two main thoughts on this very good novel for basketball fans: one is that for his first basketball story, Grisham writes about the college basketball landscape like a seasoned veteran. Whether it was about recruiting, early practice, redshirting promising freshman who likely will not play (which was going to originally be Samuel’s situation) or the NCAA tournament, nearly every basketball passage is written with clarity and depth that will make basketball fans happy. In fact, these were so good that at times I forgot this was a fictional book. This was the case when NC Central makes the tournament as a 16 seed and it is mentioned that no #16 seed has beaten a #1 seed and the same for #15 over #2 and #14 over #3. I thought, “Wait that HAS happened, what is he talking about?” Then I stopped and remembered this is fiction.
Speaking of fiction, all of the elements that one would hope for in a good fictional story – good character development, an interesting story and side story and an ending that leaves the reader satisfied. While one might say the story of Beatrice and her family’s survival during the fighting and subsequent life at the refugee camp may be the more important story than that of Samuel, it is written with the same care that Samuel’s basketball life at NC Central is. Both Grisham fans and basketball fans will enjoy this book.
7. LINDA GALELLA review Sooley: A Novel
terrible war and LOTS of basketball are the highlights of “Sooley”, by John Grisham.
Samuel Sooleyman, is a 17 year old S. Sudanese basketball player who was chosen for an international travel team heading to the U. S. A. He’s got some skills but is far from NBA ready. The scout/coach has a hunch about him…
Early in the tournament, Sooley’s home town is invaded and destroyed by rebels. His family runs for their lives, not all successfully. After this event, the story splits between Sooley and his family in an Ugandan refugee camp. The transitions are easy as is most of the reading for this book.
In typical Grisham style, there are lots of short chapters; 62 of them. The characters are fully fleshed out and we get to feel and ponder along with them. For those who love basketball, you’ll be in a tiny bit of heaven. If you’re not so enamored, skim away or slog thru; it’s not overly technical. Regardless of your status, the game scenes are exciting!
There’s much more to this story than basketball. For me, I was struck by the loss of home for Sooley. It was compounded by his loss of family and over riding need to help them, in anyway possible. He had nothing, received a blessing, worked tirelessly, made progress and thru it all kept his family and faith in focus. He’s an inspiring character.
Parts of the story dragged and were too drawn out. The early college days were repetitive and the few plot points needed from those pages could have been used more succinctly and saved 30-40 pages, IMO. The remainder is the human interest side of Grisham who gives us a non-partisan look at an immigration story.
There a few soft expletives and violence associated with the war in Sudan. It’s not graphic but it is violent. Included in this section are suggestions of sexual assault and rape, murder of family members and children. Scenes at the refuge camp include starvation, dehydration, human waste, stealing and vanished people.
Not only entertaining, “Sooley” is a thinker. A novel that could easily be a contemporary biography and it’s well worth the time to invest in its pages📚
8. MANDY WHITE review Sooley: A Novel
I know that it has been said many times before, but John Grisham is a master storyteller. He has a way of bringing his characters to life with his words. Sooley is a very different type of book for Grisham, although I have now discovered it is not his first book about sport. His love of the game of basketball shines through in this emotional novel that will break your heart.
Samuel Sooleyman is 17 when his dream of playing basketball in America comes true. He leaves his family in Sudan and travels to the US to play in a showcase, where he needs to impress to earn a scholarship to stay. He is a very talented player, and can jump higher than most other players. But tragedy strikes his family while he is away. His village is ransacked and his father is murdered. His sister is taken by rebels and his mother escapes with his 2 younger brothers to a refugee camp. He immediately wants to go home but this is a chance of a lifetime and what could he do if he returns. So he stays and throws everything into his game, practicing whenever her can to be better, to be the best – for himself and to make his family proud.
You will fall in love with Sooley, I certainly did. He is a loveable, strong willed character and he knows what he wants. His family and basketball are the most important things to him. The US is like another planet to him and he struggles to find his way through a normal teenage lifestyle. He is not a character that I will forget.
Thanks to Hachette Australia for sending me a copy of this book to read.
9. JONATHAN K review Sooley: A Novel
Inspired, heart wrenching story of possibility
When I first read the summary of the book, I couldn’t help but wonder why one of the most heralded legal thriller authors would write about a basketball player from Somalia; but the question was quickly answered. Grisham’s experience with pacing and character driven plots is evident as takes the reader on an impossible journey of a teen boy in a strange country. Living in war torn Somalia, Samuel Sooliemon and is family have become fearless, one of several qualities necessary for greatness. Recruited hesitantly by a small US college coach, Soolie’s relentless desire to be his best seem fruitless at the first; but with a coach that believes in him, he dedicates himself to the game and soon finds himself in the midst of a frenzy. Over time, Soolie leads them to unimaginable heights while NBA scouts hover. With a coach as an advisor and his roommate’s mother as a protector, Soolie achieves what most teens dream about. At its core, its an inspiring story of an unusual boy that never gives up on his dream, and a roommate whose family believes in him. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, this one of the most unusual stories Grisham has written and ranks highly with his others.
10. LORNA review Sooley: A Novel
Sooley was a beautiful and touching book written by John Grisham in the middle of the pandemic last year spurred on by the March Madness in 2020 being cancelled and leaving a lot of us craving our favorite college basketball teams at the “Big Dance.” March Madness has been a delightful family challenge that we have all embraced and enjoyed for many years, but alas it was not to be. While we all sulked and felt deprived of the posting of our brackets, John Grisham wrote a novel about basketball and what a lovely and inspiring book it was. When I first saw that it was coming out and I saw the cover (and how magical it was), I knew that I had to buy it for our grandson who has been a basketball fan since he was five years old. He turns nineteen this year and this is to be his birthday present. So I have had this book and it has been calling to me, and now the book may be “gently used by his grandmother.”
I am a John Grisham fan and I especially love when he steps out of the courtroom into a sports venue and this was one of his best. Samuel Sooleymon is a seventeen year-old South Sudanese teenager having a chance of a lifetime to come to the United States to play in a showcase basketball tournament. It is during this time that his village in south Sudan is raided and burned to the ground leaving his family in dire straits. But he works hard and stays in the United States, vowing to bring his family to join him. And what transpires of Sooley’s story is sometimes heartbreaking but also soaring as he is able to reach new heights.
“He picked up a game jersey, the same one he had shown the team back in April. ‘You’ve seen this before. It’s a plain gray jersey with matching shorts. No fancy logo. No name on the back. Nothing that says, ‘Look at me.’ We will wear these unremarkable uniforms to remind ourselves of the simple and humble origins of our people. These uniforms will constantly remind us of where we come from. And when we distinguish ourselves on the court, and we are asked why we wear such simple clothes, we will proudly say that we are South Sudanese. Our country is young and poor, but we will make it a better place.”
III. [Quote] Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham
The best book quotes from Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham
“Samuel was Dinka, the largest ethnic class in the country, and that was his first language. English was his second. His mother spoke four.”
“Four million people, one third of the country’s population, had been displaced by decades of wars, with half living in camps and settlements inside the country.”
“At least 400,000 people were murdered. At least four million, mostly women and children, were displaced and forced to scramble to safety in sprawling refugee camps.”
“Men, we don’t deserve respect. Yet. Respect is out there on the floor, just waiting for us to go get it.”
“However, he would never advise one of his players to enroll there. An assistant from Eastern Illinois was a former teammate at Kent State and wanted Ecko’s inside scoop on Awino Leyano. Ecko thought it was a good match, but he knew that his old pal had one more year on a contract that would not be renewed”
“as they watched the people. After he left, they changed and jumped in the water for a lazy afternoon”
“With four minutes to go and South Sudan up by one, Benjie Boone bounced off a screen at the top of the key and pulled up wide open from 25 feet.”
“went through a quick series of rather”
“Give him some time. He’s just a kid.”
“They’re all kids, Ecko.”
“They are indeed, but this one is special.”
…
Still, venturing out on a raw, cold Sunday afternoon to watch two teams with losing records was not appealing to many fans. Months later, thousands would claim to have been there for his first game, but the number was closer to five hundred.“He picked up a game jersey, the same one he had shown the team back in April. ‘You’ve seen this before. It’s a plain gray jersey with matching shorts. No fancy logo. No name on the back. Nothing that says, ‘Look at me.’ We will wear these unremarkable uniforms to remind ourselves of the simple and humble origins of our people. These uniforms will constantly remind us of where we come from. And when we distinguish ourselves on the court, and we are asked why we wear such simple clothes, we will proudly say that we are South Sudanese. Our country is young and poor, but we will make it a better place.”
Excerpted from Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham
Chapter 1 – Sooley
In April, when Samuel Sooleymon was invited to try out for the national team, he was seventeen years old, stood six feet two inches tall, and was considered to be a promising point guard, known for his quickness and vertical leap, but also for his erratic passing and mediocre shooting.
In July, when the team left Juba, the capital of South Sudan, for the trip to America, he was six feet four inches tall, just as quick but even more erratic handling the ball and no more accurate from the arc. He was hardly aware of his growth, which was not unusual for a teenager, but he did realize that his well-worn basketball shoes were tighter and his only pair of pants now fell well above his ankles.
But back in April when the invitation arrived, his neighborhood erupted in celebration. He lived in Lotta, a remote village on the outskirts of Rumbek, a city of 30,000. He had spent his entire life in Lotta doing little more than playing basketball and soccer. His mother, Beatrice, was a homemaker, with little education, like all the women in the village. His father, Ayak, taught school in a two-room open-air hut built by some missionaries decades earlier. When Samuel wasn’t pounding the basketball on the dirt courts throughout the village, he tended to the family’s garden with his younger siblings and sold vegetables beside the road.
For the moment, life in the village was good and fairly stable. Another brutal civil war was in its second year with no end in sight, and though daily life was always precarious, the people managed to make it through the day and hope for better things tomorrow. The children lived in the streets, always bouncing or kicking a ball, and the games offered a welcome diversion.
Since the age of thirteen, Samuel had been the best basketball player in the village. His dream, like every other kid’s, was to play college ball in America and, of course, make it to the NBA. There were several South Sudanese players in the NBA and they were god-like figures back home.
When the news of his invitation spread through the village, neighbors began gathering in front of the Sooleymons’ thatched-roof hut. Everyone wanted to celebrate Samuel’s breathtaking news. Ladies brought pitchers of cinnamon tea spiced with ginger and jugs of tamarind juice. Others brought platters of sugar-coated cookies and peanut macaroons. It was the greatest moment in the village’s recent history, and Samuel was hugged and admired by his neighbors. The little ones just wanted to touch him, certain that they were in the presence of a new national hero.
He savored the moment but tried to caution everyone that he had only been invited for tryouts. Making the Under 18 team would be difficult because there were so many good players, especially in Juba, where the leagues were well established and the games were played on tile or even wood floors. In Lotta, like other remote villages and rural areas, the organized games were often played outdoors on concrete or dirt. He explained that only ten players would be chosen for the trip to America, and there they would be joined by five more players, all from South Sudan. Once combined, the team would play in showcase tournaments in places like Orlando and Las Vegas, and there would be hundreds of college scouts. Perhaps a few from the NBA as well.
Talk of playing in America added more excitement to the occasion, and Samuel’s cautions were ignored. He was on his way. They had watched him grow up on the village courts and knew he was special enough to make any team, and to take their dreams with him. The celebration lasted well into the night, and when Beatrice finally ended it, Samuel reluctantly went to bed. But sleep was impossible. For an hour, he sat on his cot in his tiny bedroom, one that he shared with his two younger brothers, Chol and James, and whispered excitedly with them. Above their cots was a large poster of Niollo, the greatest of all South Sudanese players, soaring high above the rim and slamming a dunk in his Boston Celtics uniform, one which Samuel often fantasized wearing.
He rose early the next morning and collected eggs from the family’s flock of chickens, his first chore of the day. After a quick breakfast, he left for school with his backpack and his basketball. James and Chol followed him to their neighborhood court where he shot for an hour as they retrieved the ball and fed it back to him. Other boys joined them, and the familiar noise of bouncing balls and friendly banter echoed through the sleepy morning.
At eight o’clock, the games reluctantly broke up as Samuel and his brothers left for classes. He was in his last year of secondary school and would graduate in a month. He considered himself fortunate. Less than half of his peers—boys only—would finish secondary, and only a fraction even dreamed of university. There were no classes for the girls.
As Samuel dribbled off to school, his dreams were now drifting to colleges far away.
Chapter 2 – Sooley
Two weeks later, early on a Friday morning, the entire family made the long walk to the bus station in Rumbek and watched him leave for Juba and a long weekend of vigorous competition. They waved him off, with his mother and sister in tears. He would return the following Monday.
The departure was an hour late, which for South Sudan was quite prompt. Because of bad roads and crowded buses, the schedules were flexible. Often there was no bus at all and breakdowns were common. It was not unusual for a bus to quit in the middle of the road and its passengers be sent off on foot to the nearest village.
Samuel sat on a crowded bench in the front of the bus, wedged between two men who said they had been riding for three hours. They were headed to Juba to look for work, or something like that. Samuel wasn’t certain because their English was broken and mixed with Nuer, their tribal tongue. Samuel was Dinka, the largest ethnic class in the country, and that was his first language. English was his second. His mother spoke four.
Across the narrow aisle was a woman with three children, all of them wide-eyed and silent. Samuel spoke to them in English but they did not respond. The mother said something to the oldest child and Samuel understood none of it.
The bus had no air-conditioning and dust from the gravel road blew through the open windows and settled onto everything—clothing, bags, benches, the floor. It rocked and bumped along the main gravel road to Juba, occasionally stopping to pick up a hitchhiker or let off a passenger.
Once it was known that Samuel was a basketball player who just might be headed to games in America, he became the focus of attention. Basketball was the new pride of South Sudan, a bright promise that sometimes allowed the people to set aside their violent history of ethnic conflict. Generally, the players were lean and tall and they played with a fierceness that often surprised American coaches.
So they talked basketball, with Samuel holding forth. They stopped in every village and took on more passengers. Full capacity was a moving target and before long the younger men, including Samuel, were ordered by the driver to crawl on top of the bus for the ride and to make sure none of the bags and boxes fell off. As they approached Juba, the gravel turned to asphalt and the constant bumping eased somewhat. The passengers grew quiet as they passed miles of shantytowns, then blocks of sturdier homes. Six hours after he left Lotta, Samuel got off the bus at the central station where swarms of people were coming and going. He asked directions and walked for an hour to the University of Juba.
He had been to Juba once before and was again struck by its modern facilities, paved streets, frantic traffic, tall buildings, vibrancy, and well-dressed people. If he failed to make the team, he planned to continue his studies in the city. If at all possible, he wanted to live there and pursue a profession.
He found the campus and then the gym and stepped nervously inside. It was new, cavernous, with three full-length courts and few bleachers. There were no intercollegiate sports in the country, no college teams with schedules and logos, no fans to watch the excitement. The gym was used for intramural sports of all varieties, and for assemblies and rallies.
At the far end he saw a man with a clipboard and a whistle tied around his neck, watching a four-on-four scrimmage. Samuel walked around the court and approached him.
· · ·
Ecko Lam was forty and had spent his first five years in southern Sudan. His family narrowly escaped a guerrilla attack on their village and fled to Kenya. They eventually settled in Ohio and assimilated into an American lifestyle. He discovered basketball as a teenager and played four years at Kent State. He married an American of Sudanese descent and pursued his dream of coaching at the Division I level. He bounced from job to job, rising to the level of an assistant at Texas Tech, before being hired by a nonprofit to scout for talent in Africa. Two years earlier he had been selected to establish leagues and coach summer all-star teams in South Sudan. He loved his work and was still driven by the belief that basketball could make a difference in the lives of South Sudanese players, male and female. Taking his Under 18 team to the U.S. for the showcase tournaments was by far the best part of his job.
He had never seen Samuel play in person but had watched some tape of the kid. A coach from the country had passed along a glowing recommendation, saying that he had the quickest hands and feet he had ever seen, not to mention an astonishing vertical leap. His mother, Beatrice, stood six feet tall, and the scouting report predicted that Samuel was still growing. At 6’2″, he was the shortest invitee.
On film, a video from a cell phone, Samuel dominated on defense but struggled with the ball. Because he lived in a village, his experience was limited, and Ecko suspected he would have difficulty competing against kids from the cities.
Twenty players from around the country had been invited to try out, and they were trickling into the gym as the afternoon went on. Ecko noticed Samuel as he slinked around the edge of a court, obviously a kid from the country intimidated by the surroundings. He finally approached and timidly asked, “Excuse me, but are you Coach Lam?”
Ecko offered a wide smile and replied, “Yes sir, and you must be Mr. Sooleymon.”
“Yes sir,” he said and thrust forward a hand.
They shook vigorously and touched each other on the shoulder, the standard Sudanese greeting. “A pleasure to meet you,” Ecko said. “How was your trip in?”
Samuel shrugged and said, “Okay. If you like the bus.”
“I don’t. Have you ever flown on an airplane?”
“No sir,” he said without the slightest embarrassment.
Of the twenty invitees, Ecko was almost certain that none had ever seen the inside of an airplane. “Well, if you make my team, we’ll fly halfway around the world. How does that sound?”
Samuel couldn’t stop smiling. “Sounds wonderful.”
“It will be great, son. The locker room is over there. Get changed in a hurry and start shooting.”
Samuel entered a long room lined with small wire cages. He picked an empty one and changed quickly into gym shorts, a tee shirt, and his well-worn shoes. Five minutes later he was back on the court. Ecko tossed him a ball, pointed to an empty basket at the far end of the gym, and said, “Stretch and warm up, then start shooting from the arc.”
“Yes sir.” He dribbled away, using only his right hand, went through a quick series of rather lackadaisical stretches, and began shooting. Ecko smiled at the fact that yet another seventeen-year-old was bored with the notion of stretching.
Ecko monitored the scrimmage while watching every move Samuel made. His shot needed work. On the plus side, he delivered it from the top on an impressive, fluid jump. But he cocked low, at his forehead, and his right elbow strayed. Not uncommon for a kid with little coaching.
He missed his first ten shots. Nerves, thought Ecko.
By late afternoon, all twenty players had arrived. Ecko gathered them in a corner of the bleachers and asked each one to stand, give his name, and describe where he was from. Half were from Juba. Two were from Malakal, a war-ravaged city three hundred miles away. A few others were from the country, the bush.
Ecko’s next order of business was the most problematic. He said, “We are all South Sudanese. Our country is torn by civil strife, where warlords fight for power and our people suffer, but this team will be united as one. You will be followed closely by our country. You will be its newest heroes. The quickest way to get cut from this squad is not by a lack of talent or hustle, but by any show of ethnic rivalry. Understood?”
All nodded in agreement. Ecko Lam was a legend in their circles and they were desperate to impress him. He and he alone held the key to a trip to America. They envied his coolness, his perfect English, and, most especially, the latest Air Jordans on his feet.
He picked up a uniform and continued, “This is what we will wear.” He held up a jersey. “As you can see, it is plain, simple, reversible, something you might see in a gym class here in Juba. Gray, no color, no fancy logo. We wear this to remind ourselves of where we come from and of our humble roots. I wish I could give this uniform to all twenty of you, but I cannot. Only half will make the team and I do not look forward to giving the other half the bad news. But ten’s enough, and will be joined by five more South Sudanese now living in the U.S. My assistant coach, Frankie Moka, is holding a similar tryout in Chicago. We will meet his players in Orlando for a few days of practice before the games begin. There will be sixteen teams in all, four from the U.S., the others from places like Brazil, the U.K., Spain, Croatia, Senegal, Italy, Russia, and I can’t name them all. There will be eight teams in Orlando and we will play each one. The other eight will compete in a similar tournament in Las Vegas. The top four from each tournament will meet in St. Louis for the national showcase. Any questions?”
There were none. The boys were too shy to ask and none wanted to appear too eager.
“And just so you’ll know, this trip is sponsored by the big shoe companies. You know their names and they’re being very generous. Some of the money is also coming from the Manute Bol Foundation, and some has been donated by other NBA players from our country. At some point, when we’re over there, we’ll write thank-you notes and do photographs. There is a chance that we’ll meet Niollo, but no promises.”
They were too stunned to respond.
He split them into four teams, assigned their positions and matchups, warned them against excessive fouling, and started the two scrimmages. With no refs to interfere the play was extremely physical, and that was okay with Ecko. He whistled a few of the more brutal fouls, but for the most part let them play. After twenty minutes of nonstop action, he called for a break and offered them water. As they sat sprawled in the bleachers, dripping with sweat and catching their breath, he paced with his clipboard and said, “Nice work, men. Lots of good hustle out there. I expect that to continue because we are South Sudanese and we play from the heart. Nobody quits, nobody loafs, nobody goofs off on the court. Now, in about an hour we will walk around the corner to a dormitory where you’ll stay. We’ll have dinner there, then watch a movie, then go to bed. Get a good night’s sleep because tomorrow will be a long day.”
Chapter 3 – Sooley
On Saturday morning, Ecko marched them back to the gym, half of which had now been taken over by a city youth league. Confusion reigned for the first half hour as Ecko argued with a recreation official and threatened to call someone with clout. An uneasy truce was ironed out and the Under 18 practice was given two of the three courts. Once the youth league coaches realized who Ecko was, they grew quite cooperative. Their younger players watched Samuel and the others in awe.
Two assistant coaches arrived to help Ecko with his day. They organized the first event, a series of suicide sprints from mid-court to the baseline, about fifty feet. Racing in three groups of guards, forwards, and centers, the winners faced off for a two-out-of-three contest. All of the players were quick and fast, but none could touch Samuel. He won every sprint going away.
One coach then took the four centers under a basket for a rough session on rebounding and blocking out. Ecko took the guards and forwards and, using two cameras, filmed their jump shots. Samuel had never had a coach break down his shot, and it was not a pleasant experience. “A mess,” was how Ecko described it, but with a smile. They started at the beginning and with the basics. “Think of all the shots you’ve ever taken, Samuel. Probably a million, right?”
“At least.”
“And they’ve all been wrong. Time and time again all you’ve done is reinforce bad habits. If you want to play at a higher level, start over and start now.”
They watched the film again and again. Ecko had averaged 15 points a game his senior year at Kent State and knew what a perfect jump shot looked like. “No two are the same,” he explained to Samuel, “but the great ones have the same basic parts. Three things. Start just above the head, aim the elbow at the basket, and take the pressure off your left hand.”
Samuel was eager to be coached and tried to unwind his bad habits, but it would take time. Ecko sent him to the free throw line to do nothing but shoot for ten minutes with both feet on the floor. Before each shot he was to say out loud, “Aim the elbow at the rim.”
The drills continued throughout the morning and by noon the boys were bored. Ecko finally split them into four teams and unleashed the scrimmages. He again warned them about rough fouls and for good measure assigned an assistant coach to referee. He took a seat in the bleachers and studied every player.
By far the best point guard was Alek Garang, a well-known player from Juba who had starred on every tournament team since he was twelve years old. A scout had passed along his name to some American coaches and he was getting letters. The trip to the U.S. was crucial for his future.
The dreams and best-laid plans were to play well enough to be noticed by an American coach, who would then pull strings and “place” the recruit in a boarding school for a year of elevated competition and more stringent classroom work. Ecko knew every college coach, every boarding school, every high school basketball factory, and every rule in the NCAA handbook. He knew the cheaters, their bagmen, the schools to avoid, and the facilitators who should be indicted. He also knew that every kid on the floor right then in Juba needed an extra year of coaching and polishing before entering the rough world of American intercollegiate basketball.
· · ·
After showers and pizza for dinner, the tired players stuffed themselves into two vans and rode through central Juba to a modern shopping mall near the capitol. Ecko let them go with instructions to meet at the cinema on the first level promptly at eight for a movie.
The boys stayed together as they drifted from store to store, gazing into windows, shaking their heads at price tags, trying on caps and shoes they could not afford. Samuel had a few coins and wanted to buy souvenirs for his younger sister and brothers, gifts they were certainly not expecting.
The movie was Focus starring Will Smith, the most popular American actor in Africa. Though he didn’t say so, watching it was Samuel’s first experience in a real cinema. It was a thrill and only reinforced his desire to live in the city, but he also kept thinking of his brothers, James and Chol, and his sister, Angelina, and how proud they would be to see him in such modern surroundings.
Watching Will Smith race through the streets in a sports car with a slinky woman on his arm was certainly entertaining. And Samuel, along with the other nineteen players, believed in his soul that it was not just a dream. The Miami Heat were currently paying Niollo $15 million a year to play basketball, money they could not comprehend. And Niollo was one of them, a poor kid from the bush of South Sudan, a Dinka, now starring in the NBA and most likely driving fancy cars and living the big life.
Back in the dorm, Ecko gathered the players in a television room and ordered more pizzas. Growing boys who were tall and skinny and burning thousands of calories each day could not be fed enough, and they devoured the pizzas. They were curious about his life, his upbringing and education, and how he discovered basketball. Why had he not made it as a pro? Why had he chosen to become a coach? Now that he had seen them play, could he say they were good enough for a college scholarship? Could he tell who might just make it to the NBA?
No, he could not. They were still growing and their skills were developing and in need of competition. Some had plenty of natural talent but all were rough around the edges and inexperienced. At least four of them would be sent home at noon the next day.
At the moment, Samuel was on the bubble. Alek Garang was the number one point guard, with Samuel a distant second.
Ecko talked to them, listened to them, and watched them carefully. For young men who had seen plenty of war, poverty, and violence, they, at least for the moment, preferred to talk about basketball in America, and movies and pizza and girls. Ecko was always listening and waiting for words or comments about the conflict. Each of them had been touched by it. Each knew someone who had died or disappeared.
But on that Saturday night, in the safety of a modern dormitory on a campus, the boys were safe. Their future was nothing but basketball.
….
Note: Above are quotes and excerpts from the book “Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham”. If you find it interesting and useful, don’t forget to buy paper books to support the Author and Publisher!
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