Sooley

By John Grisham, Doubleday, 2021, 355 pages
Reviewed by Dave Kern, April 17,2023

As March Madness was rocking the world with upsets on the basketball courts, I was reading a fantasy about an underdog making the Final Four.

“Sooley” is a tale about a talent from South Sudan who, by coming to America, escapes poverty and likely death.

You find 17-year-old Samuel Sooleymon spending hours on a dirt court in the remote village of Lotta.

His effort seems doomed to make the South Sudan team, which will travel to Washington, D.C., for a showcase tournament. Although his shooting is poor and he’s undersized at 6-foot-2, he is the fastest and best leaper at the tryouts.

The coach sees potential, and Sooley is off to the United States.

But soon his village is ransacked and burned by rebels. His father is killed, and his sister is missing. His mother and two young brothers walk for miles to escape. They finally make it to a refugee camp.

Grisham spends time describing the dire conditions in the enormous tent city, whose source of relief is the work of Doctors Without Borders. The reader learns of the difficulties faced by those seeking passage to America, and trials of getting messages and money to loved ones in refugee camps.

Sooley’s coach and mentor talks the coach of North Carolina State into taking a chance on the gifted but raw teenager. He rides the bench for half the season and then becomes a star, leading NC State to the college basketball’s brightest stage.

Grisham uses real teams to add believability to the story. I was impressed when he had Oregon beating Kansas in the 2017 tournament.

Grisham told a reviewer that Sooley is roughly based on the life of Mamadi Diakite, a Guinean who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This is the fourth sports novel by Grisham. In an author’s note he writes he wanted to be a great basketball player but lacked the talent.

Grisham has written at least 50 books, mostly courtroom thrillers. As of 2022, he had written 28 No. 1 bestsellers, so there probably are a lot of basketball players who would love to trade places with him.

I enjoyed “Sooley.” It was easy escapism.