Sooley
By John Grisham
Rating 5/5
No wonder its a New York Times best seller - I think John Grisham consistently features year after year in the lists of best sellers nationally.
This is one gem of a book! Profoundly moving and touching on a very deep level. I have read a few - popular - previous works of John Grisham but didn't know he could handle emotional stuff with such flair and without overdoing it. Reading it made me appreciate life more and learn that while some use their talents to reap benefits for themselves - others become beacons of help to larger sections of humanity. Sooley falls into the second group.
Sooley is a good kid. He is truly a role model material. He is seventeen years of age and is from Lotta, a small village in South Sudan. He is ever growing and is way over 6 foot 2 when chosen to play in basketball showcase tournaments in USA by scout Ecko Lam. South Sudan has always been ravaged by wars and pillaging by rebels who can't be subsided/controlled by the government. While he is playing in USA, his team learns the news that his parents are displaced to refugee camps and his father possibly killed by rebel groups. Distracted and inconsolable,his team fails to make it to the finals but Ecko Lam helps him enroll in a college with sports based scholarship. Because Sooley - although needs much work/practice - has some very raw talent that can't be overlooked - his speed, agility, vertical leap of 45 inches while playing etc. All Sooley really cares for is to get back to his country and find his surviving parents to get them back to the states. Knowing that the easiest path to immigration is sponsorship, he works hard to become an ace player in his team. Hard work and talent combined, he becomes a legend for the season and one of the most famous basket ball players with much to look forward to. But all the dreams - not just his own but those of his supporters and friends and families are shattered in an unexpected turn of events. So what happens?
This is the story of love, loss, pain, hope, dreams and so much optimism and goodwill - it's hard to not imagine that there is hatred/evil in this world - there certainly isn't any in the world of Samuel Sooleyman who is loved by all, admired by many! . 😍
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