Sooley

Sooley, originally published in 2021, is a sports novel and work of historical fiction by American author John Grisham. Like most of his novels, Sooley became a New York Times Best Seller. As of 2023, Grisham has written over 50 novels, mostly in the legal thriller genre. Sooley is one of the few examples of Grisham writing outside his area of expertise; the narrative follows the story of Samuel Sooleymon, a teenager from South Sudan who is separated from his family because of an ongoing civil war while pursuing his dreams of becoming an NBA player. The text jumps between Samuel’s experiences in America and his mother’s experiences in a Ugandan refugee camp. The novel focuses on global inequality and the difficulties facing refugees, as well as the potentially dangerous consequences of a sudden rise to fame and fortune. This guide refers to the 2021 DoubleDay eBook edition.

Content Warning: Sooley depicts a death by overdose, racist stereotypes, and brief moments of war and violence.

Plot Summary

Samuel Sooleymon is from the small rural village of Lotta in South Sudan. After establishing himself as the best basketball player in his village, he is invited to try out for the under-18 national team that will travel to America for a showcase tournament. Samuel has exceptional athletic ability but lacks technical basketball skill. The coaches are unsure what position he should play, as he is only six foot two and does not have the skillset to play point guard. As a result, all the coaches but one, Ecko Lam, want to cut him. He makes the team because Ecko sees how hard he works and believes he will improve. On the return trip to his village, raiders attack Samuel’s bus, and he witnesses a firefight. A month later, he leaves for America for the showcase tournament.

At the showcase, Ecko wants to give his players equal opportunity to demonstrate their talent in front of the American scouts. However, this leads to the team losing a couple of important games, eliminating them from the tournament. Before the last game, Samuel’s village is attacked by rebel soldiers who kill his father and kidnap his sister. His mother, Beatrice, escapes with his two younger brothers, and they eventually find their way to a refugee camp. Now that Samuel has no home to return to, Ecko convinces his longtime friend, Lonnie Britt, to take a chance on Samuel. Lonnie is the head coach at North Carolina Central University and offers Samuel a scholarship, which he accepts.

Once at school, Samuel takes a part-time job as an equipment manager for the football team to earn some money. He becomes best friends with his roommate, Murray Walker, and is taken in by Murray’s family as if he is an adopted son. Samuel often thinks of his family and searches for ways he can bring them over to America. He eventually gets in contact with his mother and learns that she has stayed together with two other mothers from their village. At the camp, they are given tents to live in and provided with basic food and medical care. While they no longer fear for their lives, life in the refugee camp is very difficult.

Samuel is initially not good enough for college basketball, and Lonnie redshirts him, meaning he will practice with the team but never play in games. He works tirelessly to improve his shooting and dribbling and begins to spend time in the weightroom as well. Over the course of several months, he grows to six foot seven, weighs 220 pounds, and rarely misses when shooting. Eventually, after a poor start to the season and a series of team injuries, Lonnie turns to Samuel in desperation. Samuel becomes a breakout star and leads NC Central on an improbable run to the NCAA tournament, which turns him into a national star and gets the attention of NBA scouts.

When the season ends, Samuel decides he will enter the NBA draft, as the potential of earning millions of dollars provides him the best chance of finding a way to reunite with his family. Samuel signs with sports agent Arnie Savage and starts spending much of his time at Arnie’s home in Miami. Murray’s parents do not agree with Samuel’s decision to leave school and worry the temptations that come with fame and money will be dangerous. However, the media attention and fan adulation have already gone to Samuel’s head, and he does not listen. After he is drafted and signs a $14 million contract to play for the Washington Wizards, he heads to a music festival in the Bahamas to celebrate. While there, he takes ecstasy (MDMA) for the first time and overdoses. His death shocks everyone because Samuel was not known to use recreational drugs—he rarely even drank alcohol. Eventually, Murray starts a nonprofit foundation in Samuel’s name and uses some of the proceeds to hire a company to rescue Beatrice and her sons from the refugee camp and bring them to America.