alanbweaver's Full Review: John Grisham - Playing for Pizza
This is a sporting novel where you don’t need to be a sports fan. John Grisham is best known for his taut (albeit predictable) legal thriller novels. He has left this genre more than a couple of times with some good results. I didn’t read Bleachers (baseball novel) and a slice of life novel a few years ago. This past year he ventured into non-fiction with The Innocent Man.
This book falls at the top third of his writing. It is a light hearted story about Rick Dockery, a rather incompetent football player. Nonetheless, he is endearing in his clutzy way. He wakes up with a concussion in the hospital. He single handedly loses the Cleveland Brown’s chance for the superbowl with his incompetency in the game. Oh my! The plot thickens fast when his agent tells him he’s fired! I wonder why??? I’d like to know how he’s managed to be in the game for all these years when he gets scrapped every year. That agent of his must be a miracle worker. This part of the book surprises me, it is incomprehensible but after suspending my disbelief at this section, I enjoyed the book quite a bit.
I’m not a fan of sports. I do go to a superbowl party every year and do know what a touchdown is. The book is amusing.
Rick is a washout at the age of 28 and his only chances of playing again is going to Parma, Italy to be the starting quarterback for the Panthers. There are quite a few characters, a few minor subplots. The subplots include a vicious and flabby sports writer, the agent with a heart of polyester, the beautiful but untalented opera star he falls in love with, and the members of his team.
Grisham is in love with Italy. He got involved with Italy a few years ago with The Broker (correct me if I’m wrong on that one?!) wherein the hero has to learn the language, dress the style, and eat the food properly. This book has some of the requisite scenes wherein Rick has to learn how to drive stick shift and park a very compact Fiat. Scenes of dinners are numerous in the book where there is a wonderful description of the cuisine that Italy has to offer. If you were to delete these slice of life scenes from the book, it’d be even shorter.
However, they do add a bit of flavor to the book and there seems to be an authenticity to the Italian quality of the book. Rick comes across as a sweet and unfocused kid who is trying to live his high school dreams on the field. There are a few touching scenes where you see him growing up into a man, learning more about the game than just winning, as he learns how to partner, put his ego aside, and deal with others who are less than perfect.
It’s a happy book, it deals with people in not the best situations and how they deal with them. There is some suspense (will The Parma Panthers win the Italian Superbowl?), characters are somewhat lovable (except for the asinine sports writer out to get Rick). There are several sport scenes in the book which seem to be well written. I’m not a jock; I was able to understand everything that occurred. They advance the story line.
In a nutshell, the central part of this story is adorable but disheveled Rick and his travails as a quarterback and an expatriate working his way through Italy and their culture. Scenes are amusing and definitely humorous. Anyone who has suffered with a stalling stick shift can definitely relate!
Although the book takes some predictable plot twists, there are more than a couple of surprises in the book. What I thought would happen in the book did NOT happen. (I am not giving away any of the plot in this quick review). What I will say is that the book does not end with everything resolved. Life itself is never resolved; there are a lot of questions at the end. I doubt that Grisham will write a sequel, but he has certainly left himself open. Thank goodness Grisham is not into sequels. Maybe when he gets writer’s block in another decade, he may follow up.
A departure from his acclaimed legal thrillers, Grisham s #1 New York Times bestseller about an American s introduction to Italian football and food i...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.