PLAYING FOR PIZZA BY JOHN GRISHAM
Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the deciding game at the climax of the season, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughing stock and, of course, was dropped by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.
But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, finds a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Arnie finally finds him a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback. Great, says Rick - for which team?
The mighty Parma Panthers of Parma, Italy
Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a player from the home of American football at their helm. So Rick reluctantly agrees to play for the Panthers - at least until a better offer comes along - and heads off to Italy. He knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is), has never been to Europe, and doesn't speak or understand a word of Italian.
To say that Italy - the land of opera, fine wines, extremely small cars, romance and football americano - hold a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.
MY THOUGHTS
Not much happened
Learned a lot about Italy, especially its people
American football lingo left me floundering
Expected, but satisfying, ending.
When my mam gave me this book, I was intrigued. An adult book? By the number one bestselling author (is it just me, or do they all say that?) John Grisham? With a big picture of him on the back? I was in for a wild ride.
Except I wasn’t. Nothing happened. It was the story of what happened to Rick in Italy, but there were no twists, no turns, nothing exciting.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a good read, but nothing special. I was a bit let down, because John Grisham is a popular author and my mam likes him.
I enjoyed the Italian characters. I loved their feistiness, their passion. This book made me want to visit Italy, just not with Rick Dockery.
I found him boring and kind of shallow. He didn’t have anything to him, he was just an American football player. I found that annoying, especially since he was the main character. I was looking for something interesting, some personality, but found little.
It was strange - I found the writing style pretty good, and liked the secondary characters, but Rick himself was a major let-down.
This next one is just me but I was kind of lost when they were actually on the playing field. I know less about American football than Rick knew about Parma. This took away from the book for me, because I had no idea what was going on.
It had quite the happy ending, which was nice, if not a little boring. I was satisfied, but not fulfilled with it. There’s not much I can say about it that doesn’t ruin it but it was expected. I’ll leave it at that.
All in all, even though I’ve kind of bashed for the past few paragraphs, I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t read it, but don’t put it at the top of your ‘to-read’ pile. Maybe use it as a break if you’ve been reading overly depressing books for a while.
STATS
Score: 65/100
Age: 13+ (Mature content)
Genre: Adult
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