Playing for Pizza by John Grisham Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Playing for Pizza
Book Review: Fluffy Entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
This was an entertaining read. I enjoyed the characters, the descriptions of food and the football scenes. Yes, the story does not present a lot of depth and the characters are not pondering the deeper meaning of life. Instead they show that life's pleasures sometimes lie within the more ordinary and simple things.
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Book Review: Football in Italy, anyone?
Summary: 4 Stars
"Playing for Pizza" is a break from Grisham's legal thrillers, but the writing is still good, strong, Grisham-style with lots of description. He introduces his main character, Rick Dockery, to Italy in a way that educates the reader without talking down to them.
Rick Dockery makes a mess of his last game in the states, as well as his career, so when the opportunity to get out of the country presents itself, he takes it...all the way to Parma, Italy to play for the Parma Panthers. The sport of 'football americano' does exist in Europe, and Grisham seemed to enjoy researching the subject, as well as the food, drink, and customs of the region.
As the story unfolds, we meet the other members of the Panthers, and they all sound like they are characters full of heart. In the end, it is the camaraderie that saves Doherty from himself and gives the team what each member truly desires.
Book Review: For Football Fans
Summary: 3 Stars
Evidently Grisham stumbled across American football in Italy and decided to write a book about it. Let's say, an American player, okay, an NFL quarterback, just for fun. But why would an NFL quarterback go play in Italy? He must have screwed up really bad and gone to Italy as a last hope. This is obviously how Grisham composed the book and that is the problem: obvious. You can pretty well figure out the story for yourself.
Football fans may love the book, others not so much. You can learn about the NFL behind the scenes, and football games are described. Food is described in such detail that vegetarians will want to skip parts of the meal scenes. There is some guidebook ogling of cathedrals and monuments, but since the main character never really has much to do with Italian culture, there is not much to read here about foreign culture, adjusting to living in a new land, struggling with a foreign language, or any of the other joys of culture shock. Rick doesn't even seem to have much trouble with jet lag. Livvy hasn't merged deeply into Italian ways either; after almost a year there, she is still eager to practice her Italian.
Grisham writes so skillfully that the book moves along, but it's a lightweight. He can, and should, do better.
Book Review: Fumbles both football and Italy
Summary: 2 Stars
I didn't expect Grisham to be a weighty read on par with, say, Shakespeare. But I really didn't expect something as vacuous as this. The characters are stale and utterly predictable. The football writing is uninspired and devoid of any real insight into the game or its players. The tidbits of trivia crammed awkwardly into the narrative read as though Grisham took them straight from a travel guide and decided to use them no matter how inane they seemed. Overall, this just seems like Grisham wanted a quick paycheck and decided to clear out the dust bin on research he had done for another book.Book Review: GO GOOMBA GO
Summary: 3 Stars
IF YOU LIKE AMERICAN FOOTBALL AND CAN READ MORE THAN THE NEWSPAPER SPORTS SECTION, YOU'LL LIKE THIS BIT OF ATHLETIC FLUFF. NOT THE USUSAL GRISHAM SOMBER DEPTH, BUT A DELIGHTFUL ROMP THROUGH ITALY WITH PASTA, VINO AND SHOULDERPADS. A FUN READ. SO BUY IT, SET AND GO DEEP, PISAN....