Playing for Pizza by John Grisham Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Playing for Pizza
Book Review: Great read, even if you are not a sports fan
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a bit worried when I saw this book because it was about a football player, and I'm not much of a sports fan. However, I really like John Grisham; so I decided to give the book a try. Somewhat to my surprise, this book turned out to be one of Grisham's best. It's a really great story about a man overcoming adversity and finding that niche in life where he can find fulfillment.
A nice bonus was that Grisham really brought Italy alive: its people, culture, food, and cities. Oh, and guess what! Not a murder was in sight! I suspect that's what turned off some of the reviewers, but the lack of bodies personally was a delightful change from my substantial diet of mysteries and thrillers. I hope Grisham writes more books of this kind!
Book Review: Grisham Should Stick to Law
Summary: 1 Stars
John Grisham should stick to legal thrillers.
A friend recommended this book. As a Cleveland Browns fan coupled with the fact that I got the book for $1 at the used book rack of the libary I thought it was worth a try. Obviously I thought wrong. All of the critics who panned it were right on the money.
There's virtually no plot and a lot of lose ends. The end is predictable, the characters shallow, the entire situation is unrealistic.
Don't waste your time or effort.
Only a person with as many best sellors as Grisham could get any publisher in his right mind to publish this book.
Book Review: Grisham gets crusty for 'Pizza'
Summary: 3 Stars
Pizza is a perfect name for this book. It's satisfying at the time, but the next day you're a little embarassed that you consumed it. If you're a Grisham fan and looking for a quick read, look no farther.Book Review: Grisham lite (really lite)
Summary: 3 Stars
Everyone else has given a story synopsis so I will just give my impression after finishing it....
This is nice as a (lite) travelogue, a (lite) Italian cuisine review, a (lite) description of American football in Italy, and a lite diversion for an afternoon read, plane trip, etc. I almost hate to admit that I enjoyed it! This from a real Grisham fan -- definitely lighter than his other books I have enjoyed.
Book Review: Hey ! You'd flinch too ! (If a 300 pound defensive tackle was after you!)
Summary: 4 Stars
An easy, fast read that's unlike Grisham's others books, thus the complaints in these reviews from his loyal, legal action-thriller/legal mystery readers. As for myself, I enjoyed it -- even though the descriptions of italian food was a bit much.
Here we have Rick Dockery, a pretty good quarterback that's good enough to make some excellent NFL teams, but so gun-shy of blitzing linebackers and quarter-ton defensive tackles that he tends to throw interceptions in the big games. Well, his weakness catches up with him during an AFC Championship game; he's with the Cleveland Browns and is put in as the third string quarterback to simply preserve a 17-point lead. He blows it; big-time. Hugely, big-time. Truly awful -- to the point that Cleveland fans want him taken out to the back of the stadium and shot. He's immediately cut and -- when no team wants him -- his agent Arnie, lines up with a job, playing in Italy, for the Parma Panthers. It's hard to leave his past behind, though -- as Charley Cray, a nasty, truly mean-spirited sports writer -- follows him to Italy, only to continue posting his venomous stories for readers back home.
It would have been a better book if Grisham had focused more on football than food and Italian culture as -- having played a few years of high school football myself -- I truly enjoyed those parts of the book. As it was though, the football plot pulled me through the narrative just enough to endure the opera, food and cultural difference stuff.
Bottom line? It's light reading and there was enough of getting inside Rick's head to provide readers with quarterback strategy, psychology and determined competitiveness to make it a good Saturday afternoon read.
R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University
Linebacker for the Andrew Jackson Fighting Tigers, 69 & 70