A book that pasta be read! (Playing for Pizza - John Grisham)

Member Name: pania22

Product:	Playing for Pizza - John Grisham
Date:	10/06/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Light, refreshing reading from an otherwise serious author

Disadvantages: Grisham frustratingly skips over certain story telling points.

John Grisham, what an author. gritty, gripping, controversial and up with the times. He writes with such a legal brain that we often suspect he has been to law school himself.

But occasionally, Just occasionally, he writes a book, purely it would seem for his own bit of fun. Gone is the tight concentrated writing style of his legal thrillers and in comes a loose, almost sloppy, but completely refreshing "on a whim" tale. It would appear that Grisham occasionally veers away from his legal writing in order to catch a breath air and keep his enthusisam for writing alive. In all honesty I don't mind a jot that he does. Light reading books such as this and bleachers also keep my enthusiasm for his new stories alive too.

The book opens to find our erstwhile hero laying in a hospital bed. Knocked out and badly injured from an exceptionally harsh tackle in the Americal football NFL league. Branded the "greatest goat" he is ousted from his team, his town and effectively his career in the time it takes to throw one botched pass and in the process loose his team a prestigious trophy.

Exiled to the Parma region of Italy to the dubious heights of the Italian NFL league, where players play without a salary but for the sheer love of the game (and of course the free all-you-can-eat pizza on a friday night.) The story follows Rick Dockery throughout all his trials and tribualtions of learning his way around a foreign country. Not one he ever chose to visit at that! From learning to drive a manual gearboxed car, to learning the lingo to falling for the stunning but slightly screwed up italian opera singer we see Rick gradually settling into his new life and falling in love and not only with the country either!!

This book is a wonderfully light read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I do feel that Grisham didn't make quite enough of the italian setting and could have gripped the reader and pulled us in more with descriptions of his surroundings. Italy is a stunning country, make the most of it!!!!
Also certain items within the story are very quickly scratched over. The book has the potential to be half the thickness again by expanding certain storylines and certainly not to the detriment of the book either.

All in all i enjoyed the story and found it very easy to read at the end of a long day when my brain didn't feel like concentrating anymore! Not Grisham at his finest but certainly a more than acceptable effort from this fine author.

Summary: a light read for when you dont need to think too much.