Playing for Pizza by John Grisham (2007, Hardcover)

Playing for Pizza

The Entertainment Critic Book Review, By James Myers
PLAYING FOR PIZZA
By John Grisham
Published by Doubleday, an imprint of The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group,
A Division of Random House, Inc.
Publication Date: September, 2007
Price: $21.95
256 Pages
ISBN-13: 9780385525008
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
Author’s Books Include: The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.
Four Star Rating ****


“Look, Kid, I’m onto something here, a spot on a roster, guaranteed starting position. Gorgeous cheerleaders. Wanna hear it?

Rick repeated it slowly, certain that he had misunderstood the details. The Vicodin was soaking a few areas of his tender brain. “Okay,” he finally said.

“I just talked to the head coach of the Panthers, and they will offer a contract right now, on the spot, no questions asked. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s a job. You’ll still be the quarterback, the starting quarterback! A done deal. It’s all you, baby.”

“The Panthers?”

“You got it. The Parma Panthers.”

There was a long pause as Rick struggled with the geography. Obviously it was some minor-league outfit, some independent bush league so far from the NFL that it was a joke. Surely it wasn’t arena football. Arnie knew better than to think about that.

But he couldn’t place Parma. “Did you say the Carolina Panthers, Arnie?”

“Listen to me, Rick. Parma Panthers.

There was a Parma in the Cleveland suburbs. It was all very confusing.

“Okay, Arnie, pardon the brain damage, but why don’t you tell me exactly where Parma is.”
“It’s in northern Italy, about an hour from Milan.”


John Grisham is known for his hard-hitting courtroom thrillers. Every once in a while he makes a departure from his familiar genre, and ventures outside into the unknown. (Skipping Christmas, A Painted House, and Bleachers are examples). Recently, he has even tried his hand at non-fiction (The Innocent Man). When he does, the result for the readers is usually an eye-opening expose into matters we have not considered before. Playing for Pizza is just such an adventure. You will not find the tried and true expose` that you would expect to find from the master of courtroom suspense. No lawyers and tension between sides. This one is about American football in soccer-laden Italy. This is a totally new and refreshing slant on an unlikely idea, which brings about revelation.
Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Known for having a rocket arm, and having a reputation for throwing the ball so hard, that it was not catchable, had kept him from becoming a star. Worse yet, Rick does like to get hit; something a pro quarterback has to adjust to, or die. In a playoff game for Cleveland, Rick dies a slow death. With a 17 point lead and just minutes to go, Rick tosses 3 interceptions that result in a loss. Overnight, he becomes a laughingstock, causes riots, and even pickets at the hospital he ends up in. The Brown immediat

Third-string Cleveland Browns quarterback Rick Dockery becomes the greatest ever by throwing three interceptions in the closing minutes of the AFC championship game. Fleeing vengeful fans, he finds refuge in the grungiest corner of professional football, the Italian National Football League as quarterback of the inept but full-of-heart Parma Panthers. What follows is a winning football fable, complete with team bonding and character-building as the underdog Panthers challenge the powerhouse Bergamo Lions for a shot at the Italian Superbowl. Rick is first baffled and then enchanted by all things Italian-tiny cars, the opera, benign corruption!-and through him Grisham instructs his readership in the art of gracious living, featuring sumptuous four-hour, umpteen-course meals. The writing sometimes lapses into travel-guide ("most Italian cities are sort of configured around a central square, called a piazza") and food porn ("the veal cutlets are beaten with a small bat, then dipped in eggs, fried in a skillet, and then baked in the oven with a mix of parmigiano cheese and stock until the cheese melts"), but it's invigorated by appealing characters and lively play-by-play. The result is a charming fish-out-of-water story.

A great story about a Pro athelete who's damaged his career . He's offered a spot on the Italian team, however the salary is far from the excessive U.S. sports salaries and the fun begins. The cultural differences shape the sport, once tainted with money& accesses into the simple love for "PLaying". His new team players will play for the pizza he finds. A traditon of eating after the game, these new players have all the heart that's been lost along the way.
Excellent little story that I bought 3 copies for teen as well as adult reading. No language or sex scenes here, but watching a ruined player do his best for the right reasons,as he negotiates the "City" in Italy is pretty funny. Can't go wrong with Grisham, face it.

This is quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. It is slow and ohhhh so boring. I will say that I am a girl and reading about several (7-8 maybe more) different football games that he describes play by play is almost unbearable, not to mention his bite by bite descriptions of italian food. Towards the end I just skipped over the football games and stuck with the story. Yes, I know this is a book about football and it is probably my fault for not knowing this, but I thought football was going to be the general story line, not John Grisham trying to let the world know how much he knows about football.

If you are a football fan and know the game then this may be a good book, but for me the mediocre story did not make up for the endless football greek.

i live on murder mysteries, political intrigue, espionage, etc. a friend recommended this book to me and said it's not like any of that. i told him "i dunno, all the GRISHAM books are lawyer books and i'm not really interested." he said it's nothing like that, just read it.

i LOVED this book. my friends and i are all "foodies" (avid appreciators of good food and its preparation) and once this book started getting into the "italian eating experience," i was totally hooked. i finished it in record time (i'm usually a notoriously slow reader, but i was done in a week) and gave it to my wife. she, not being a sports fan (or a lawyer fan), hesitated at first. however she ADORED this. it's convinced us that we NEED to go to italy some time in the near future, particularly parma northern italy, for an "eating tour." we'd also talked about going during their AMERICAN FOOTBALL SEASON.

in addition to the food aspect of the book, the characters were interesting and well developed, the villians were dispicable, and the overall reading experience was totally satisfying. even not being a sports fan, this book was awesome and engrossing and i enjoyed the HELL out of it.