Pizza Super Bowl
Playing for Pizza. John Grisham. A novel about American football and Italy.
'Playing for Pizza' is about an American football player who finds that he's past the chance of making the big time. After blowing yet another game for his team, his agent finds him refuge and a small fee playing for the Parma Panthers in Italy.
The story is full of American football jargon, but don't let that put you off picking it up. After a while you get to understand a fair bit of it.
Even if you don't, the core of the yarn is about a guy who has a basic decency and learns that Italy is more than a foreign country where they speak funny.
Grisham draws his main character deftly, but gently. The others in the story, mostly Italians who play the very minority game in their home country with a typical passion and enthusiasm, are a little less clear. But you do get to know them well enough despite this.
The plot is uncomplicated, its resolution is as most of us might have expected. But it is a story as delicious as some of the very detailed Italian dishes and wines which are an intrinsic part of it.
Which last just underlines the fact that Grisham probably enjoys his Italy, and 'Playing for Pizza' was his way of saying thanks.
