Saturday, September 22, 2007

Book: "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham

The ANNOTICO Report

I love the concept of John Grisham's just released short novel "Playing For Pizza ". The novel is about a fallen American football star who can no longer get work in the National Football League and whose agent, as a last resort, signs a deal for him to play for the Parma Panthers, in Parma, Italy.

Rick Dockery, being the typical American uncultured boor finds himself culturally traumatized, being surrounded by opera, small cars, and the dolce vita of long meals, good wines, soaring cathedrals and beautiful women, and leads to a series of cultural misadventures.

Grisham says he started thinking about writing his latest novel during a visit to Italy, where he was working on his last book, "The Broker." Although it took quite a bit of research - from wine tasting to opera concerts to experiencing the Italian culture - the best-selling author says he was surprised to learn that football actually exists in the country, and as he dug deeper a novel came together.

Some of Grisham's past works of fiction have included "The Firm", "The Client", "Rainmaker", "The Runaway Jury" and "The Pelican Brief", all of which were made into major motion pictures. Last year he wrote his first non-fiction book, "The Innocent Man."

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Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.

But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback. Great, says Rick- for which team?

The mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy.

Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player- any former NFL player - at their helm. So Rick relu ctantly agrees to play for the Panthers- at least until a better offer comes along - and heads off to Italy. He knows nothing about Parma - not even where it is - has never been to Europe, and doesn't speak or understand a word of Italian.

To say that Italy - the land of opera, fine wines, extremely small cars, romance, and Football Americano ? holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday

/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385525008

An Excerpt from Chapter 1 is viewable at: http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Pizza-Novel-John-Grisham/dp/0385525001

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