Thursday, December 10, 2015

John Grisham's "Playing For Pizza"...A Book Review

Playing for Pizza*

It's been a while since I read a John Grisham novel--more than a decade. Yes, back in the early 1990s I, along with most of the country, dutifully read each new Grisham thriller. It made being a lawyer almost sound interesting.

Somewhere along the line, I sort of stopped reading his books. I can't exactly say why except another novel with a short title about the law and lawyers didn't interest me. In this last decade I don't know how many books Grisham has written, but I found an audiobook of his that wasn't checked out at the library and I thought I'd give it a shot.

I don't know what it is about Grisham that makes his writing so pleasant. This was a great little story. It's about a third-string NFL quarterback who wakes up in a hospital and quickly finds out he blew the biggest lead in a playoff game in NFL history and singlehandedly lost the game (okay, maybe not in all of NFL history, but that didn't make the home team fans feel any better...). With no offers from any teams in the US or Canada--and other extenuating circumstances--Rick Dockery decides to try his luck in a different football league, a league that plays in Northern Italy. I don't know if this league actually exists, but if it doesn't, Grisham sure makes it feel like it should.

There's culture shock, redemption and ghosts from his past that stand in the way of the ex-NFL player's journey. Will Rick overcome his past and bring glory to the Parma Panthers? Will he get the girl? Will they win the big game? You'll have to read it and find out. It's a quick read/listen. I finished the audiobook in one day, and I really enjoyed it.

Maybe I should start reading Grisham again...

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1205297.Playing_for_Pizza

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