After one disastrous game, a washed-up NFL quarterback lands the only job he can get: playing for a small amateur team in Parma, Italy
Touchdowns and tortellini
Rick Dockery is a third-string quarterback who comes off the bench in a championship game and produces one of the worst performances in league history. Overnight he is a national joke. His agent finds him exactly one option: the Parma Panthers, an amateur American football team in Italy that pays little more than room, board and a car. With nowhere else to go, Rick packs his bags.
Who will enjoy it
Grisham fans curious about his lighter side, sports-story lovers, and readers who enjoy travel novels full of food and local colour.
What you will get
A light and charming novel about a humiliated American quarterback who rediscovers his love of the game, and of life, among the amateur players, cafés and restaurants of Parma.
Playing for Pizza Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · American football · Italy · Second chances
Length
308 pages · ≈ 9 h
More about this book
Grisham clearly wrote this book out of affection for Italy, and it shows. Rick expects to coast through a season, but the Panthers' players, who work day jobs and play for pride and a big dinner after each game, slowly win him over. So do long lunches, local wine, opera and the town's architecture, all described with real pleasure.
The football scenes are lively and easy to follow even for non-fans, and the climax builds to the Italian equivalent of a championship game. Rick is shallow at first, but his growing respect for his teammates and coach makes for a satisfying change. A low-key romance adds a little warmth without taking over.
There is little suspense and the plot is predictable, so readers wanting a thriller should look elsewhere. As a short, sunny escape it works nicely, and it may leave you hungry. Grisham also gives the Italian teammates distinct personalities, and their loyalty to one another, and eventually to Rick, is quietly touching. The book is also a love letter to small-town sport, played for the joy of it rather than for money or fame. About 308 pages in the Dell mass-market paperback.
Bleachers
Skipping Christmas
A Painted House
Calico Joe
Camino Island
The Enchanted April
Crazy Rich Asians
The Keeper of Lost Things
Britt-Marie Was Here
Less
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
The Old Devils