“This was my first Grisham non-legal book. I enjoyed it. I know enough about football , and enjoy watching football, to follow along. LIke Joscelyn, I was disappointed with the love storyline. I would recommend this as a read on the plane, by the pool, just want something light novel. I think it would be a good one for high school age boys who may not enjoy reading.”
“I did enjoy the book but i find it hard to understand the rules of NFL. Once agian a great book to keep you entertained.”
“John Grisham is one of my favorite Author. I enjoyed reading Playing for Pizza. I can tell Grisham love Italy and Football from this book. One of the places I would love to visit is Italy so all the history,People culture,love for food just make me want to visit even more. I even went on line to look at Parma and its communities and castles. Gorgeous! I give him 2 thumb up for for his vivid description.I found the bottom of page 79 extremely hilarious the practice game between Nino and Rick. I really wanted the relationship with Gabriella to work out instead of the young cheerleader.I wanted a crime to happen, and a who done it type of story line. This left me a bit disapointed, that's the reason I did not give a it a 5. I cheer at the Super Bowl game! Love reading it and the outcome. The best part was that Rick finally love playing the game, and was not afraid to sacrifies his body to win the game. He also drove away into the sunset with his young cheerleader. Ciao”
“Oh, I am so disappointed by this half-hearted attempt by John Grisham. I'll hedge bets that had Grisham written this as his first novel, he wouldn't have had the tidal wave of faithful-followers that he has today. I knew going in that this was a complete 180 from his usual works of legal thrillers, but the reader is left with the impression that Grisham just wanted to flex his sports-writing muscles at the reader's expense. Characters were introduced three-fourths of the way through in an attempt to bolster the "rah rah!" support for the Italian football team the protagonist Rick plays for. As I struggled in boredom through play-by-play descriptions of each football game (and there were 10 of them), I just wanted to "turnover" the pages and be done with it. I didn't care if the team won or not. Add to that, the main character was unlikeable at best. Fumble!”
“great reading...i would agree with Lisa M that it too made me live in Italy and frankly as the food was discribed so elaborately...i felt hungry most of the time..”
“Pretty fluffy stuff, quick read. The football was fairly authentic, but luckily it did not devolve into obscure codes like Red Right 88. (Red Right 88 was the designation of a Cleveland Browns passing play that was most famously called during the January 4, 1981, AFC playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. -- Wikipedia)”
“Very fast read. Makes you want to live in Italy.”
“Fast read for a rainy afternoon. Not a huge fan of football, but as an American living in Italy I found the Italian experiences to be quite accurate and could relate greatly.”
“I started reading this but it did not hold my interest at all which surprised me because I am such a fan of John Grisham. Some day in the future I may try reading it again. Did anyone find it really, really enjoyable?”
“It's just a cute little book. That's it; nothing great really. I never got hooked on to it and I wouldn't have missed reading it, if I hadn't picked it up.”
