Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After the first chapter, I had a bad feeling that I did not want to spend the season with Verona. The second chapter confirmed that feeling. I struggled through the book hoping for insight into Serie A, Italy, or even Verona. Tim Park was unable to deliver that insight. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about his writing style that loses me as I read Tim Parks' books.
If you are looking for a book on Serie A, Italian soccer, or Italy in general, this is not the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Life on the "curva sud" with a real fan
Review: An English academic, living and teaching in Northern Italy for the past twenty years, Tim Parks offers a colorful, rich, detailed account of a year (2000-01) following his historic local football club, Hellas Verona. This is a week-by-week, blow-by-blow account, up close and very personal. He starts as an interested observer and becomes a believer.Better that this is written by a man of letters than by a journalist or a sportswriter, Parks at times becomes perhaps literate in studying the passion behind the football fans who seem to live and die by the fortunes of their favorites. Best of all, Parks chose a season that provided a riveting conclusion to a season of ups and downs. Sadly, a quick look at Italy's Serie A standings in early 2003 finds Hellas mired in mid-level Serie B. Hellas fans are, at times, boisterous, irreverent, profane, vulgar, and, among the hard core, loyal to a fist fight and to a fault. Seeing them week by week, after a crazed introduction on the first, mind numbing rod trip to the south, Parks offers the insight of an Englishman not unfamiliar with football hooligans but also willing to try to understand the mind and life of the devoted Hellas fan. Enjoy the passion.
Rating:
Summary: Life on the "curva sud" with a real fan
Review: An English academic, living and teaching in Northern Italy for the past twenty years, Tim Parks offers a colorful, rich, detailed account of a year (2000-01) following his historic local football club, Hellas Verona. This is a week-by-week, blow-by-blow account, up close and very personal. He starts as an interested observer and becomes a believer. Better that this is written by a man of letters than by a journalist or a sportswriter, Parks at times becomes perhaps literate in studying the passion behind the football fans who seem to live and die by the fortunes of their favorites. Best of all, Parks chose a season that provided a riveting conclusion to a season of ups and downs. Sadly, a quick look at Italy's Serie A standings in early 2003 finds Hellas mired in mid-level Serie B. Hellas fans are, at times, boisterous, irreverent, profane, vulgar, and, among the hard core, loyal to a fist fight and to a fault. Seeing them week by week, after a crazed introduction on the first, mind numbing rod trip to the south, Parks offers the insight of an Englishman not unfamiliar with football hooligans but also willing to try to understand the mind and life of the devoted Hellas fan. Enjoy the passion.
Rating:
Summary: Take it from somebody at the source
Review: As a season ticket holder for AS Roma in Italy's Serie A, I could barely wait to get my hands on Parks' book. I knew that there was so much in the world of Serie A that would appeal to not only the soccer fan but also the casual reader. The unbelievable week in-week out pressure, the political intrigue, the half-truths in the newspapers, the "ultras" that make all American fans seem meek, the life or death atmosphere of Serie A soccer...
Parks' book just fails to capture it. Instead he keeps going back to the "boia" word that he seems to have a fixation on, and becomes annoyingly focused on the misdeeds done by the ultras. It doesn't help that Verona has the most racist fans of any squad in Italian soccer. Maybe Parks really didn't have anything to write about up there, but here with La Roma, he would definitely have found lots of beautiful stuff. Generally he fails to capture the essence of the entire Serie A. After I finished the book I asked myself if he is seeing Serie A through the same eyes that the rest of us are. Take it from a local, he fell and got his face in the mud.
Rating:
Summary: A Fanatic Read
Review: I am crazy about this book. Tim Parks achieves the perfect most compelling balance between passion and reflection. He has captured the voice of a true fan and presents all his feelings and emotions as they surely must be during a game etc. But what I loved so much was how he also had the ability to step out of the stadium and see the game, Italians and especially himself in a more rational and cerebral way. One without the other would have turned this book either into a raving, unfocused cheer for soccer or just another brainy analysis of contemporary culture and sports. But Tim Parks has written such a compelling book about the nature of being a fanatic as well as a dialogue on the what that might mean for him and even us. He is insightful about himself, the game, Italy and blinded about it all at the same time which makes for such exciting reading. I travel to Italy every year for the summer, and this book gave me such wonderful insight as well as a longing to be there a part of it all. I loved this book and now am looking for some team here in the states to become hopelessly a fan for and see if I can lose myself in the game.
Rating:
Summary: A Fanatic Read
Review: I am crazy about this book. Tim Parks achieves the perfect most compelling balance between passion and reflection. He has captured the voice of a true fan and presents all his feelings and emotions as they surely must be during a game etc. But what I loved so much was how he also had the ability to step out of the stadium and see the game, Italians and especially himself in a more rational and cerebral way. One without the other would have turned this book either into a raving, unfocused cheer for soccer or just another brainy analysis of contemporary culture and sports. But Tim Parks has written such a compelling book about the nature of being a fanatic as well as a dialogue on the what that might mean for him and even us. He is insightful about himself, the game, Italy and blinded about it all at the same time which makes for such exciting reading. I travel to Italy every year for the summer, and this book gave me such wonderful insight as well as a longing to be there a part of it all. I loved this book and now am looking for some team here in the states to become hopelessly a fan for and see if I can lose myself in the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Love Hate Relationship
Review: I couldn't wait to read Tim Park's latest after reading and thoroughly enjoying his other books on Italian life. To be truthful, I did not know it was all about soccer. Not being a huge soccer fan but being a huge fan of Italian life, I skeptically started the book. It is pure Tim Parks. Wonderful descriptions that put the reader right into the scene. His characters are authentic and his analogies of the game and Italian history and politics insightful. That's the love part. The part I didn't love was his
constant use of Italian profanity. To me it was just too much. Authentic maybe but unnecessary to make his point. A worthwhile read nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Love Hate Relationship
Review: I couldn't wait to read Tim Park's latest after reading and thoroughly enjoying his other books on Italian life. To be truthful, I did not know it was all about soccer. Not being a huge soccer fan but being a huge fan of Italian life, I skeptically started the book. It is pure Tim Parks. Wonderful descriptions that put the reader right into the scene. His characters are authentic and his analogies of the game and Italian history and politics insightful. That's the love part. The part I didn't love was his
constant use of Italian profanity. To me it was just too much. Authentic maybe but unnecessary to make his point. A worthwhile read nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: perfect companion to Italian vacation
Review: I happened to buy this book at Heathrow on the way to a 3-week vacation in Italy. I have never read any of Tim Parks' books before and don't know much about soccer (I am an american) but really enjoyed reading this book regardless. I could not put it down, which is saying a lot when you consider the distractions while on vacation in Italy. The book is a little odd in the way that it ignores "The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro" and tries to be something other than the McGinniss book, which I am really looking forward to reading. Parks tries hard to convince himself that a book about the players' lives would not be interesting. The author also seems to struggle with his allegiance to a group
of fans who are notoriously racist, reminding us for example that he has taught his son not to taunt the black players. The book is written in "real-time" as a diary and throughout much of it Parks searches for a theme, trying to decide what kind
of book he is writing, about the fans, the players, sports as a substitute for religion. Ultimately what makes this book
interesting is that it is about Italy.
Rating:
Summary: perfect companion to Italian vacation
Review: I happened to buy this book at Heathrow on the way to a 3-week vacation in Italy. I have never read any of Tim Parks' books before and don't know much about soccer (I am an american) but really enjoyed reading this book regardless. I could not put it down, which is saying a lot when you consider the distractions while on vacation in Italy. The book is a little odd in the way that it ignores "The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro" and tries to be something other than the McGinniss book, which I am really looking forward to reading. Parks tries hard to convince himself that a book about the players' lives would not be interesting. The author also seems to struggle with his allegiance to a group
of fans who are notoriously racist, reminding us for example that he has taught his son not to taunt the black players. The book is written in "real-time" as a diary and throughout much of it Parks searches for a theme, trying to decide what kind
of book he is writing, about the fans, the players, sports as a substitute for religion. Ultimately what makes this book
interesting is that it is about Italy.
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