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Books : A Season with Verona
Rating: 
- A journey through Italy with Hellas Verona fans
A Season with Verona is a long love letter that Mr. Parks writes to express his unconditional yet never biased affection for a city and its people. It's a also a tribute to soccer fans throughout the world, to those people, often maligned and regarded as rather childish by those who don't really quite understand why adults should waste (in their opinions) time and money in such a trivial matter. Mr. Parks depicts Hellas Verona fans and soccer fans in general not with the disdain often used by "cultured" people, but rather with terms normally reserved to those capable of great passions and noble gestures. The book is funny and full of anecdotes that will make you laugh hysterically, but at the same time it is also a thorough examination of one's feelings toward whatever we deem being worth of our love and passion. For those described in the book, soccer happens to be the object of such passion and what Mr. Parks brilliantly shows throughout the book is that there's nothing wrong with it. Other than that this book is a must for soccer fans, especially of those teams that often struggle just to avoid relegation, and for whomever has experienced the highs and lows of a game seen from the terrace. Definitely a book for true soccer fans but not only for them; whoever enjoys passion, intelligent arguments, and funny anecdotes, should buy this book without hesitation.
Rating:
- Chievando Scudetto!
Part travelogue, part mediation on the Italian national character, and part football memoir, Englishman Parks' diary of his season with the fans of Hellas Verona is a muddled but generally enjoyable hodgepodge of anecdotes and musings. A lifelong football fan, twenty year resident of Italy, and fluent speaker of Italian, Parks is an ably accredited guide to the myriad mysteries and intrigues of Italian professional football. His method was to attach himself to the hardcore fans of his local club and go to every home and away game in search of... well, something...
In doing so, Parks excels at recreating emotional highs and lows and retelling specific anecdotes experienced over the course of the season. However, by attaching himself to these fans, he places himself in the uncomfortable position of riding along with some of Italy's most racist fans. He tries to deal with this a number of ways, from placing them in a broader context of a nation absorbing large numbers of refugees, to attempting to show that the racist cheers actually represent a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy brought about by sensationalist journalism. Neither approach is very credible and it's a shame that Parks kind of dances around it. More insightful is his analysis of the fans as self-appointed pariahs/Davids, sort of a mix of "Nobody likes us, and we don't care" and "It's us against the world."
As the season progresses, and Parks travels around Italy, one gets a very keen sense of the deep regionalism that exists in Italy. From politics to chanted terrace insults, there's a prominent theme of disdain for the "other". Other overall themes are lacking, as might be expected from a book written on the fly, but for the careful reader, there are some strong bits where he gets into corruption both in football and Italian society, or his meditation on the psyche of the referee. Another fun aspect to the book is that it contains a plethora of vile Italian insults and terrace chants, which are often quite hilarious.
One thing that is a bit off about it, is that is only obliquely references Joe McGinniss' excellent book The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, in which McGinniss also recounts a year following an Italian. It's a shame, 'cause the two books take quite different approaches (McGinniss is an outsider to soccer, can't speak Italian, and follows the team from within), making them rather complimentary. On the whole, I found McGinniss' more enjoyable, and more likely to appeal to the general reader, although neither author is very good at describing action on the pitch. In any event, both paint a picture of league riddled with corruption, game fixing, and bribery, which begs the question of why anyone would bother caring deeply about it?
Rating: - You'll be gripped from start to finish
Without doubt this is the best football book that I've ever read. Right from the start Tim Parks actually draws the reader into the unfolding drama and story, rather than it just being a case of you reading a book and just taking information in. You'll find yourself eagerly flicking pages to find out what happened next, sometimes I read this book deep (and I mean, deep!) into the early morning rather than put the book down.
Basically this book is all about Hellas Verona football club in Italy, and their battle to stay in the top division in Italy, Serie A. They are one of the most, if not the most, unfashionable clubs in Italy to support, due to the media's overblown coverage of the club's racism problems.
In this book you'll find out about many interesting fans and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes appalling, things they got upto throughout a tense season. It's a totally factual account and that makes this all the more intriguing. If you thought you knew everything about Italian football then take a read of this, you'll be surprised at what really goes on. You thought rivalry was bad in English football!
Not only did Verona have to battle the media and their reputation, but added to that was the fact that they did not have the resources of huge clubs like Inter Milan and Juventus.
Tim Parks wrote this book extremely well, never baffling the reader or losing the plot. It's very enjoyable and added to that you'll learn snippets of the Italian language and all about the Italian way of life.
A superb read.
Rating: - FANTASTICO!
For those of us who love football, Tim Parks' story of his season following Serie A (now B), club side Hellas Verona is one that all fans of the beautiful game can relate to. Watching all the home games from his regular seat, and travelling the length and bredth of Italy to the away games with the Brigate, the press and the team!
You can only admire Parks' love for football, and we also get an insight into a country bubbling over with passion at subjects as diverse as football and religion, as well as learning of the age old rivalries between the cities and regions of Italy.
Scandals, racism, some classic 'one liners' from the Brigate,
if this book had been a work of fiction, then most of us would have belittled it as too outrageous!
When reading it, check out the Brigate's insults at the Juve fans in Turin! Priceless:
Rating:
- A Season with Verona
Maybe you have to like football to enjoy this book! I have loved Tim Park's other books about Italy, and his novels, but I found this one so tedious that I couldn't finish it. It starts really well, and has a lot of interesting things to say, but it goes SOOOOO slowly in the middle... I will finish it one day, but it was a disappointment.
- A journey through Italy with Hellas Verona fansA Season with Verona is a long love letter that Mr. Parks writes to express his unconditional yet never biased affection for a city and its people. It's a also a tribute to soccer fans throughout the world, to those people, often maligned and regarded as rather childish by those who don't really quite understand why adults should waste (in their opinions) time and money in such a trivial matter. Mr. Parks depicts Hellas Verona fans and soccer fans in general not with the disdain often used by "cultured" people, but rather with terms normally reserved to those capable of great passions and noble gestures. The book is funny and full of anecdotes that will make you laugh hysterically, but at the same time it is also a thorough examination of one's feelings toward whatever we deem being worth of our love and passion. For those described in the book, soccer happens to be the object of such passion and what Mr. Parks brilliantly shows throughout the book is that there's nothing wrong with it. Other than that this book is a must for soccer fans, especially of those teams that often struggle just to avoid relegation, and for whomever has experienced the highs and lows of a game seen from the terrace. Definitely a book for true soccer fans but not only for them; whoever enjoys passion, intelligent arguments, and funny anecdotes, should buy this book without hesitation.
Rating:
- Chievando Scudetto!Part travelogue, part mediation on the Italian national character, and part football memoir, Englishman Parks' diary of his season with the fans of Hellas Verona is a muddled but generally enjoyable hodgepodge of anecdotes and musings. A lifelong football fan, twenty year resident of Italy, and fluent speaker of Italian, Parks is an ably accredited guide to the myriad mysteries and intrigues of Italian professional football. His method was to attach himself to the hardcore fans of his local club and go to every home and away game in search of... well, something...
In doing so, Parks excels at recreating emotional highs and lows and retelling specific anecdotes experienced over the course of the season. However, by attaching himself to these fans, he places himself in the uncomfortable position of riding along with some of Italy's most racist fans. He tries to deal with this a number of ways, from placing them in a broader context of a nation absorbing large numbers of refugees, to attempting to show that the racist cheers actually represent a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy brought about by sensationalist journalism. Neither approach is very credible and it's a shame that Parks kind of dances around it. More insightful is his analysis of the fans as self-appointed pariahs/Davids, sort of a mix of "Nobody likes us, and we don't care" and "It's us against the world."
As the season progresses, and Parks travels around Italy, one gets a very keen sense of the deep regionalism that exists in Italy. From politics to chanted terrace insults, there's a prominent theme of disdain for the "other". Other overall themes are lacking, as might be expected from a book written on the fly, but for the careful reader, there are some strong bits where he gets into corruption both in football and Italian society, or his meditation on the psyche of the referee. Another fun aspect to the book is that it contains a plethora of vile Italian insults and terrace chants, which are often quite hilarious.
One thing that is a bit off about it, is that is only obliquely references Joe McGinniss' excellent book The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, in which McGinniss also recounts a year following an Italian. It's a shame, 'cause the two books take quite different approaches (McGinniss is an outsider to soccer, can't speak Italian, and follows the team from within), making them rather complimentary. On the whole, I found McGinniss' more enjoyable, and more likely to appeal to the general reader, although neither author is very good at describing action on the pitch. In any event, both paint a picture of league riddled with corruption, game fixing, and bribery, which begs the question of why anyone would bother caring deeply about it?
Rating:
- You'll be gripped from start to finishWithout doubt this is the best football book that I've ever read. Right from the start Tim Parks actually draws the reader into the unfolding drama and story, rather than it just being a case of you reading a book and just taking information in. You'll find yourself eagerly flicking pages to find out what happened next, sometimes I read this book deep (and I mean, deep!) into the early morning rather than put the book down.
Basically this book is all about Hellas Verona football club in Italy, and their battle to stay in the top division in Italy, Serie A. They are one of the most, if not the most, unfashionable clubs in Italy to support, due to the media's overblown coverage of the club's racism problems.
In this book you'll find out about many interesting fans and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes appalling, things they got upto throughout a tense season. It's a totally factual account and that makes this all the more intriguing. If you thought you knew everything about Italian football then take a read of this, you'll be surprised at what really goes on. You thought rivalry was bad in English football!
Not only did Verona have to battle the media and their reputation, but added to that was the fact that they did not have the resources of huge clubs like Inter Milan and Juventus.
Tim Parks wrote this book extremely well, never baffling the reader or losing the plot. It's very enjoyable and added to that you'll learn snippets of the Italian language and all about the Italian way of life.
A superb read.
Rating:
- FANTASTICO!For those of us who love football, Tim Parks' story of his season following Serie A (now B), club side Hellas Verona is one that all fans of the beautiful game can relate to. Watching all the home games from his regular seat, and travelling the length and bredth of Italy to the away games with the Brigate, the press and the team!
You can only admire Parks' love for football, and we also get an insight into a country bubbling over with passion at subjects as diverse as football and religion, as well as learning of the age old rivalries between the cities and regions of Italy.
Scandals, racism, some classic 'one liners' from the Brigate,
if this book had been a work of fiction, then most of us would have belittled it as too outrageous!
When reading it, check out the Brigate's insults at the Juve fans in Turin! Priceless:
Rating:
- A Season with VeronaMaybe you have to like football to enjoy this book! I have loved Tim Park's other books about Italy, and his novels, but I found this one so tedious that I couldn't finish it. It starts really well, and has a lot of interesting things to say, but it goes SOOOOO slowly in the middle... I will finish it one day, but it was a disappointment.