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Arcade

A Season with Verona: A Soccer Fan Follows His Team Around Italy in Search of Dreams, National Character and . . . Goals!

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Format: Paperback


Description

Is Italy a united country, or a loose affiliation of warring states? Is Italian football (which we Americans know as “soccer”) a sport, or an ill- disguised protraction of ancient enmities? After twenty years in the bel paese, Tim Parks goes on the road to follow the fortunes of his hometown soccer club, Hellas Verona, to pay a different kind of visit to some of the world’s most beautiful cities, and to get a fresh take on the conundrum that is national character. From Udine to Catania, from the San Siro to the Olimpico, traveling with the raucous and unruly Verona fans—whose conduct is a cross between that of asylum inmates and the Keystone Kops—Tim Parks offers his highly personal account of one man’s relationship with a country, its people, and its national sport. The clubs are struggling, as always, to keep their heads above water in Series A. The fans, as always, are accused of vulgarity, racism, and violence. It’s an election year and politics encroaches. The police are ambiguous, the journeys exhausting, the referees unforgivable, the anecdotes hilarious. And behind it all is the growing intuition that in a world stripped of idealism and bereft of religion, soccer offers a new and fiercely ironic way of forming community and engaging with the sacred. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade


Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 13, 2012


Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1611457335


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 39


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.16 x 9 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #393,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #321 in Soccer (Books) #509 in general Italy Travel Guides #1,638 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Amazing book. Go in depth to a Serie A club with their Ultras!
Format: Kindle
This was an amazing book the captures all aspects of Serie A from a human perspective. As Hellas Verona battled relegation, the author Tim somehow ended up capturing all aspects of an Italian club- from the President, to the players, to the fans, to the media.... and he does so in a human way that interweaves politics, entertainment, and the sport. With no agenda, Parks portrays all angles, and does so fairly. It was an intense year with Verona, and one that makes me want to travel with a Serie A club too! Excellent book, and highly recommended. If you love Serie A, or football in general- you can do no better. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2013 by John Sager
    • Another great book by Tim Parks
Format: Paperback
Another great book by Tim Parks. Though not a soccer fan (in fact it bores me to tears) I couldn't put this book down. The descriptions of the players, owners, and especially the fans is fascinating. The camaraderie of the faithful and love of the team puts the most diehard American football (real football, where you use your hands) to shame. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016 by Dave M.
    • Perhaps not for everyone
Format: Kindle
Let me say first off that I am enamored with Italy/Sicily and the Italian culture having traveled extensively throughout the country, mingling with the natives. I had read another book by Tim Parks having to deal with Italian trains and their history along with his witticisms describing his commutes from his home in Verona to his employment in Milan. I found him specific at times but often hilarious as you can see the warm collision of Parks, an Englishman, trying to understand the sometimes incomparable logic of the Italians. I also gained an understanding of the foreign soccer fans; their importance to the sport as well as their passion for the game. Neither book was a page turner, rather an interesting book you could go back and pick up easily while following the continuity of the story line. I never considered not completing either book but often read something else in between. I plan to look for other books by this author as I think he mysteriously has me hooked. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2013 by R. Sheppard
    • Great Sports Read
Format: Kindle
If you are a sports fan, particularly football, then you will love this book. Yes, it's true that there is racist and sexist behavior on display in the behavior of the Italian soccer fans. I was shocked by how prevalent it is, but as a woman who has attended many games in America I know these seem attitudes exist and sometimes they are exhibited. I was more surprised by the violence that surrounds the fans and even the team members and staff. I have never felt unsafe at a game, home or away. Italian soccer fans run a gauntlet of threats and intimidation. But that's not why I read the book and loved it. Tim Parks articulates the almost religious intensity of football fandom, the superstitions, the crazy emotional highs and lows, the desire to always go back for more, even if it leads to defeat and heartbreak. If you empathize with that last sentence then buy this book. It was written for you. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2022 by rusty
    • A True Tale of Seria A Calcio
Format: Kindle
What makes this novel different from others is its ability to distinguish Italian football from other countries as the author is an expat who has lived in Verona for over 20 odd years when this book was published so it is from the perspective of someone who is truly passionate about the team he supports(Hellas Verona). For that reason, I would also recommend this book over The Miracle of Casal di Sangro, which is written by an American whose bias is ultimately reflected in the book in a negative way. If you're a fan of Italian soccer, or even remotely interested in Italian culture read A Season With Verona. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012 by Laziale911
    • An absolute must for every fan of Serie A. ...
Format: Kindle
An absolute must for every fan of Serie A. In fact every football fan should read this book. A behind the scenes peak at Serie A when it was at it's prime.
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2014 by Lokesh
    • Great fun
Format: Kindle
This book amazed me. I'm not a sports fan but this book fascinated me all the way through. A cultural study, a psychological study, an adventure! Reading Parks is always rewarding.
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012 by Kindle Customer
    • Sickening Hellish Verona
Format: Kindle
Seldom has a book made me so angry. It is the narration of Tim Parks's being embedded, as we say now, with the fans of the Italian soccer team Hellas Verona during the 2000-2001 season. The book starts with recounting the bus trip of Parks and friends to the first away game, a trip during which many of them get drunk, high on cocaine, purposely harass and distract the driver with vile, unprovoked insults (thus potentially endangering themselves and others on the road), get in a fight for which the cops have to be called and arrive late for the game. And Parks wanted to take his teenage son on this trip, but didn't because the boy had to study his Latin. The behavior of the fans is an orgy of hatred toward whoever is different, particularly blacks and Southern Italians, but also the disabled ("mongolo!") and Jews. But what is truly sickening is the author's attempt to rationalize this behavior by ascribing any criticism to political correctness. This represents a degree of intellectual dishonesty and moral cowardice that I have rarely encountered. His book is punctuated by the cherry-picked tale of one Luis Marsiglia, a Jewish teacher who lies about being attacked by right-wingers in Verona. Yes, women (to provide an analogy) have lied about being the victim of violence and even rape- this does not preclude that violence against women is truly endemic. And so it is with anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of exclusion. What Parks did conveniently forget was the unbelievably appalling episode in 1996 when his beloved team brought into the stadium an effigy of a black man being hanged, with a sign saying "Negro go away." Nor does he bring out that banners are often written in characters that are meant to be like "Celtic" runes- an allusion to the neo-Fascist use of the Celtic cross and accompanying muddled racist folklore. Hellas Verona continues to this day with its revolting ways, stoking the fires of the present difficult situation in Italy with immigration. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2013 by Cynthia Hernandez

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