The Miracle of Castel di Sangro : A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy

by Joe Mcginniss

Release Date: 06 June, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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Great read, good account of Italian soccer

Like Joe McGinniss, I also was captivated by European soccer, and specifically Roberto Baggio, starting with the 1994 World Cup. Since then, I have had a voracious appetite for all information regarding Italian soccer. Thus, the book jacket caught my eye. I knew Castel di Sangro had a lower division soccer team, since they had just lost to Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia. While I was delighted to find this book on an Italian soccer team, I was even more delighted to discover that the book is very well written with plenty of drama and humor.

The main criticisms of the book have to do with the author's actions, as opposed to the literary content. However, I feel I must defend the author for his audacity to suggest tactics to the coach, and for his treatment of the scandal at the end. McGinniss certainly knew he would look like a fool to his readers by writing about his tactical conversations with the coach. His point was not to tell the world he is the foremost expert on soccer, but rather to convey his near mindless obsession with the game and "his" team. Also, his suggestions were not entirely off-base (although inappropriate), since the Italian media constantly criticize coaches for their cautious style of play, and Italian national coaches are always being fired for just such strategy. But for his conversations with the coach, we never would have learned that Italians have four or five different ways of expressing the same vulgar statement.

As for the scandal, readers from Italy or other countries outside America must understand the culture of sports betting in the U.S. One of the most popular baseball players ever, Pete Rose, was banned for life for simply betting on baseball, let alone actually fixing a game. While McGinniss may have overreacted and imposed his ethnocentric morals on a foreign country's game, match-fixing is a major problem in world soccer and should be exposed. The soccer-mad fans deserve better considering their devotion to their teams. That's my ethnocentric view.

An Unmiraculous Read

This book has a hilarious beginning and I was all set to enjoy the book until the author's character started to seep through the pages of the story. The author's behavior was just like the stereotype of the "Ugly American" and I was embarrassed at his actions. The book was an interesting portrayal of a small town in Italy, and the antidotes of the town's citizens and the soccer players were interesting and well written. I do not know anything about soccer and I found the descriptions of the games tedious and boring. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not a soccer fan. The author recounted conversations in Italian, and then translated the Italian into English. A small dose of this is ok for effect, but when most of the conversations are presented in this manner, it becomes monotonous.