I remember reading Disgrace by JM Coetzee. Disgrace is a really interesting topic and it didn’t really deal with it in a way that I was expecting… Also, I had read an interview with Daniel Timofte, the guy who lost a penalty against Ireland for Romania… He hadn’t got over it. And people hadn’t let him get over it. And though he was a very talented footballer it was still the thing he was known for. The main theme of that book is life’s unfixability. I think our mentality at times is trying to fix the things in our life to allow us to move on to try and say, well, how can you move on if they’re not fixable? When Panenka finds at the book’s opening that his blinding headaches (which he calls the iron mask) are harbingers of a much more serious issue he resolves not to burden his family with the details (not least as Marie-Therese is talking about , or his friends (a small and eccentric group he meets at a nearby bar) or a 40 something hairdresser with who he forges a burgeoning relationship built around mutual identification in a shared sense of past disillusionment.

Panenka enjoys having them around, but he's still mysterious, they don't even know what he does for a living. I mean, give me a break. I understand talking about feelings and past hurts is hard. But talking about one's job should be easy peasy. So I didn't buy the premise, the behaviours and their justifications, which made it difficult for me to care. of the best and worst Panenkas ever". Planet Football. 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017 . Retrieved 23 September 2020.FIFA World Cup Spain - Statistics - Players - Top goals". FIFA.com. FIFA. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018 . Retrieved 2 December 2017.

Marie-Thérèse has one friend, Carla, who can be relied upon to ask the questions Marie-Thérèse would rather avoid. Arthur has friends, likes sweets and football, is an ordinarily lovable and wholly convincing child of the sort rarely encountered in literary fiction. They all live in a run-down but friendly part of Dublin, where things are grubby but you can go safely about your business.

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Cómo nació el penal picado a lo Panenka?". Pasión Fútbol. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019 . Retrieved 5 May 2019. As a character, Panenka himself is different from Leonard or Hungry Paul, not as innocent, perhaps less immediately appealing. He has lived life and made mistakes, and his flaws are woven into his character. But this adds a richness and maturity to the book: for all the quirks of Panenka’s life story, he is deeply relatable and realistic. He is not a bad man, but he is far from perfect, and his complexities and struggles ring absolutely true. As his history is gradually revealed, each strand adds to the picture, and we come to understand him in a way that feels organic and meaningful. This book is delicately and expertly crafted – Hession is a storyteller in whom a reader can place absolute trust. Panenka flows along so smoothly and subtly that the writer side of my brain couldn’t help but marvel at how much work must have gone into making it all seem so effortless, while the reader side of me just revelled happily in the quiet intricacy of the story. Panenka" is one of those novels that I think everyone will be able to relate to in some way; the characters are ordinary people with the same everyday concerns as everyone else. This novel is centered around the life of the main character, Joseph, an ex-footballer, who has become known as Panenka after an event that happened years before but which has followed him and taunted him ever since. When we meet Panenka we find out that he has a secret that he has kept from his family, and as the novel progresses it becomes harder for him to keep it. We learn all about his life and meet his friends, his daughter and grandson, as well as his new romantic interest. The story is told well, in an introspective way that enables the reader to understand what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. All the players in this story are expertly crafted and could be real people. This author understands human nature and can bring characters to life in such a way that you begin to believe in them and sympathise with them. It contains many snippets of wisdom that make you stop and think; the hallmark of a classic book.