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. I knew that if anyone was going to make me actually give a shit about football, it was Ronan Hession. Thank god, because I went into this with sky-high expectations and I would've been crushed if it had been anything other than utterly fantastic. Panenka has spent 25 years living with the disastrous mistakes of his past, which have made him an exile in his home town and cost him his dearest relationships. His name was Joseph, but for years they had called him Panenka, a name that was his sadness and his story.

Panenka is a subtle masterpiece: the fascinating painting on the cover art could not be more appropriate. With careful, intentional strokes, Hession paints a word-portrait of a man who is neither better nor worse than any of us: he is simply a flawed human being who has made mistakes, who faces obstacles, who tries to live his life in relation to those around him. A good heart beats at the centre of this book, and though Panenka is sadder in tone than Hession’s first novel, it still has that warm glow of gentle faith in humanity, in the power of connection, in finding a way in the world that makes sense for each one of us. It is a beautiful book, and I loved it. The artwork on the cover is so intense. It is clearly a man but yet we cannot see beyond the brushstroke. We cannot make out the features. We cannot derive a personality. We need to make our own interpretation of what we see and this does change over the course of the book.Size çok büyük bir kitaptan bahsedemem belki ama insanın yorgunluğunu alan, içine dinginlik veren, huzurlu hissettiren bir kitaptan bahsedebilirim, Panenka. We currently find him at 50 as he tries to rebuild his life with his estranged daughter and a new relationship while suffering from crippling headaches he refers to as the Iron Mask. This is a sad story as we not only follow Panenka but other characters as we see everyone live with the difficulties of life. His name was Joseph, but for years they had called him Panenka, a name that was his sadness and his story ." The care that Hession takes in this book is evident firstly in the beautifully rounded cast of characters. Everyone gets their turn; every character is lavished with attention. We are given little insights into their situation, their feelings, their true selves that shine a spotlight on even the most minor characters. It is a kind of generosity of spirit from the author, it seems to me, and it makes the book teem with life. The second type of care that is obvious in this book is the attention Hession pays to language. I know Ronan Hession is an avid reader of translated fiction; I suspect he is also a linguist, for he has clearly has an utter delight and amusement in language, a love of words, and of turning them over to examine their hidden sides, and it makes reading his prose a joy. In terms of the story, this careful approach to language manifests itself most affectingly when Esther and Panenka converse. Esther is a wonderful character: I loved her deeply, and the way she talks to Panenka and draws him out made me think, on more than one occasion, that if we all spoke to each other like that, life would be better. Words matter, and when we choose them as carefully as Esther does (with Hession at the helm), we can change lives.

Life as a series of vignettes alluding to no real development, until you can sit and reflect, is an amazing way of living. Rónán Hession is an exceptional writer. He creates the most beautiful stories with the most gorgeous, yet ordinary, characters and, with a stroke of a pen, captures the reader and immerses them completely into his world. In Panenka, each character has its own distinct role, all creating a picture-perfect cast for the scene in hand. Simplicity is key. Subtlety is important. There is nothing, or no-one, loud or brash looking for your undivided attention over another. Building relationships and trust are very strong themes running through the book, with a human vulnerability of exposing feelings to others a very central element.And the writing is eminently quotable – some of my favourite similies included: “His usual fluency on subjects of all kinds was contracting into a narrow cycle of repetitive thoughts as he attempted to solve the problem of that cursed season by going over and over his strategy obsessively, as though trying to find the one blown bulb in a string of Christmas lights.” And “The evening played out as it always did, like a non-recurring decimal, each thought causing the next, onwards without resolution.” Panenka has spent 25 years living with his disastrous mistakes and begins to rebuild an improvised family life with his estranged daughter and her seven year old son. Faced with losing everything, he meets Esther, and together, they find resonance in each These moments seem to come from a medieval morality play more than a modern novel. If that’s the point, then the books are interesting and important for the same reasons that make them slow going. Sarah Moss There’s also a small cast of characters in novel and all have problems. There’s Panenka’s daughter, Marie-Therese who is suffering from imposter syndrome, who also has unresolved issues with her newly separated bar/café owner husband, Arthur, who has an unloving relationship with his wife and BABA, who has trouble fitting in. If my review makes this sound like a football novel, there is certainly that element, and I think it helped me connect more than with Leonard or Hungry Paul. But the novel is much more than that - like Leonard and Hungry Paul it is about self-effacing but fundamentally nice people - and Hession writes beautifully about quiet relationships. Esther is the first person to ask Joseph why he took a panenka and the answer is pitch perfect.