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The Miracle of Castel di Sangro combines two popular nonfiction genres: the sports narrative and the memoir about living in Italy. Joe McGinniss, best known for his true crime tome, Fatal Vision, entertainingly mashes these two genres together in a story about an American writer in Italy following the unlikely success of a small Italian town's over-achieving soccer team.

The soccer narrative portion of the book is exciting, and filtered through McGinniss's passion, it's easy for even non-soccer fans to find the games interesting. He does this by spending more time describing to his readers his emotions about the game than the game itself. It's a useful narrative tool, and McGinniss does seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Italian soccer.

The most entertaining aspects of the book, however, are the "American in Italy" portions. Like many other writers before him, McGinniss finds out that Italians are passionate, love food, drive poorly, and ignore all manners of laws and rules. While this view of Italy and Italians is unoriginal and cliche, McGinniss introduces enough humor into his observations to make the romanticized Italy he visits an enjoyable, if familiar, place.

The biggest stumbling point in the book is the ending. As in several other McGinniss books, and as discussed in Janet Malcolm's excellent The Journalist and the Murderer The Journalist and the Murderer (about McGinniss's relationship with Jeffrey MacDonald, the subject of Fatal Vision Fatal Vision) The Miracle of Castel di Sangro ultimately is about betrayal. In this case, at least on the surface, the team he loves and follows and writes about betrays him. However, because of McGinniss's history and his embrace of cliches about Italian life, some readers might wonder if he set himself up from the beginning, hoping to believe in a story and a team that was too good to be true.

The story of the Miracle of Castel di Sangro is an unbelievably rich one, with characters and events almost too good to be true. However, that story is ruined by egotism of the author. He inserts himself into the story on every occasion. Events that you would like to hear more about are presented as just an aside to a story that focuses on his actions and heroism. I do not buy into the notion that this was a literary device used to show his delving into madness over the team; it is distracting and very unattractive.

If you have interest in soccer or Italian culture, the story alone makes it a worthwhile read. Just be prepared to endure long, drawn-out, personal diatribes of the narcissistic author.

When our book group chose this book, I was totally prepared not to like it. To my surprise, I very much enjoyed the book. The writing style is entertaining while being informative. McGinnis explains the world of European soccer so even a complete novice can understand it. His descriptions of the people are terrific and bring the story alive. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story whether you are a sports fan or not.

The subject matter could not have been better. The story of a small impoverished town and their miracle soccer team that not only made it close to the top of Italian soccer, but managed to survive for one year in a league that included some of the Giants of the game. The author painted a picture of wonderful simple people, the beauty of the game of soccer, and provided some very nice insight in to Italian culture.

Joe McGinnis spent one season living in the small town of Castel di Sangro among the members of their soccer team. Unfortunately, he spent much of the book talking about how he knew so much more than the coach, owner, and general manager. Further he went on to continually describe how he constantly voiced his "superior" opinion to these people and acted resentful that they did not hold his opinion in higher regard.

Ultimately, he burned all his bridges by squaking about town of a payoff that had occurred in a final game that was meaningless to Castel di Sangro. I don't believe in payoffs but it appears that it was an unfortunate reality within the power structure described in the book. McGinnis described how he pointed fingers and cast judgement on the many people that were simply "pawns" in the scheme. His actions may have been admirable in his own city, state,or country, but as a guest in a completely foreign land he came off like a real two faced jackass.

As a junior high school student in 1980, I used to love Alaska. I read his book "Going to Extremes". It was a description of Alaska based on his experience. It tended to focus on lots of drugs, sex, and greed. While this was certainly present in 1970/s Alaska, there were many less cynical dimensions to the place. McGinnis failed to recognize much but the cynical and ugly. It looks like he didn't change much in twenty years.

A lovely book that some have poo-poo'ed due to the "ignorant 'Merikan" injecting himself into the story. Well, that's part of the charm-I genuinely enjoyed following the bumbling Joe through his journey round the team, management, and village. I think it adds to the tale, I'm not sure if the story would have been as interesting if written from the neutral and detached viewpoint. Regardless, Joe's perspective as a soccah-greenhorn is fresh and different. I love this book and seem to re-read it often, as I am in the process of learning the Italian language. My only criticism of the author is his reaction at the end of the season and seemingly abrupt ending to the novel-though it's not worth more than a passing mention in a review. A fine read, and a wise investment-it's worth it.