INTRODUCTION
Having read all of Danny Wallace's books and been amused if slightly appalled at his childish challenges, I was recommended the works of Tony Hawks by Ms Larsbaby. It seems that Mr Hawks is also famed for his silly challenges and could be seen as something of an inspiration ... Read review
Pages: 352, Edition: Large Print edition, Paperback, ISIS Publishing
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Advantages: Witty writing, interesting to find out more about Moldova Disadvantages: Over the top at times
'''INTRODUCTION'''
Having read all of Danny Wallace's books and been amused if slightly appalled at his childish challenges, I was recommended the works of Tony Hawks by Ms Larsbaby. It seems that Mr Hawks is also famed for his silly challenges and could be seen as something of an inspiration for people like Wallace & Dave Gorman who also like to indulge their egos in ostensibly pointless bets. Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union ... ...landlocked country in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. With little previous experience to go on I was keen to find out more about the country and the author.
'''ROLL OVER MOLDOVA'''
I was always intrigued by the title of this book, having no idea at all what it was about until I read it. It turns out that our protagonist ends up trying to play tennis (one ... more
INTRODUCTION
Having read all of Danny Wallace's books and been amused if slightly appalled at his childish challenges, I was recommended the works of Tony Hawks by Ms Larsbaby. It seems that Mr Hawks is also famed for his silly challenges and could be seen as something of an inspiration for people like Wallace & Dave Gorman who also like to indulge their egos in ostensibly pointless bets. Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union and has been an independent country since 1992. It's a landlocked country in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. With little previous experience to go on I was keen to find out more about the country and the author.
ROLL OVER MOLDOVA
I was always intrigued by the title of this book, having no idea at all what it was about until I read it. It turns out that our protagonist ends up trying to play tennis (one at a time of course) with the entire Moldovan football team that played England in a qualifier game at Wembley. This comes as a result of a drunken bet from a friend of his, the comedian Arthur Smith, formed whilst watching England hand out a routine thrashing in the game over a few pints of lager. Tony was a quite handy junior tennis player, and he reasoned that being good at football might not be an advantage when it came to tennis without specific tennis coaching. His friend reasoned that athletes are athletes and their skills should be fully transferable. Tony travelled to Moldova to find out fuelled by the challenge from Arthur.
MOLDOVA FOR BEGINNERS
Having conducted extensive research into the country by introducing himself to a Beatles tribute band with a Moldovan member he somehow managed to track down, Tony sets out to Moldova with some names to contact when he arrives. Basing himself in a media centre, where he causes great bemusement all round with his odd task in hand, he enlists the help of a local translator who shares much of his journey, but little of his enthusiasm. You do wonder if Tony is better off without him at times, even if he can't speak much of the native Romanian (though makes a game attempt to learn some). It seems that nothing is simple in Moldova, and meeting the players turns out to be quite a task. At one stage it involves travelling into an almost lawless region run by the Russian speaking populace, where Tony is the guest of a very shady club president, who has his own ideas about how Tony can help his business ...
Tony does manage to blag his way into the realms of the national team and enjoys quite a rapport with some of the backroom staff, which helps his somewhat at times. But it doesn't end in Moldova, as not all the players are based at home (or if they are, available there) so our story also takes us to Northern Ireland and Israel; something of a contrast to Moldova in many ways.
FAMILY MAN
It's when Tony stays with a Moldovan family in the capital of Chisinau, found via his contacts, that for me provides the heart-warming aspect of the book. You get to know and love the 4 members of the family; Grigore, a hard working doctor at the city's state hospital, so badly paid that his income is supplemented by gifts from his patients such as, memorably, an illegally caught fish, delivered in the dead of night. His hospitable wife and fellow doctor Dina; their 2 children, Adrian, a teenage boy and Elena, a younger girl. The intelligent and keen Elena acts as a conduit between Tony and her non-English speaking parents and this young lady comes across as particularly pleasant and charming. Adrian acts as the typical taciturn, moody teenager at first. As time goes on however, you can feel the bond between the odd Englishman and the entire family, and you are sad to say goodbye to them by the end. You feel that they've all learnt something from each other, enriched with cross culture pollination, which in itself is result enough from the book for me, notwithstanding the bet. Although by the end even they are seduced by it and willing Tony on to win it.
ANYONE FOR TENNIS?
It wouldn't be spoiling the plot too much to say that he does manage to play tennis with at least some of the players; I won't tell you if he managed to play them all, though. The results of the matches are quite interesting and it would be fair to say that Tony is right to an extent that sporting skills aren't transferable without the requisite coaching. What does come out in his encounters with the footballers is a picture of helpful, friendly and down to earth chaps, far removed from the primadonna WAGS circus we have come to know and loathe in the Premier League.
CONCLUSION
This is a very funny book which, quite by accident I should imagine, gives you a fascinating insight in the psyche, culture and everyday lives of the Moldovans. Aside from the many laughs that the various scrapes Tony gets himself into provides, such as trying to hike across the country for a day trip via interconnecting buses he doesn't even know how to find, it's interesting to see what state this country was in at the time of writing (the late 1990s). It would seem that the fall of communism didn't do them any favours; with no street lighting and random exposed manholes due to theft of the covers made of valuable metal, you couldn't even walk around safely at night. But the spirit of the people shines through and you are left with a good impression of their stoic existence in the post cold war transition period. If you like Danny Wallace or Dave Gorman I would recommend this book to study the pioneer of silly bet authors. The self depreciatory style is a well worn path now by those guys and you can't help but like someone so prepared to have a laugh at his own expense, though, like Wallace, you do suspect some of the more outlandish tales have an element of exaggeration to them. The question now is who won the bet? The forfeit for the loser was to sing the Moldovan national anthem naked on Balham high street so the stakes are high!
Advantages: Well written and heartwarming Disadvantages: Quite a slow pace
Tony Hawks is a funny guy. After all, he is a comedian, and comedians tend to have to be funny. But in recent years, he’s progressed from being “funny ha-ha” to being possibly a little bit strange. It’s not his fault, I guess. He just can’t resist a challenge. So when he got drunk one night and was bet that he couldn’t hitch hike around Ireland with a fridge in tow, he did, and then promptly wrote a book, the hilarious, if not terribly imaginatively ... ...also a funny guy. He’s a friend of Tony Hawks and has starred alongside him on the comedy circuit and on “Red Dwarf”. He’s also pretty fond of telling Tony he’s not very good at tennis, which upsets Tony because Tony thinks he’s actually rather good at the game. And so it is that one night, whilst watching England beat Moldova 4-0 and after quite a few drinks have been consumed, a bet is made. The bet is as so; that Tony can’t beat the entire Moldovan ...
Soho_Black 19.08.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks
Advantages: Funny, witty, engaging, informative. Disadvantages: Photos are slightly dull.
...But when hubby began reading Playing The Moldovans At Tennis, I found my linguistic services were needed. Moldova is a former Soviet republic between Romania and the Ukraine, so names mentioned were either Romanian or Russian in origin. I had studied Russian at University (just before Moldova gained its independence in 1991) and being a fan of East European gymnastics, I knew a small amount of Romanian too. From this tiny beginning, my interest was ... ...MAN ON A MISSION
Playing The Moldovans At Tennis should give you an idea as to what this book is about. The Moldovan national football team were over in England playing a World Cup qualifying match. The names of the eleven footballers were printed in a page of the newspaper. Comedian Arthur Smith bets Tony Hawks that he cannot play them at tennis and beat them all. The forfeit for the loser will be to parade naked in an area of London, whilst singing ...
KarenUK 03.01.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks
Advantages: Very funny, fascinating location Disadvantages: A little predictable ultimately
...upon the crazy idea of playing a game of tennis against each member of the Moldovan football team, reckoning that he would be able to beat them all. The idea arose while he was watching the England football team play the Moldovan national side. Hawkes and a friend were discussing whether being a good sportsman is an innate thing – if you can play one sport well, you should be able to have a reasonable stab at others. Tony believed that this is not ... ...sport paid dividends and cited his own background of tennis training as an example. As a youngster he had taken tennis lessons and risen to quite a high level within his local area. He said that he thought he would have a strong chance of beating any of the players on the football pitch in a game of tennis. And so the seed grew; spurred on by his friend’s disbelief, Tony picked up the gauntlet and set about planning just how he would beat every member ...
fizzytom 12.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks
Advantages: Good writing, very funny Disadvantages: Not many surprises as far as plot goes
Tony Hawks thinks he's quite good at tennis: he even won the Equity tennis tournament a few years ago. His mate, Arthur Smith, isn't so sure. Tony reckons that because he had coaching when he was younger, he has been given a good grounding in the basic skills of the game. Arthur, however, claims that anyone with just a bit of natural sporting ability could play a decent game of tennis. In order to test his theory, Arthur suggests that Tony should ... ...a game of tennis. If Tony beats every one of them, Arthur will stand naked on Balham High Road and sing the Moldovan national anthem. If you are already familiar with Tony Hawks, you will know that Tony is not a man to turn down a challenge. Well, certainly not a challege so easy that all you have to do is travel to eastern Europe and play a quick game of tennis with eleven footballers. Of course Tony finds that it's not that easy. To start with ...
dazzman 27.01.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks
Advantages: Outlandish Forays Dripping In Irony. Disadvantages: The Irony May Have Been Lost On The Main Players.
...the basics requires ridiculous patience. Playing 6 games of tennis with its countries footballers involves going beyond polite requests to do so. Once Hawks finds this out he does what any desperate man would do in the situation, he lies. Passing himself off as a BBC documentary maker he manages to breech the inner sanctum of the Moldovan Football Association. A long list of empty promises and an unfeasibly long neck eventually gets Hawks places, ... ...thick and fast as Hawks runs several bemused Moldovan footballers ragged on the court. The players generall turn out to be pretty awful at holding a racket and swinging it in a way that would return the small ball at an angle that clears the net. Hawks milks the scene where one hapless footballer takes aim and fires a volley only to see it crash unsympathetically on his own head. Throughout his stay in Moldova Hawks is given a room in the home of ...
indiecater 10.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks
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Advantages: Extensive, beautiful photography, interesting text Disadvantages: Expensive, no scale on maps
-explanatory ... a suggestion, followed by a reason)
~ Essential Experiences
(a set of five or six activities, sights or moments that are thought to capture the essence of the country, e.g. eating noodles in Singapore, enjoying California beaches at sunset in the US)
~ Getting Under The Skin
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~ In A Word
(a useful or apt word or phrase from that country's language)
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(e.g. Lederhosen, Oktoberfest and 'doing what is socially accepted (and expected)' in Germany)
~ Suprises
(the opposite of the above; some of the things you probably won't know about the country, or suprising experiences to be had)
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