Panenka

Product Information

Size çok büyük bir kitaptan bahsedemem belki ama insanın yorgunluğunu alan, içine dinginlik veren, huzurlu hissettiren bir kitaptan bahsedebilirim, Panenka. It was just another form of fear that led to a life-limiting loneliness that accumulated and accumulated until it became so big that it blocked up the front door, drowned out conversations and put other people behind soundproof glass. 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. Now – at the age of 50 – he has partly reconciled with his separated daughter Marie-Therese (a supermarket supervisor, separated from a husband she has grown apart from, and whose main confidant is a childhood friend). 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.

Every sentence, every piece of dialogue is wonderfully woven together to create a powerful, yet in many ways, understated masterpiece of writing. Only a small number of these have been, like Panenka's original, in major cup finals – Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, [11] Alexis Sánchez in the 2015 Copa América Final, [15] Odsonne Édouard in the 2020 Scottish Cup final [16] and Fabinho in the 2022 EFL Cup final. Now aged 50, Panenka lives with his daughter and grandson, and tries to build a life, but all he has worked for threatens to come tumbling down when he begins to have crippling headaches, which he refers to as his “Iron Mask”. If that’s the point, then the books are interesting and important for the same reasons that make them slow going.

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. In the 2019 A-League Grand Final Perth Glory player Brendon Santalab, who had scored multiple Panenka penalties previously in his career, played his last game as a professional. Regardless, this was a book I struggled through even though it’s only around 200 pages long, simply because I didn’t want to pick it up, so unfortunately I’m going to have to be controversial and say this one was not for me.

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. It's so, so much sadder than Leonard and Hungry Paul - it still made me chuckle in places but overall it's sparse with its humour - but still it has this bittersweet touch of hope.I think it would be hypocritical of me to say, ‘Here’s a gentle book, now let’s sell it to the highest bidder. All of the characters are beautifully crafted – even minor ones such as Marie-Theresa’s husband and BABA a menthe-drinking observer in the pub Panenka frequents are beautifully realised in all their life choices, motivations and hurts.

He never expected Leonard and Hungry Paul to be published and so he’s very loyal to his independent UK publishers at Bluemoose Books. Both his books, Panenka and Leonard and Hungry Paul, leave the reader deep in thought, considering what they have read.He grew up in Beaumont, went to school in O’Connells in the north inner city and was wandering around the city at the age of 12. Leonard and Hungry Paul in particular, is heavily influenced by coming out of a decade of reading children’s books for my kids,” he says.