Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

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Wonderful reading! I am Moldovan, and at times it actually hurt to read some things, and sometimes I wanted to scream "That's not true!", but as a matter of fact - a lot of things in this book ARE true... Though it was written some time in the end of 90's as I undersand, and things are much better here now (at least we have lights in the streets now!), but a lot of things about mentality of Moldovans never changed... A good part of the humour of the book is based on the clash of culture between an over-optimistic Englishman and a local population who seem to be a bit reserved and not particularly surprised about Tony's plan. In a country where almost everyone is focused on surviving the next day, that is probably not surprising. (The book was published in 2000, but things have not changed a lot and Moldova is still the poorest country in Europe.) Tony Hawks, un actor de comedie din Anglia şi un bărbat excentric ce adoră provocările neobişnuite, e legat de Moldova printr-un pariu. Misiunea sa bizară e să găsească membrii echipei naționale de fotbal şi să-i convingă să joace tenis cu el. Tony believes the task will be relatively easy and has a cunning plan to use the adventure as material for a next book. However, upon arriving in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, he discovers the task will be more challenging than expected, as he encounters uncooperative football managers, gangsters, corruption and poverty.

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis | movie | 2012 | Official Playing the Moldovans at Tennis | movie | 2012 | Official

And so we are taken to Moldova around the turn of the millennium, and spend most of the book immersed in precisely how grim the 90s were in the former Soviet Union as it transitioned to a proper market economy. From these descriptions to the final scene outside a Woolworths, the book feels dated now, but in a way that's quite charming and has given me an unexpected wish to go and see what Chisinau is like 20+ years later. The book took a bit of time to get going but was incredibly entertaining by the end. It centres on a zany bet: to play and beat the Moldovan football team (well, a particular starting XI against England in the late 1990s) at tennis. I'm not entirely sure that I ever figured out why.Much like in “Round Ireland With a Fridge”, “Playing the Moldovans at Tennis” is more about the people he meets and how he goes about doing what he has to do, rather than the places he goes. Whilst this makes for an interesting read, it doesn’t make it a terribly good travel book, which is what it is technically defined as. However, his experiences of public transport in Moldova are fairly good, although all this leaves you with is a vague knowledge of how to get around the country, but without really knowing where you’d want to go or what you’d do when you get there. There are some nice cameos from Angus Deayton, Laura Solon and Morwenna Banks and Steve Frost is an excellent choice as the Arthur Smith character. Peter Moore is another example of similar literature, though perhaps one of the best ones is Daniel Kalder's Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist.

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Macmillan Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Macmillan

Follow the fortunes of Tony in this hilarious and often moving adventure as it takes him from Moldova, onwards to Northern Ireland, leading to an exciting denouement in Nazareth - and the naked truth of the bet's final outcome ... He knows nothing about the cultures he is visiting but he relays his experiences in a funny first-hand way and you learn as you travel with him. Key details Genre Film Released 2012 Stars Tony Hawks, Anatol Durbala, Stephen Frost, Igor Babiac, Ana Chirita, Silvia Luca, Viorel Cornescu, Ina Surdu and more Writer Tony Hawks Directors Tony Hawks and Mikolaj Jaroszewicz Producers Mikolaj Jaroszewicz and Tony Hawks Company Este aici și Iulian, cel cu „maniere elegante și cu o față plăcută când zâmbea”. Și Emil, pe atunci George Harrison în trupa „The Flying Postmen”. Și Leonid, ziaristul sportiv care „părea să posede cunoștințe enciclopedice despre fotbalul din Moldova”.Dar e bine că măcar ceva s-a schimbat. „Mi se părea că întunericul era mai întunecat aici, în Moldova”. Sau nu?