The Pigskin Rabbi Book

In this madcap comic novel, a young rabbi becomes a pro football superstar. Ezekiel "Ziggy" Cantor becomes (by a strange sequence of events) the quarterback of the New York Giants, drilling passes with godlike accuracy, kicking miraculous field goals, playing out of pure love of the game, and catapulting the team toward invincibility. Ziggy's Judaism, formerly a burden in gentile society, now becomes the apparent source of all good-for him, for the team, for its coaches and owners, for the fans and sportswriters. His teammates-convinced of the luck of the Jewish-start eating kosher food during games, prepared by Ziggy's kindly grandmother. The Giants fans chant lustily in Yiddish. Gucci-made Giants yarmelkehs are all the rage in Manhattan. New York takes Ziggy to its heart-he is a homegrown hero. Even his grandmother becomes a celebrity. Judaism is hip, it's in, and is all-empowering. The backlash from some less-hip characters -the murderous second-string quarterback, every other team in the league, and a band of Christian fundamentalists-only serves to heat things up in the second half. Meanwhile, Ziggy is tormented by doubts about the seriousness of his faith, by the implications of his affair with a gorgeous shiksa, and by his betrayal of his father. An over-the-top farce, an outrageous satire of the All-American sports fantasy, a sports novel with a theological under-pinning- The Pigskin Rabbi will have people of all faiths convulsed with laughter. Praise for Willard Manus's previous Novel "An extraordinary comic novel." - The Chicago Tribune It's as hip as Tom Wolfe, as goofy as vintage W. C. Fields. Don't let it get away." - The Los Angeles Times "Willard Manus is an original talent, a good humor man, and has wrought a very winning comic novel." - Playboy "Mott the Hoople should be approached like a trip to an amusement park: one goes to have fun, and the rides and the freaks, the cotton candy and the hot dogs are all there for one's ready pleasure. The book moves at a Marx Brothers pace, and is one of the funniest I've read in years." Josh Greenfield, LifeRead More