Rating: 
Summary: Life Without Father
Review: A painful and poetic tribute to the late football coach George Allen, this book started me laughing on page 1 and left me crying on page 238. Wives, give this book to your football-loving husbands for Christmas. Daughters, give this book to your workaholic fathers for Father's Day (or sooner). If you think you remember George Allen and the Redskins, you need to revisit the glory days with this 5th grade daughter waiting after the game in an empty stadium and read what happened after the last touchdown. It's beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I was expecting.
Review: As a lifelong football fan I was hoping that "Fifth Quarter" would include more about football than Allen puts into her memoir. However, the book is well-written and engaging. If you're looking for a book about George Allen, this isn't really the book to read. However, if you're looking for an interesting book detailing the childhood of a coach's daughter, "Fifth Quarter" might be the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: The Personal Football Book
Review: As an avid football fan, George Allen is one of the greatest NFL Coaches of all time. Throughout the book, Jennifer Allen describes they storybook life of an NFL coach from a footbal and personal perspective. George's rough-and-tough attitude made two winningless teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, into champions. However, his personality as a coach effected his role as a father, which created tension between him and his children. As the his only daughter, Jennifer tries to win her father's affection as she struggles of being a product of an NFL coach and well-known celebrity.
Rating:
Summary: The Personal Football Book
Review: As an avid football fan, George Allen is one of the greatest NFL Coaches of all time. Throughout the book, Jennifer Allen describes they storybook life of an NFL coach from a footbal and personal perspective. George's rough-and-tough attitude made two winningless teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, into champions. However, his personality as a coach effected his role as a father, which created tension between him and his children. As the his only daughter, Jennifer tries to win her father's affection as she struggles of being a product of an NFL coach and well-known celebrity.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Football
Review: I read this book in one sitting, I literally couldn't put it down. George Allen is one of my all time favorite heroes, but this book is so much more than football. I cried at the end but I laughed a lot throughout, especially when the author talked about her homelife with her three wild and crazy brothers and her magnificent mother Etty. In fact, you should read this book just to meet Mrs. George Allen, obviously the glue that held everything together and the real power and inspiration for George Allen. Jennifer Allen puts her heart in this and the love she has for her family is real and unsentimental. I'm giving this book for Christmas to people who don't even like football.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a chick book, not a sports book
Review: I was misled by a review in SI that said this was a great book. If you're an Oprah fan, then it's a great book. If you want to learn about the life of an NFL coach, the Washington Redskins or football in general, you're better off buying a subsciption to Sports Illustrated or reading the sports page.About 80 percent of this book is about the struggle of the writer to get her father's attention and approval. Another 10 percent has to do with her mother, her brothers and the writer's life away from her house. Maybe 10 percent has to do with football. It is a maddening experience to put up with the "I was a girl, girls weren't important to my dad, someone please pay attention to me" anecdotes and thoughts in the hope of getting to, say, the Washington Redskins' 1972 season where the team finally made it to the Super Bowl, and then when you get there have Jennifer Allen say in almost these exact words, "I don't remember much about that the season the Redskins went to the Super Bowl." I almost hurled the book across the room. It is unfortunate that George Allen essentially ignored his family in his obsessive quest to do what he believed he was born to do: coach. No kid should have to grow up with that kind of home life, and it's obvious that her father's inattention has left its mark on Ms. Allen. But darn it, this is an Oprah book of the month selection, not a sports book. Someone should be clear on that! A few words about George Allen ... I am about Jennifer Allen's age. I am a lifelong Redskins fan and grew up in D.C. When Mr. Allen took the team to the Super Bowl, it was a highlight of my young life. I remember him licking his fingers, tugging his hat and mentioning milk as his drink of choice. I had no idea that he ignored his family. I'm sorry he did that, but I am also grateful that the man came to my hometown and coached my favorite team and finally made it a winner. I wish the book had a little more about what made George Allen such a successful coach and a lot less about the struggle of a little girl to get close to her daddy.
Rating:
Summary: Perceptive and hilarious
Review: Jennifer Allen can write. As is often the case with coaches' families, everything revolves around football and career. Her father was even more single-minded than most. Humor is of the sad-but-true variety; the first half of the book especially is hilarious. Hard to put it down. Her mother Etty is my new hero -- sees through it all, swears like a longshoreman, maintains her own eccentric identity throughout. There is another book here; I'd like to know what happened to Jennifer between high school and present; much is implied. Still, after all is said and done, the author's bio mentions two sons Deacon and Roman, presumably named after two of her father's great Rams players. She comes from quite a family; one brother a past governor of Virginia, another a Raiders executive. Well worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: What a depressing Whine-fest
Review: This entire story could have been written on the cover of a matchbook and saved me the time I wasted reading it. Endless complaining about her parents and siblings, If the peoples identities had been with held until the end, one might have expected to find out this was the childhood of a serial killer or some one else you might have expected to have a miserable childhood. Why would anyone even bother to write a book about people she seemed to care for as little as her family is beyond me except to possibly capitalize on her Dad's famous name and make a few bucks. A depressing read.
Rating:
Summary: Jennifer Allen Scores an Emotional Touchdown ...
Review: This is a terrific yet heartbreaking story, one that should be read by any work-obsessed and preoccupied parent. You see a tale of public success (football coach) blended with private failure (distracted father). What price public success? It is at once a funny yet pathetic portrayal of a man who sacrificed everything on the altar of football glory. I wonder if, in those final lucid moments before the veil descended, George Allen wondered if he should have spent yet more time on football or more time with family? No one has ever been quoted on their deathbed as saying, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." Even if you never played football or watched it, this is a cautionary tale of one man's career obsession and the poignant struggle of a daughter trying to win Daddy's love in an ultra-macho culture
Rating:
Summary: Jennifer Allen Scores an Emotional Touchdown ...
Review: This is a terrific yet heartbreaking story, one that should be read by any work-obsessed and preoccupied parent. You see a tale of public success (football coach) blended with private failure (distracted father). What price public success? It is at once a funny yet pathetic portrayal of a man who sacrificed everything on the altar of football glory. I wonder if, in those final lucid moments before the veil descended, George Allen wondered if he should have spent yet more time on football or more time with family? No one has ever been quoted on their deathbed as saying, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." Even if you never played football or watched it, this is a cautionary tale of one man's career obsession and the poignant struggle of a daughter trying to win Daddy's love in an ultra-macho culture
|
