Book Review: Neymar: My Story – Conversations with my father. Neymar Jr and Neymar Sr with Ivan More
This book is released as ‘the official autobiography’ of Neymar Junior and is the English translation of the version published in Brazil in 2013.
The term ‘official’ can be be a good thing and also be less so. On the positive side it is used so that those buying officially authorised products know they are of a certain quality, that they have been sanctioned for release and that there is no financial gain for those producing pirate goods. What it can also mean though, is that there is a great deal of control over what is produced and in the instance of a book, can compromise the content in that it can become very sanitised.
This book in terms of format is 150 pages long and consists of 30 small chapters. These alternate between Neymar Junior and Neymar Senior focusing on a specific theme and a style and tone that attempts to reflect a conversational answer to a question.
As readers we learn that Neymar Senior also played football professionally in Brazil, although not at a level achieved by his son and has for a number of years managed the affairs of the current Brazilian No. 10. As you would expect Neymar Senior expresses his love for his son and the pride he has for what Juninho (Neymar Junior’s family nickname) has achieved. Neymar Senior also covers such areas as family life, Neymar Junior’s progression into the ranks at Santos and subsequently playing on the international stage with Brazil, as well as the aborted transfer to Real Madrid.
In his chapters Neymar Junior talks about the positive influence of his family and especially his father and in addition, how he feels now that his is a father. Juninho like his father talks about his career to date and the highs and lows he has experienced since making his professional debut as a 17 year old including his recent move to Barcelona. He expresses his pride in playing for Brazil and how that nothing less than winning the World Cup in 2014 will be good enough for the Brazilian public.
On the one hand there is a warmth to the personal insight that the two men provide in terms of their relationship and if you know nothing of Neymar (Senior and Junior) this book provides a useful introduction. However, because the chapters are so brief there is the feeling that topics are not fully explored. There is the impression too – and this comes back to the idea of ‘official’ being constraining or sanitising – that as a reader I was left with the feeling that it was all a bit ‘nice’ and lacked a bit of an edge.