Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream
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Product Description
Review
Superb and disturbing - More than a sports book, it's a search for the America of ordinary people.', Newsday .'A remarkable book, fascinating from start to finish, full of surprises.', David Halberstam .'Friday Night Lights offers a biting indictment of the sports craziness that grips ... most of American society, while at the same time providing a moving evocation of its powerful allure.', New York Times Book Review .'Just about everything you could ask for in a sports book', New York Times
Book Description
A classic of sportswriting - about a season spent following a town and a team's hopes and shattered dreams - and now a major Hollywood film
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
H.G. Bissinger's account of the fortunes of a high school football team during the 1988 season is a genuinely unsettling exploration of the dominant role that sports occupies in American culture. As abrasive and uncompromising as the empty west Texas prairie that surrounds it, the racially and economically-divided oil town of Odessa is a community in decline. The Permian Panthers football team, the most successful high school team in state history, is the only stable feature around which the town, bankrupted by the boom-bust oil economy of the eighties, can base any sense of identity. Such is the unbelievable extent of the town's obsession with the team, that one often forgets that the players Bissinger writes about are not seasoned professionals or even highly-touted college stars, but 17- and 18-year old high school kids. The pampered treatment that the players receive at school and from the community is disquieting, and it becomes clear that without Permian football, the people of Odessa would have nothing with which to give their lives structure and meaning. In this way, Friday Night Lights examines the relationship between a sports team and a community that occupies such an intriguing and integral role in the American identity. Bissinger's observations moreover highlight the disturbing inadequacies of an education system continually relegated to second place behind athletic success. A fascinating, if ultimately depressing book, that is as much an indictment of life in the heartland of Reagan-era America as it is of the more general nationwide obsession with sports.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a three year member and starter of the varsity squad of my High School in Chesapeake Virginia, the stories from this book were all too familiar. The small Virginia town in which I played was similiar to that of Odessa, Canton, Penn Hills, and others across the country where High School football is the main focus of attention and entertainment. This book made me think back to all of the great times I had, the great friends I made, and the many memories that I will never forget. Bissinger brought out the many "behind the scenes" views of the sport. All the problems and events that happen in the Permian locker room, coaches office, halls, classrooms, and in the lives of the players, occur everyday in schools everywhere.
On the bus ride home from the very last game of my senior year..a tough last minute loss, giving our school its first losing record in 25 years at 4-6. I thought about the two state championships we won in the two years before, and why it had to end like it did, and I thought about the blood, sweat, and tears that we have all spilled on the playing fields. As we pulled away I realized that I'd probably never step onto a football field to play again and that these days are now behind me forever. Then, like so many of the seniors on the bus with me, and the thousands more around the country...I cried.
I sometimes forget why I played football in high school. Three years after my final game I bought this book and read it. It then became all clear to me, and I recalled why I played. I laughed a little, and maybe even cried a little, and you will too.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Being English, the whole American high school sport thing is something of a mystery. I knew that some university teams get crowds bigger than premier league football does here, but had no idea that schoolchildren can draw crowds of 20,000 to watch their games.
And I think the main point of the book is that the word "school children" has been completely lost (or rather had been in the late 1980s, when this book was written). These young men train more or less full time, and have what must be almost unbearable pressures heaped upon them before they are old enough to drink (not that the legal age seemed to stop them). The book is about shattered dreams and hopes and is rivetting.
But it's astonishing in what it shows about race in America, and about class, and about sport (or "sports"). Of course, a lot might have changed in 20 years, but the racism is shocking. Genuinely, truly shocking. As is the way that children's educations are sacrificed in the name of sporting achievement. These guys don't have to do any school work they don't want to. It's an amazing portrait of the town, Odessa, of the people in it, and of (a bit of) America.
If, like me, you don't really understand American football (beyond the large men in armour knocking seven bells out of each other), it doesn't matter, as many of the details don't matter (understanding what a Safety or Split End does isn't necessary) and the writing about the matches themselves is good enough to keep you going.
One of the best books about sport I've ever read. Fantastic.
And I think the main point of the book is that the word "school children" has been completely lost (or rather had been in the late 1980s, when this book was written). These young men train more or less full time, and have what must be almost unbearable pressures heaped upon them before they are old enough to drink (not that the legal age seemed to stop them). The book is about shattered dreams and hopes and is rivetting.
But it's astonishing in what it shows about race in America, and about class, and about sport (or "sports"). Of course, a lot might have changed in 20 years, but the racism is shocking. Genuinely, truly shocking. As is the way that children's educations are sacrificed in the name of sporting achievement. These guys don't have to do any school work they don't want to. It's an amazing portrait of the town, Odessa, of the people in it, and of (a bit of) America.
If, like me, you don't really understand American football (beyond the large men in armour knocking seven bells out of each other), it doesn't matter, as many of the details don't matter (understanding what a Safety or Split End does isn't necessary) and the writing about the matches themselves is good enough to keep you going.
One of the best books about sport I've ever read. Fantastic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Vivid portrait of a town
This is far more than a book about American Football. To someone from the UK, it gives an excellent explanation as to why high school football teams in the US can attract crowds of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sam
A fascinating and thoroughly entertaining account of 1988 West Texas
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having just recently gotten into American Football in a big way, I searched for books on the subject and came across this one. Read more
Published 3 months ago by C. Smith
Fascinating
I wanted to make sure I left a review for this book, because it really is one of the best I've read in all respects. Read more
Published 15 months ago by C. Nicholls
Reality before Reality TV
Just real man. You feel like you are there, a member of the large back-room team and you say nothing because, there is constant tension.
Published 16 months ago by M. Forde
A moving story with apt commentary.
I bought this novel as I am a big fan of the TV series. Even though it is very different from the series, e.g. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mountainfinch
Top rate sports writing
Has there been a better book about a grid-iron football team or any other sports team? If there is, that must be some book.
Published 18 months ago by Pullingpunchlines
Outstanding!
This book is a fascinating snapshot of a 'down on its luck' American town and its obsession with its high school american football team. Read more
Published 20 months ago by B Moffat
Even for the non-US sports literate...
There is little than can be added about this incredible book, other than to assure any Brits or potential readers put off by the fact that they don't understand/enjoy American... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2008 by R. Gardham
Better than the film
Like most others, I was inspired to read this after seeing the film. The film was great, but the book is brilliant. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2008 by Brendan Jackson
simply brilliant
I bought this book, like many on the back of seeing the film and then subsequently a few episodes of the TV show and i have to say i was blown away from the first chapter. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2007 by Graeme Ashcroft
Listmania!
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