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Summary: Tells the problems that small town football players face
Review: This is an excellent book for those of you who are interested or ever played high school football. It is about one tiny town who prides themselves on high school football. I feel that this book goes into the exact details and pressures that a high school star has to face, and the way he receives rejection.
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Summary: A Fascinating True Life Story Which Teaches Much!
Review: I read Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger approximately three years ago. I have just re-read it after having finished "Our Guys" by Bernanrd Lefkowitz, the tragic tale of a town where the star football team members rape a retarded woman and how it's dealt with (or perhaps more accurately -- all but denied) by the town.Lights is a compelling read that makes it easy to hang on to even if one isn't the greatest fan of football. In reading a number of other reviews on this book, I view many of those as defensive reactions from people of the town or from some who know people of the town. This is sad because Lights isn't an indictment of Odessa, Texas. It is EVERYTOWN, USA. There is a great deal of U.S. universality to the story. Yes, one town was spotlighted. Often this is how we learn our greatest lessons in life... by observing human behavior in one setting and considering how it applies to ourselves and the places we live -- to our little world.Bissinger didn't betray the citizens of Odessa. He was not an "undercover" agent spying on them. The people of the town knew he was a reporter; apparently quite a likeable one. Why they expected the lionization of their town and their team as a result of the fact that the reporter was a nice guy is beyond me. Bissinger has proven himself to be an outstanding and objective observer of the culture of Odessa. And, while I don't personally know him, he had nothing against Odessa as a town and probably still doesn't (although he did receive death threats as a result of the book so I don't if that has by now changed his view at all.)Bissinger did what a good journalist does; he told the story of his objective observations. Unfortunately, from this reader's perspective, not a fun or loving or wonderful story. More accurately, I see Lights as a tragic flaw in the culture of our country. When we take kids, encourage them in what I consider one of the most violent sports we consider legitimate, turn them in to "legends" -- albeit only temporarily (while they're playing and winning), we collaborate in physical and psychological damage to our young people. When it's over, most of them have trouble putting it all in perspective -- some never do. They are forever wandering looking for the exhiliration of the attention, the cheers, the fans and the rush they experienced while a member of a winning football team. That we allow this in the midst of one of the most sensitive and critical periods in a human being's life -- adolescence -- makes it even more dangerous, with greater psychological than even physical risk, in a very physically dangerous sport.I tend to disagree with Bissinger that Football became so important for almost every member of that small down because of all that they had lost they needed something to hang on to.This story is an upper, middle and lower class story. It is every town. It is every high school and college that offers Football.I think the lessons we need to consider as a result of this masterfully narrated story are deep annd important ones. What should -- not what is -- be important to the educational and socialization process for the young of our society. For me, I've come to the conclusion that if we continue to allow Football to be played in this country, we need to change the rules. We need to much more intensively educate teachers, coaches, parents and kids themselves on keeping the "sport" in proper perspective. I'm not personally convinced it's doable. I have to conclude that while we have some nice catchphrases to describe this sport (among others in the same category) and its values -- teamwork, competition, physical fitness, working with others, discipline etc... and on and on, IT'S ALWAYS GOING TO BE ABOUT WINNING. After the "win," I'm convinced there's a degree of cultural addiction to the violence in this game. Go to any football game and watch the fans instead of the game; any observer will see a very significant number in attendance who are screaming for more aggression, more violence -- and are taking some very significant psychological satisfaction from it. Exactly what needs are being met in this vicarious manner likely depend on the individual. Yet, what I have the most trouble with is a large majority of our society meeting their own needs for aggression through small groups of very vulnerable younger members of our society. This is unconscionable, it in my personal view is deeply immoral. If we're looking for a better human being in our generations to come, it might be well to consider how to address issues of violence. That this is regulated violence makes no difference at all. We can't keeping using kids to meet unmet needs that we ourselves may have. This is a paricularly urgent lesson for parents. Far too many parents are using/abusing/allowing their offssspring to be physically and psychologically abused in order to try to relive their own "glory days" or in trying to finally attain through their kids, the heights, they themselves were unable to reach in their earlier lives and now regret. We have names for this from the simple word scapegoating to more complex psychological diagnoses called Munchaussen's by Proxy where a disturbed individual uses someone else, quite often their own children, to deliberately cause physical harm to as a result of their own deeply disturbed self imaages. Maybe it's time to stop and consider education and socialization a little more carefully and consider what's best for kids and the society of tomorrow. I can only help but conclude that part of the solution would involve immediately cutting Tackle Football, Ice Hockey, Boxing and Competitive Weight Lifting. While there may be some ostensible higher order of value to any of these sports, generally the realization of that expected "value" is most often forsaken in the need to win, in the domination that occurs and with the more likely result of often permanent physical and psychological damage -- both for men's and women's teams.Thanks Bissinger, you've offered a real eye opener to any of your readers that may work toward a better society for tomorrow. Outstanding!
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Summary: God, this is good!
Review: I just finished reading this for Sociology class at college, and was very impressed. It goes beyond the usual recounting of a football team into the team's town's search for something to hang their hats on, to claim as their own.Bissinger's style is almost excruciating to read, as he cuts away from the action just when the reader's interest is most peaked, to discuss different people's reactions to side issues involving the team, the town, race relations, and the cult of masculinity and sports built up around the Permian High team. However, this style is exactly what makes the book impossible to put down. In the end, the 1988 team that Bissinger covers does not win the state championship, but it is revealed in the epilogue that the following year's team did. However, instead of this being joyous, it simply emphasizes the point of exactly how expendable the players that Bissinger covered were to the town and the team. From beginning to end, this book hits its targets hard.
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Summary: I think Friday Night Lights is a great book and I would
Review: I thought that this was the best book that I ever wrote. I think that you really get a good idea on the lives of the players. I give this book 6 out of five.
Rating:
Summary: good book, definately worth reading
Review: Overall a good book, but I sympathize with the Permian fans who didn't like what Bissinger did. As an outsider I noticed how Bissinger got really into the games especially the playoff games, he seemed so intense and you could tell he love being apart of it, but when they lost he jumped back out and acted like he couldn't believe how serious these people took football.
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Summary: You can hate Football, But you can't help but love this book
Review: You can read this book a 100 times, and every time the ending will break your heart.
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Summary: A true portrayal of West Texas life.
Review: I could not put the book down. It brilliantly wove together football, politics, history, and economics. I think Bissinger got an accurate feel for the culture of Odessa. Having been born in Crane and raised in Odessa, I felt that he had discovered and portrayed the people of West Texas, although he overemphasized some topics with a liberal Yankee slant. I graduated from Permian, didn't play football, but was caught up in that culture, and after having moved away, began to see it as a kind of madness or silliness. The book brought back many emotions. It was very well written.
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Summary: You don't have to like football to love this book!
Review: I am from a small "football town" in New Jersey. I am not a football fan and I am not a male either. But I thought this book was a fabulous look at a fascinating culture. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the exciting genre of literary nonfiction (in the vein of A Civil Action and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil).
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Summary: excellent book on high school football
Review: "Friday Night Lights" is an excellent example of how the "game" of football is so much more in many parts of our country. I grew up in Crane, a small town 32 miles south of Odessa that has a chapter about it in the book. Bissinger has done an excellent job of writing; however, at times I believe that he got a bit carried away with some issues. While race is a problem in the Permian Basin, I truly do not believe it is a problem to the degree the author states. I also know for a fact that Coach Gary Gaines was not shown in the proper light. I know Coach Gaines personally, and know the pain this book caused his family and himself. Coach Gaines is a man of integrity and class, and this book does not allow for such displays. From an objective viewpoint, not from a personal one, I do feel that this book is a fine piece of work. As a young man about to enter the coaching profession, I hope that I never have to coach in a locale where winning means more than the game itself.
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Summary: A must read for football fans, at any level.
Review: Bissinger provides an excellent inside look at high school football. The book really allows the reader to understand that the mood and attitude of a town mirrors the performance of a group of children. Not being from Texas, but another hotbed of H.S. football (Western PA) that has experienced similar economic conditions (the downfall of the steel industry), it is easier to gain an understanding of the book and feelings of the town and its people. I do believe that the tradition and gravity of football is at a much higher level at Permian than anywhere in the U.S. Remember, "All the Right Moves" was a movie based on the rivalry between Aliquippa and Ambridge in PA. An excellent read for the sports fan. I have heard about the movie; when will it be (or has it been) released?
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