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jl27's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5 stars, if I had half-stars to give!)
Reading this from my personal standpoint (high school teacher with no children of my own) was, at times, heartbreaking, and also sadly unsurprising. High school football doesn't live on a pedestal in our region, but I drew a lot of parallels to what Bissinger shows us in this book. I see kids pushed so frequently to be good at a sport just to try to get a ticket to college. Academics get shoved to the wayside for the best athletes, grades fudged, etc. Funding for Athletics programs takes precedence over that of other programs in the school, like the arts-based programs.
Most poignant to me is seeing that the SAME EXACT disparities, inequities, racism, prejudices, poverty, and other issues still prevail today, just as they were when this book was written. And not just in Odessa, because Odessa could be small-town Anywhere, USA. The same mindset still exists in small, rural towns: political status quo, people voting against their best interests, instead errantly basing their politics on religious faith. I took so many notes on this book's middle chapters, where Bissinger details much of this content. It might have seemed boring or irrelevant to some readers; to me, it says everything about why things were they way they were, and are the way they are.
Seeing children -- actual children -- have that much pressure put on them, being expected to perform every week for everyone's entertainment, is too much. Bissinger does a good job of bringing in the details of the personal stories of these players and their families to show the reader just how acutely these pressures affected everyone involved.
Side note: The epilogue and prologue in this edition are well worth the read.
Reading this from my personal standpoint (high school teacher with no children of my own) was, at times, heartbreaking, and also sadly unsurprising. High school football doesn't live on a pedestal in our region, but I drew a lot of parallels to what Bissinger shows us in this book. I see kids pushed so frequently to be good at a sport just to try to get a ticket to college. Academics get shoved to the wayside for the best athletes, grades fudged, etc. Funding for Athletics programs takes precedence over that of other programs in the school, like the arts-based programs.
Most poignant to me is seeing that the SAME EXACT disparities, inequities, racism, prejudices, poverty, and other issues still prevail today, just as they were when this book was written. And not just in Odessa, because Odessa could be small-town Anywhere, USA. The same mindset still exists in small, rural towns: political status quo, people voting against their best interests, instead errantly basing their politics on religious faith. I took so many notes on this book's middle chapters, where Bissinger details much of this content. It might have seemed boring or irrelevant to some readers; to me, it says everything about why things were they way they were, and are the way they are.
Seeing children -- actual children -- have that much pressure put on them, being expected to perform every week for everyone's entertainment, is too much. Bissinger does a good job of bringing in the details of the personal stories of these players and their families to show the reader just how acutely these pressures affected everyone involved.
Side note: The epilogue and prologue in this edition are well worth the read.
tombennett72's review against another edition
4.0
What a fascinating, and thought provoking, book.
There are a number of threads:
Firstly, it’s really quite shocking to read about high-school kids being worked so hard physically that they will have injuries and physical limitations for life.
Secondly, it’s frankly ridiculous to read about a culture where schools neglect their academic departments financially, in order to heavily fund a school team. In just one sport.
Thirdly, there’s something deeply wrong in a world where an entire town has only one cultural and social world; that of watching other people play a game in a team sport.
Fourthly, the most chilling thing about the racism that runs through main characters (and indeed the whole town) is it’s very casual nature.
Fifthly, it’s fascinating how many people in the book wanted to believe in the myth that Texas was strong and would naturally bounce back, rather than looking at how to heave communities out of a catastrophic financial depression.
A sixth point might be to note bemusement at the apparent lack of interest in other sports. Team sports suit a certain type of athlete, but these schools clearly didn’t have a truly athletic ethos.
This book was written many years ago; even the 10-year update was written years ago. But the themes examined are as true as ever:
People still would often prefer to rally round a good story and bathe in vicarious (and imagined) glory than face up to reality and the boring task of addressing it.
People still find it easy to distinguish, and judge, between the “like me” and the “not like me”.
And watching a sports team beat the “other” sports team remains a huge boost in many people’s daily lives.
Fascinating. Well worth a read. I have absolutely no understanding of American football, and the jargon is meaningless to me. But I was hooked on the descriptions of the games!
There are a number of threads:
Firstly, it’s really quite shocking to read about high-school kids being worked so hard physically that they will have injuries and physical limitations for life.
Secondly, it’s frankly ridiculous to read about a culture where schools neglect their academic departments financially, in order to heavily fund a school team. In just one sport.
Thirdly, there’s something deeply wrong in a world where an entire town has only one cultural and social world; that of watching other people play a game in a team sport.
Fourthly, the most chilling thing about the racism that runs through main characters (and indeed the whole town) is it’s very casual nature.
Fifthly, it’s fascinating how many people in the book wanted to believe in the myth that Texas was strong and would naturally bounce back, rather than looking at how to heave communities out of a catastrophic financial depression.
A sixth point might be to note bemusement at the apparent lack of interest in other sports. Team sports suit a certain type of athlete, but these schools clearly didn’t have a truly athletic ethos.
This book was written many years ago; even the 10-year update was written years ago. But the themes examined are as true as ever:
People still would often prefer to rally round a good story and bathe in vicarious (and imagined) glory than face up to reality and the boring task of addressing it.
People still find it easy to distinguish, and judge, between the “like me” and the “not like me”.
And watching a sports team beat the “other” sports team remains a huge boost in many people’s daily lives.
Fascinating. Well worth a read. I have absolutely no understanding of American football, and the jargon is meaningless to me. But I was hooked on the descriptions of the games!
slovenlymuse's review against another edition
4.0
Unbelievable that something written in the 80s could be so sharply relevant today.
ifinlay642's review
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
A brilliant piece of journalism that captures one glorious, tension-filled moment in American history. You do not need to be a fan of (God knows I'm not), or even understand the rules of American Football (Lord knows I don't) in order to appreciate Friday Night Lights. Although it is ostensibly about football the sport is merely a tool used to examine life in Odessa, one of the US' many middle America boom-to-bust small towns. Several of the players are co-opted in order to delve into the class, race and religious issues and experiences that dominated the experience of life outside of the cultural capitals. It is in these chapters that Bissinger is at his finest discussing the terrifying precariousness of oil towns or the long-running campaigns to desegregate the schools deep into the 1970s. Other chapters focus on day-to-day life of several different players which are interesting although a tad-repetitive. Whatever repetitiveness is forgiven however by the final fifty-pages of gut wrenching tension that had me reading well past my allotted work break time. I genuinely did not know I cared so much for Ivory Christian, Coach Gaines or the rest of the Permian Panthers.
suebrownreads's review against another edition
2.0
Couldn't finish this one. I guess you need to be a football fan.
shelvesofotherworlds's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
abbeyhar103's review
4.0
A great documentation of west Texas life and football, which inspired one of my all time favorite tv shows. This goes into issues of race and education, as well as the economic state of the town of Odessa and how that relates to football, which was very interesting. It's a way of life that is completely foreign to me, but Bissinger certainly brought it to life. Sometimes his writing leaned a bit towards the sensational, with sudden flashbacks, sub plots or the use of way too many hyperbolic adjectives, but overall he told this story nicely. It was also very obvious how much he cared about the students on the football team, as well as the residents of the town.
jhommas's review against another edition
4.0
If you are a fan of high school football ball and the the inter working of a team, coaches and community read this book. It is not the TV show. The book is so much better.