Friday Night Lights

As an American who grew up in the foreign country of Taiwan, where football is known as a sport where you kick a ball into a goal, "Friday Night Lights" opened my eyes and gave me a real taste of American culture. Set in Odessa, Texas, "Friday Night Lights" is the story of the select members of the Permian High football team, and the town behind them whose lives depended on their Friday night results. The few young men were worshiped by the entire town, often having 20,000 people in the stands during any given game. A true story about the Permian football program, which had the highest winning record in Texas at the time, was documented by H.G. Bissinger. This book is written with great style, where every loss of the team is a loss to you, every injury hurts like it was your own. All in all a great book, which has you wanting more and more after every chapter. I highly recommend it, and I hope you like it as much as I did.

A great look at the truth behind high school football

As I read through the book Friday Night Lights, I saw a lot of realism to what high school football is all about. The first thing that I could relate to, is the practices, and how much effort and time that you have to put into the sport of football. I don't think that I have ever read any books like this or by the same author but I hope H. G. Bissinger has written more books, because this is my favorite book and I would like to see more from this author. I think that everyone should like this book, even if you never thought you liked football, this book might even turn you on to it. Now you may say to yourself, why would I want to read about some dumb town in Texas that is football crazy? because there is so much more to the book than just the football. It deals with the situations and problems that the players and parents face, not just because they are football players, but because they are also teenagers. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in a good story because even my mom, who isn't really interested in sports loved it!

Simply one of the finest sports chronicles ever

When I first picked up this book, on my lunch break, I arbitrarily flipped to a page in the middle and started reading. I became so engrossed in it that I was late getting back to work from my lunch break. Such is the superb quality of writing that Bissinger brings to this book.

Friday Night Lights is about the Permian High School Panthers football team in the 1988 season. In Odessa, TX, they only "have two things - football and oil, and there ain't no more oil." Carried on the adolescent shoulders of the black-clad Panthers are the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and societal well-being of an entire community. The book focuses on the intense scrutiny and pressure placed on the players, coaches, and even families associated with the program. After a tough loss, the head coach can expect to have his house vandalized, his family verbally assaulted, and calls made for his firing. The student population of Permian is predominantly white, but the few black players imported from Odessa's poor, mostly black, south side are some of the team's most successful players. The book highlights the contrast in the white, wealthy suburban area Permian is located in against the older section of Odessa, populated mostly by blacks and Hispanics.

The book also profiles several of the team's star players. Some live for every single moment they can wear the Panthers uniform, while others are conflicted at having to play in such a pressure-cooker environment. Some are the lucky sons of Odessa's richest residents, bound for Ivy-League schools, while others come from painful poverty and broken homes. Odessa is portrayed as an entire city of broken dreams, devastated by the downturn in the oil industry where unemployment is high and crime higher. What holds the community together is the Friday Night Lights at Ratliff Stadium, where the Panthers do battle not only for team and school pride, but for the pride of an entire community and people. I cannot recommend this book more highly.