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Friday Night Lights


Frank Fitzpatrick

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I've just finished reading Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream by Buzz Bissinger and was wondering if anybody else had read it? I'd seen both the film and the TV show beforehand so I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. It was one helluva rollercoaster ride to read and unfortunately it comes to a devastating conclusion for the boys. I found the end utterly heartbreaking, especially knowing it is a true account. Being British though, I have to admit I struggled to fathom how those kids could be placed on such a high pedestal and left alone to put the pieces together when it all came crumbling down.  

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I read that book almost 20 years ago when I studied in the US and a roommate lent it to me as an illustration of the importance of sports in US society. I found it very interesting but as I do not own the book I have not read it since and became only recently aware that a TV show had been made as well.

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Yeah its based on true events. Buzz Bissinger - the author - spent a year in the town of Odessa, Texas and documented his time with the team and some of the families. It's really an examination of how America propels a chosen few high school kids and turns them into superstars for the fooball calander year before disgarding them and their broken bodies and dreams. It also reveals the depths of racism in a town almost unaware of how racist it truly is.

Honestly, I loved the film and the TV show but my God the book still hooked me from start to finish. I'd really recommend it, sports fan or not.

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Just amazing. Buzz Bisinger is fascinating guy. He kind of went off the deep end recently and was a wildly if not occasionally profane tweeters on Twitter. 

 

As for the content, to my international friends, HS football in Texas is an entirely different beast. It's crazy. 

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One of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Just amazing. Buzz Bisinger is fascinating guy. He kind of went off the deep end recently and was a wildly if not occasionally profane tweeters on Twitter. 

 

As for the content, to my international friends, HS football in Texas is an entirely different beast. It's crazy. 

 

It's not sport...it's religion.

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