Friday Night Book Review by Elijah Hall Crockett

          When a town was surrounded by nothing but violence, poverty, and racism the one thing that kept them together was football on Friday nights. Friday Night Lights was written by H.G. Bissinger, and he got the idea to write this book because he wanted to know information on how football can impact a town, so he traveled to Odessa, Texas and did his research. The theme of this book is that football can have both positive and negative effects on the players and the town they live in.

            Friday Night Lights is a story about a football team in Odessa, Texas called the Permian Panthers. The economy is rough and racially divided with a lot of violence surrounding it. The only thing good about the town is the Permian football team, which is a very successful team full of talent. This makes the whole town rely on the team for entertainment and success because it is the only thing they have, which puts a ton of pressure on the players to do well and win every game. This book shows the personal lives of Permian football players and the positive and negative effects of being a football player in school and in life. Friday Night Lights is an astonishing book and deserves 5-stars because it affects the reader personally by making you feel sympathy for the characters as if you knew them in real life, and it provides great details and voice. I would recommend this book to students who play sports because this book can relate to some athletes. I would also recommend this book to people who enjoy reading about other people’s lives because the book goes in detail what happens to the players on and off the field.

The Real Friday Night Lights by Devyn Crockett

In 1990, football was big, but, as they say, everything is bigger in Texas, especially football. The book Friday Night Lights was written by H. G. Bissinger and is about how one high school football team carries an entire town of thousands. In this novel, the lives of some of the players on the Permian Panther football team are detailed, revealing an overwhelming abundance of adversity, scrutiny, and attention that these teenage boys endure for the sole reason of playing football on a Friday evening in Odessa, Texas. This eye-opening piece of writing receives 5 out of 5 stars. This book scored so highly because of how genuinely Bissinger articulates the story of the Panthers. Bissinger leaves no details unsaid and gives the audience the uncensored, raw truth. Along with the diction of the author contributing to the outstanding rating of the book, the actual story that is being told is exhilarating. What the boys go through and how much they sacrifice just to call themselves members of the Permian Panther Football team of Odessa is absolutely astounding.  I do not only endorse this novel to sports fans, I recommend this book to any readers interested in learning of how something so small and trivial as a game can impact a whole town so heavily.