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Published by Da Capo Press.
I can’t say I was as excited reading this book as I expected to be. You see, I actually watched the television series first, and that made me want to read the book. I’m not a big sports fan, and yet I do love sports-themed movies. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS revolves around football In a small Southern town.
Episode after episode, season after season, I fell in love with the characters. I loved understanding (though not always condoning) the reasons for the mistakes they made in their personal lives. I loved the teamwork they showed with fellow Panthers and the tension it brought prior to game night.
The book did this, too, as far as showing how much football meant to everyone, but there were certain characters in the television series that I didn’t find as interesting as in the book. Some characters I couldn’t find in the book at all, and I was so frustrated I didn’t even want to finish reading. Yet other characters were easy to pick out. Both the book and TV episodes showed the strong effect football had on the entire town, especially in the school.
I do remember back in my high school days (worse, and even profoundly, in college) that it seemed like the students who were good at sports were automatically favored, regardless of their grades, but I don’t remember it being as severe as what Bissinger shows in this book. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the story. I loved the TV series yet only managed to “get through” the book.
They both made me feel that this community was real, and the severity in which they took a loss and the depth of which they took a victory was real. I found the TV series more entertaining, because I got to better know characters who didn’t really stand out in the book. And yet because the writing was stellar, I’d recommend the book to any sports fan. Unfortunately, that’s not me.
Happy reading!
I have the trifecta, I have never read Friday Night Lights, Watched the movie nor the television program. I think I might like any of them if I did, I just haven't.
ReplyDeleteMaybe on the next rainy day you should give one of them a try. :-)
DeleteI've never read a sports related book that wasn't about horses. I think i'll see if my library has this and try something new.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are going to give reading another sports theme a try. I never seem read anything new, because I already have a number of authors I love. But when a review tempts me with something out of my reading norm, I have to try. And I love it when I get to add a new author to my list of favorites. :-)
DeleteNot really my genre for reading. But I might take a look at the TV series.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for F: My Languishing TBR: F
Gorgon
Not really my genre either, but I watched the series because it was my husband's turn to choose. :-) Luckily, I not only enjoyed this series, I loved it. The book, not so much.
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
I had no idea this was a book before it was a TV series! I always have a hard time reading the book after seeing the movie, why I prefer reading the book first whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteSo do I, because at that time, I didn't even know the book existed. I watched the series because my husband wanted to watch it. Once I got started in it, I loved it.
DeleteI find with television shows that I have more trouble reading the book after watching the show (I don't have as much trouble with reading the book after watching the movie).
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of it that way before, but looking at the differences between a television series and a movie, I can see why watching one before reading the book and not the other would be troublesome.
DeleteWhile I do enjoy movies/TV based on books, I do usually try to read the book as well as watch the program. I'm one of those who prefers reading the book first if it's feasible, that way I don't have preconceived images in my head - especially since adaptations usually need to take creative licenses. And sometimes, I do end up preferring the adaptation to the original book, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteI so agree. This particular book I didn't know existed until after I had watched the series, and then someone asked me if I had read the book. Like you, when I have the choice, I'd rather read the book 1st. But I usually enjoy both.
DeleteGreat post, Deb. You have me convinced I should watch the show. Lol. Have not read the book but I generally like sports books. My house is big on sports.
ReplyDeleteThe show was excellent. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteCompare and contrasting various media forms is always interesting - novella vs. short story; movie vs. book; painting vs. sculpture. There is a different way each of these are crafted by the creators and interacted with by the observers (and in music and dance, the performers). It's fascinating. One of my favorite mixing of mediums is "The Mussorgsky Riddle" by Darin Kennedy - He wrote an urban fantasy - mystery about a piano suite in ten movements (Pictures at an Exhibition) inspired by paintings at a how in the Imperial Academy of Arts from Viktor Hartmann. Each in turn touches each other and spins off in a new way.
ReplyDeleteThe long-running television show allowed exploration of many characters which the novel just couldn't house, and yet the themes of victory and growth, adulthood and loss come through in both. Both hitting different emotions.
Story vs. book vs. drawing never ceases to inspire me.