Sunday, October 21, 2012

Muck City

Fall is the perfect time to read Bryan Mealer's Muck City, the story of football in Florida's impoverished Belle Glade community. As I began reading, this book instantly reminded me of Friday Night Lights, which has set the standard for football stories.
However, unlike Friday Night Lights, Muck City also tells the story of Belle Glade's history and how the town became one filled with immigrants and sickness - and how football is the one way out of this life.
The number of players that have gone on to NFL careers is nothing short of amazing, yet for someone like me, who is not a football fan, the names given did not mean much.  I enjoyed the personal stories about the players, but the sheer number of players and stories told made it hard for me to remember each character being written about.
Although that was a flaw with Muck City, the overall story and the amazing accomplishments of these players who had so little in their lives to look forward to made me continue to pick up this book and want to read more. Muck City is a great read for a wide audience- not just sports lovers.

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